All Lutherie Tools articles
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Trade secrets: Wood ponding
Minnesota-based luthier David Folland reveals his procedure for treating the raw material for stringed instruments. From February 2015
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Fresh perspectives: A scanner in the works
In this lutherie feature from January 2009, violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz explores how high-tech ways of analysing violins and their sound could help makers and even influence the future forms of instruments
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Optical effects in Lutherie: Reflected Glories
Why do some instruments look completely different in varying kinds of light? In this lutherie feature from August 2013, Michael Molnar explains how an understanding of wood, varnish and their optical interactions can produce magical results
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Project Lutherie: Euclidean geometry and digital instrument design
A decade ago, François Denis’s Traité de Lutherie showed how the old Italians used Euclidean geometry to design their instruments. Now a computer program based on these principles allows luthiers to construct and adapt patterns quickly and easily. Its creator, Harry Mairson, explains the genesis of Digital Amati, in this ...
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Imaging technology: Learning the finer points
Researchers have used particle-accelerator technology to unlock a Guadagnini’s tiniest secrets. Trieste-based imaging specialist Franco Zanini explains how, in this lutherie feature from January 2012
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Focus
Using Artificial Intelligence in violin making
In the September 2021 issue, Sebastian Gonzalez investigates artificial intelligence (AI) software to examine violin forms
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Wood densitometry: Material facts
Were the old Cremonese luthiers really using better woods than those available to other makers in Europe? In this article from January 2013, Terry Borman and Berend Stoel present a study of density that seems to suggest otherwise
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The ‘Betts’ Stradivari: The progress of progress
A century after The Strad published its first article on the Stradivari ‘Betts’ violin, maker John Waddle asks what the magazine’s descriptions of the instrument reveal about lutherie expertise, and explains his latest high-tech analyses of the instrument. Taken from the May 2010 issue
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Article
The alchemy of the madder root
Madder root has been used since ancient times to create a deep red pigment – but the making process remains enigmatic