Cave where swallows' nests are mined
I needed a violin. Well, as you already know, the simple BUY route is not for me.
For work we will need:
The base is cardboard. Here I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the cardboard is preferably thin - not corrugated. Because corrugated cardboard has ugly sides and “waves” are visible. I use a tea box.
Glue. I use a pencil to glue blanks - it will work with it required quantity glue and the workpiece will not bend, like from, for example, PVA.
Grinding tools. For me it's sandpaper, needle files and a nail file.
Ruler.
Scissors.
Pencil.
Needle. Or, in my case, a multifunctional knife, which now has a needle attachment.
Paints, brush, varnish.
Threads for strings.
And, not included in the frame, polymer clay for making the head.
First of all, let's determine the size of the violin. I’ll say right away that I made a mistake in my calculations (I should have counted from the chin to the end of the arm + the head, I didn’t take this into account and it turned out that the doll’s palm contained a head - a little short by about one and a half cm - in 1:6 format this is very critical), therefore my violin will live only in a case for beauty.
So, we’ve decided on the length, find a picture of a violin on the Internet and use the good old “draloscope”, as my grandfather called it) That is, we adjust the size on the screen with a wheel, measure with a ruler so that it fits, apply a piece of paper and carefully edit it with a pencil.
Or, if you have a printer at home, then there is a simpler option - upload the picture into Word (here is an important point - select the scale of the sheet on the screen so that it matches the A4 sheet in width), stretch it to the size we need (measure with a ruler) and send it to seal.
My version is hand drawing.
We cut out the pattern and transfer it to cardboard. We repeat several times. We cut out and glue the pieces together.
I got something like this) Don’t be alarmed if the edge is not smooth, it’s very easy to sand it down until it’s beautiful.
I sanded with a nail file, sandpaper and needle files. Here it is more convenient for someone)
This is roughly the smooth edge you should get after sanding.
In the same way, we make a neck from several layers of cardboard. I made the head from polymer. On the violin itself, the black is the string stand. A piece of cardboard is cut in, glued into the middle and painted. It's too small of a detail - I didn't take a photo.
Glue all the parts together and paint. We stretch the strings. This time I took thread for the strings. The wire looked too rough. And for a guitar, I advise you to use a silver thread, because the paper bends under the tension of the wire and the strings sag. On my guitar, the strings are fixed in four places, because I’m stubborn)))) Otherwise, it was easier to take threads)
We tighten the strings like this - we drip glue at the bottom of the violin, lay out the “strings”, wait for it to dry, then we tighten it (without fanaticism, just so as not to break everything) and put it in the head. At this moment, we hold the strings in the head with one hand, and with the other hand, using a needle or other thin instrument, we lay out the strings on the stand. And only after that we drip glue into the head and fix the strings at the top.
Prepare the wood. Most often, violins are made from spruce and maple wood. The lower part of the body (back), the sides of the body (sides) and the neck are made of maple. As a rule, spruce wood is used to make the upper part of the body (top soundboard).
- You will need a solid piece of maple wood for the back, a long piece of maple wood for the neck, several strips of maple veneer for the sides, and a solid piece of spruce wood for the top.
- Also, in order to give the violin the required shape, you will need several more pieces of spruce wood, which will subsequently be wrapped around maple shells.
- Small pieces of wood are placed at the corners of the violin to connect the sides and support the body itself.
- You can find the materials you need for your work on the Internet. Try searching on these sites: (for those living in the UK) and (the site works all over the world).
- For search additional information take advantage Google.
Work with a solid piece of maple: Cut a thick beam in half. Then glue the panels together so that you get one large canvas. Do the same with a solid piece of spruce timber, which will be used to make the top deck. You can find more information here: .
Form shells from veneer. Spare no expense and buy a sheet bender - a tool for bending wood and metal. You can also use a regular iron, but it is more difficult to work with, and the result is not ideal.
Give the desired shape to the top and bottom deck. Carving will take you quite a lot of time.
- Be sure to use a template - you can find it on the Internet or come up with your own. Transfer the drawing to the wood.
- Cut carefully. Sand the edges with a file. The upper and lower parts of the body should be perfectly flat, the thickness around the perimeter should be the same - around 0.5 cm.
- You can achieve the required uniform thickness using a file and sandpaper. It is also necessary to get rid of excess wood inside the decks. To do this, use a chisel.
