All Technical articles
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1923 violin by Michael Dötsch
Rainer Michael Cocron examines an early 20th-century instrument by the German maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade secrets: External crack repair using silk
Sharon Que provides an innovative solution to a common – and tricky – repair problem
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Varnish retouch
A method for layering pigments and shellac to reproduce the exact colour and thickness of an instrument’s varnish
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: An 1893 violin by Alexander Smillie
David Rattray presents a late 19th-century violin by the Scottish maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: The ‘Doratura Cremonese’ ground method
How to make and apply a ground coat with a deep golden yellow colour
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: 1877 double bass by Gand & Bernardel
René Zaal examines the Parisian violin making house’s 19th-century bass
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: A new approach to bracing flat-back instruments
This system of ‘responsive bracing’ allows for the natural movement of the wood
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Premium ❘ FeatureStars of Africa: South African tonewood
Wood physicist Martina Meincken presents the results of a study investigating whether indigenous woods of southern Africa might be suitable for use as tonewood for instruments
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Premium ❘ FeatureA unique poster: ‘Paderewski, Wendling’ violin – part two
Expert and conservator Balthazar Soulier has curated this month’s poster which, for the first time, features an ‘original composite’ violin: the ‘Paderewski, Wendling’, made by Montagnana and Guarneri ‘del Gesù’. Here he places this unique instrument in context and highlights complementary information to enable a better understanding of the poster ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1937 violin by Giuseppe Castagnino
Alberto Giordano examines a 20th-century violin by the Chiavari-based luthier
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Repairing a bow stick
François Louant presents a method for attaching new wood to the stick at the frog end, when the original material is unsalvageable
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1924 violin by János Spiegel
Zoltán Délczeg examines a 100-year-old instrument by Hungarian maker János Spiegel
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a wooden peg shaper
A method for creating a model with an interchangeable blade
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A c.1740 viola by Johann Christian Hoffmann
Alex Krieger examines a viola by one of the best-known German luthiers
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn the zone: a one-person double bass repair method
For luthiers working alone, double bass repair can be a difficult task to take on. US bass maker Nick Lloyd presents his ‘Zone method’ for re-gluing a bass top using just one pair of hands
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A c.1750 violin by Michele Deconet
Peter Koerner examines the French maker’s mid-century instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Preparing the wood surface before varnishing
Samuel Peguiron shares a method involving a bespoke mixture and wood shavings
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Purfling and edgework after closing the box
A method that allows for more aesthetic freedom than completing the plates before finishing the soundbox
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: An 1845 violin by Johann Georg Stauffer
Jakob Nachbargauer and Adrian Elschek examine a mid-century violin by the successful Austrian guitar maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureCentre of attention: centring and alignment
Inspired by the work of the Cremonese masters, David Folland explains his method for finding the centre line of an old instrument
