All Technical articles – Page 3
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a mould and templates from a poster
A quick, efficient and accurate way of cutting durable templates using one of The Strad’s publications
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Building a five-string cello
David Folland gives some practical tips, based on his recent experience of building a five-string cello
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Premium ❘ Feature21 reasons why your instrument might be buzzing
Finding why an instrument buzzes while playing is a task that bedevils luthiers. Dmitry Tarakanov presents a checklist for the most likely causes
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making an ebony crown
An intricate method for a sometimes vital part of the repair process
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Adding primer before varnish
Before varnishing their instruments, most luthiers add a layer of primer. Vlado Tilev looks at the types available, and their effect on sound quality
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: A platform for gluing a broken button
A method that takes the guesswork and uncertainty out of this challenging repair job
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1947 violin by Frantisek Zivec
Matthieu Besseling on the Bohemian maker’s mid-century instrument
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Premium ❘ FeaturePurfling experiments: Secrets of the strips
Mike Dunham describes a purfling process proposed at the Oberlin workshop in 2022
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a fingerboard template with aluminium
An easy, effective and useful method to make your own version instead of using ready-made templates
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FocusSmall Wonders: The elements of style
John Dilworth asks why the finest details really do mean so much
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FocusSmall wonders: Pins
John Dilworth muses on how a lutherie imperfection has become a defining factor in instrument appraisal
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Premium ❘ FeaturePlate archings and tone - part 2: a question of tone
Nigel Harris shows how close control of the arching shape of the plates can influence tone
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1777 viola by Luigi Marconcini
Jonathan Marolle examines a viola with a personal style
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FocusSmall Wonders: Shellac
John Dilworth explains how hard-working beetles provide one of lutherie’s vital ingredients
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Photogrammetry to produce casts
Guy Harrison describes the process of using photogrammetry – the extraction of 3D information from photographs – to produce casts of instrument archings
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Replicating peg shapes without a copying lathe
A device for maintaining the same shape and diameter of instrument pegs during the carving process
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FocusSmall wonders: Building bridges
John Dilworth pontificates on bridges in this article from September 2013
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FocusSmall wonders: The soundpost
For John Dilworth, an instrument’s heart and soul lie in one tiny piece of spruce
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Repairing a broken bow head
A less invasive and more reversible version of a well-known repair method
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FocusSmall wonders: The tailgut
How gut, steel, nylon and now parachute cord have brought change to the luthier’s craft