- You can use a drill to speed up the process.
- Follow the above steps for the upper and lower parts of the body.
- Using a drill, make holes in the top soundboard - f-holes, use a template for this. Also, don’t forget to glue a damper to the bottom deck, which will make the violin sound cleaner and brighter.
Cut out the neck. To make your work easier, mark the tree with a template. An incorrect neck length can result in poor sound quality. Treat the cutting of the hypha with the utmost responsibility; at the end of the work, sand the wood well. Use a chisel and drill to cut out the peg box. Make sure the fretboard is even and smooth.
Separate the shells from the mold using a flathead screwdriver. Sand the details. Take a sheet bender or iron again and glue small and narrow pieces of maple veneer on the inside. This must be done in order to strengthen the structure, and also so that later there will be something to glue the upper and lower decks to.
When it comes to talking about craftsmen who became famous for making violins with an unusual sound, two Italian names always come to mind - Amati and Stradivari. The art of these two great Italians is still worshiped by the world. small town Cremona became famous in the 16th and 17th centuries thanks to two unrivaled masters.
But the Italian direction in the manufacture of this musical instrument is not the only one. The German and French schools provide him with worthy competition, or rather, a complement. Each of them is not only unique, but also significantly different from the others, having its own advantages and disadvantages.
To answer the question unambiguously, “What kind of wood is a violin made from?” impossible, because each of its parts or elements is made from a certain breed. Spruce is used for the top soundboard, on which there are two resonator holes in the central part, reminiscent of the English letter “f”. This type of wood has the most pronounced elasticity, which allows you to achieve excellent sounding of bass notes. The top deck is made either from a single piece of wood or from two parts.
The back, on the contrary, is responsible for the top notes, and maple is generally recognized as the appropriate material for this. It is also used for making shells. In addition, for a long time, wavy maple was used, which was delivered to medieval Italy from Turkey, thanks to which violin makers produced their unique creations.
The neck is another important element of the instrument, which is an oblong plank. It is constantly in contact with the strings and, therefore, is subject to wear. It is made from rosewood or ebony (black) wood, which are particularly hard and durable. Rosewood also does not sink in water. Iron wood is not inferior in these properties, but due to its green color, which does not harmonize with the overall color scheme of the violin, it was not used.
What kind of wood a violin is made of is only now becoming clear. These are the three main species - spruce, maple and rosewood. It is believed that the best tree will be the one that grew in natural conditions in mountainous area. As a result of natural temperature fluctuations, such trees have more elastic wood with a minimum moisture content, which is reflected in the sound of the instrument.
The violin has a complex configuration, which has bulges and bends. Each master who creates this instrument has his own style of creating it. There are not and cannot be two violins with the same sound, but not only for this reason. The main one is the properties of wood, which can never be repeated.
You can make a violin, guitar, balalaika. I made a double bass. First, find a suitable photo of the double bass on the Internet and print it in the required size.
Cut it out. Transfer to cardboard. My cardboard was not very thick, so I had to glue four layers together for strength.
We put the glued parts under the press and dry them very well.
The result should be: the front and back surfaces of the body of the double bass, the neck, the headstock and two parts of the side walls of the double bass.
In the future, you will need to make a couple of parts that will this moment it is impossible to do, since they need to be adjusted to an almost finished instrument.
We bend the side bars and screw them onto the glass.
Let's start assembling the double bass. Glue the side walls perpendicular to the back surface using the papier-mâché technique.
Please note: the pin needs to be secured at the bottom at this stage. I used the top of the TV antenna, fixed with cold welding. I painted the inner surface of the double bass with black acrylic, since the white insides will be visible through the f-hole slots.
Now you can attach the front wall in the same way, having previously cut holes in it - f-holes.
After drying the structure well under a press, I cover it with LaDoll on all sides and dry it again. You need to cover the fingerboard and the fretboard with LaDoll. Now you can make a stand for the strings.
We rub all the parts with fine sandpaper to a mirror shine.
Now you need to make a pattern, according to which the part will be made that holds the body of the double bass and the neck together. To do this, we place the neck on the double bass and use a wire to fix the desired angle.
I attached the wire to a broken nail file with masking tape.
This file will be the basis for a thick layer of LaDolla.
