That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing it and the video.
Jamie
That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing it and the video.
Jamie
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
+ Give Blood, Save a Life +
Design, Materials, Workmanship..
three stars
One more star for not making another Loar clone.
Total 4 stars.
And I'll add one more just .. "because".
5 Stars.
This is what Captain Nemo was really looking for all those years.
The cochlea interior design is only surpassed by the shape of its output.
In case nobody mentioned it: I especially like the armrest.
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
The innovations in this instrument are surpassing. Kudos, John!
In regards to an all-wood instrument, I remember reading years ago in American Lutherie (or maybe American Woodworker?) of constructing a thin laminate around a form. If that could be figured out, the rest of the construction in wood would (ha) be cake.
Regarding publishing - this would be something great for American Lutherie (Guild of American Luthiers' quarterly publication).
That's how I make mine. It's easy. Probably exactly the same difficulty as making the parts out of carbon fiber. Either way you have to clamp the laminae between tension/compression straps while the glue/resin cures. I don't think wood is any cheaper, either... carbon fiber is pretty darn cheap, while nice quality veneer is time-consuming to produce.
Bernie, you can read about Stroh instruments here.
And hear.
Jamie
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
+ Give Blood, Save a Life +
I read these post with interest. Certainly different. One stupid question, which I am noted for asking. In American English we some times fudge a little on meaning of words. Neutral means not positive or negative, so are you saying the bridge has no downward or upward tension. I don't see how that could be. Enquiring minds want to know.
Yes: absolutely zero resting tension or torsion on the soundboard from the bridge. Zero break angle. If I release the Ti rod holding down the strings, and take out the bolts holding the bridge onto the soundboard, the bridge just slides out sideways and the strings remain totally level. That is explained near the end of the video. Yes, seems strange at first...
Bernie
____
Due to current budgetary restrictions the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off -- sorry about the inconvenience.
There were quite a few variants that the Stroh shop made other than the violin including single-string "Jap" fiddle, Hawaiian guitar, mandolin, viola, cello and possibly ukulele. This photo is from the Roy Acuff Museum and shows the Stroh instruments that Roy accumulated on his travels.
Here are some catalog pages.
According to the site that mandolin is on there were only 5 standard guitars made.
Jim
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19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
A link to the mandolin above.
This is the main page for their phono-fiddle and like instruments.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Hey out there:
In case you aren't totally sick of all this horndola stuff, I just posted another YouTube showing it's vibrational modes. My buddy Chris Jenkins and I recorded them using his fancy-schmancy bazillion dollar Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer. The movies show you the spectrum with all the major peaks below 1 kHz, along with movies showing the movements for each peak.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf1S6fG2PXE
Mr. Miller,
My layman's kudos to you! Your approaches to mandofamily building, l'm interested in. Luthier Herb Taylor of Golden, Colorado is also using zero-tension bridges on some of his instruments - EG, bouzoukis, one of which l'm in the line-up for - with interesting results. Are you aware of his work?
Best,
Jamie Wahl
WOW, COOL! I hadn't known about his instruments. They look beautiful! I found the bridges I think you mean. They have 2 cross-members, right? These are very similar, but not quite zero tension: with only 2 cross members, there will still be a little bit of torque onto the soundboard: the rear member is lower than the front (saddle) member, so each the two side pieces that hold those cross pieces will have a slight upward force on their rear ends and a slight downward force on their front end. But the upward/downward tension will be neutral, so it is very close to the total zero-force situation.
Nikos Apollonio also uses a similar low-or-no break angle bridge on some of his instruments.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Wow, also gorgeous! And some great music YouTubes. Yes, these are also very close to zero tension.
This makes me think that I should do a test... see how much it really matters to the sound to get rid of the third cross-member (the "rear saddle") at the exit point of the strings behind the Ti rod. Obviously, it works for these 2 luthiers.
Thanks for the tips!
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