We attach the resulting part (I don’t know what it’s called :)) to the neck with LaDoll.
Now you can start making the headstock. To do this, I took a sheet of paper, cut out a pattern from it, rolled it into a tube and, depending on the result obtained, adjusted the pattern. Transferred from the pattern to the LaDolla layer.
Raw LaDoll was rolled into a tube and dried, giving the free end a curved shape.
Now we put the three parts together, adjust them and grind them. We make a recess and side holes in the headstock.
I used wooden teeth from a massager as pegs. It is too early to attach them at this stage. We paint, dry, and varnish all the parts. I used parquet varnish. Dry again very well.
Small Italian city Cremona in Lombardy. This is where the most live a large number of violin makers on the planet. Antonio Stradivari, probably the most famous in the world, brought fame to this place. luthier, which set the world standard for the violin as we see it today.
In our age of large factories and automated conveyors, violins continue to be made by hand; each instrument is unique and unique. There are three hundred violin makers living in Cremona, and I visited one of them, the hereditary luthier Stefano Conia.
1 If you walk around the center of Cremona (and there is a lot to see here), you will see violins at every step. In shop windows, on the walls of houses, on monuments and cafe signs. The Music Museum, the Stradivarius Museum, the Violin Museum - all this is excellent, but you can go there without me. Don’t go far, I’m already ringing the intercom, the door in the arch opens, and we find ourselves in the courtyard.
2 A small garden surrounded by greenery, almost balconies, and in the depths of the courtyard a workshop with windows on the entire floor.
3 Stefano himself opens the door: downstairs he has only a workshop, and the house is on the floor above, where he lives with his parents. It's pouring rain outside, but it's warm here. Catch your breath after a wet run, warm up, and start looking around. Where did we end up?
4 Trudovik’s desk at school looked almost the same, don’t you think?
5 To become a master, you need to have a good knowledge of many sciences, in addition to carpentry and carpentry. Chemistry and mathematics are among them.
7 The violin and guitar are almost siblings, despite the fundamentally different principles of playing these instruments. As a rule, violin makers sometimes also make guitars, although luthier guitarists are unlikely to be able to immediately make a good violin. But the principle of gluing the body is similar for both. It all starts with a tree. The sound of the future violin largely depends on the correct choice of material. The most common type among Cremonese violins is maple. The master glues shell, the side surface of the violin (or guitar) body.
8 The biggest difference in the manufacturing process is that the body of a violin is “assembled” inside the bracing, while that of a guitar is built around this bracing.
9 From the outside it seems that the master is simply “planing plywood”? The top of a violin is made from resonant spruce, special acoustic wood. You'll be surprised, but people grow special forests with musical trees! The rest of the instrument is made of maple. Each movement of the plane changes the sound of the future violin. Rough carpentry work performed by luthier becomes almost jewelry work.
11 Stefano Conia is a hereditary master, his father also plays violins, like his grandfather. By the way, our hero is Stepan Stepanovich, my dad’s name is the same, and at first, having found the master’s website on the Internet, I thought that I would meet Konio Sr. This is such a profession, dynastic.
12 Although Stradivari himself did not leave his sons the secrets of his craft, they have long been solved, and today everyone tries to follow his traditions. Look, the shape of all the creaks is absolutely identical, everything is done according to the canons that have long been established in this world, you cannot deviate even a millimeter. Where is the creativity in this kind of work? In the sound!
13 The instruments differ from each other, first of all, in their sound qualities; here no two are equal. You can come up with various decorative elements and designs, but such work will not be the imagination of the manufacturer, but an order of the client. The creator of a violin in Cremona never puts his mark on the instrument, but in a very narrow circle of local craftsmen they will always unmistakably determine who made it. Three hundred people who have known each other closely for a long time is not so much.
14 Of course, violins are made in many countries of the world, in China they are desperately riveted in factories, but still, serious musicians from all over the planet order violins here in Cremona. Among other things, it is also a status.
15 A violin made by Konio son costs ten thousand euros. Stefano Sr. successfully sells his instruments at prices starting from twenty thousand. Orders are individual, but scheduled six months in advance. A lot of musicians personally come to Cremona to choose the best master.
16 Stefano said that two Russian violin makers live and work in their city. And they also continue the work of the great “grandfather” Stradivarius.
