Thank you, very insightful! Regarding the rich quality of wooden violins, the summer/winter grain structure of wood is a beautifully simple explanation with deep implications. Certainly not easily reproduced in synthetic materials. Also enjoyed your famous violin and cello stories.
In Iran, some violin makers by treating wood with some materials make it older and they produce good instruments in term of sound, but makers keep that as a secret. Please explain about this🙏🌹🌹
Olaf, can I please ask; have you ever worked on violins made by Australian makers and how would you compare the general craftsmanship to a European made instrument.
We've had some amazing Australian makers like John Devereux, AE Smith and Guy Aubrey Griffin... There were also a lot of self trained makers. These days we have a really vibrant violin making scene. Most of the good makers were trained in Europe at one of the many violinmaking schools and a handful we're trained by good master makers like my father Helge Grawert.
Hi Olaf, Not an instrument question, but do you think rosin goes bad at all? I’ve seen some replacing it every year, and some use the same block from decades ago.
Hi, Recently I came across a violin with a lable of Stradivari 1716 but don't know whether it is a genuine one. How can I send you a video of that violin? Will you please appraise?
Usually, the violin maker will tell you so! I had a favorite violin that I had not played in seven years and then the violin neck had dropped. The violin maker said the repair would be around 1000€, while I had purchased the violin for 800€. It was, however, my dream instrument that I had stumbled upon purely by chance and it would be hard to find one sounding quite similar to it. So I paid that price. So, I think you will be told if the repair would surpass the reselling price and flaws of the instrument will be pointed out. You can then decide if you will pay the repair price because you love that particular instrument or buy a new violin for the price of the repair. Or you set a budget and just say, everything above it will not be paid, so if the repair is more expensive, you will not have it repaired.
@@Fidi987 Thank you so much for the answer! We haven't played the instrument just yet as my child is only 10 years old and the violin is still to big for him. His teacher restrained it and gave it a try and said it is a quite okay instrument. Will see what the violin maker will say.
@@Fidi987 You're so right about how sometimes you just want to repair the instrument even if it isn't really "worth" it. My sister had her old flute repaired because she she had such an attachment to it--even though she also has a very nice, very expensive flute she performs on.
I brought my granddads old violin to a luthier to see if I could start learning with it, the neck had dropped so it was touching the top plate and it wasn't a very good violin to start with, so he did not recommend fixing it, it would've been many times more expensive than the violin itself was worth. But it would've been impossible for me to google my way into figuring that out, I did need the professional to do it.
I was told as a student to use rosemary oil & I've used it since & it is effective but still be careful as it can eventually start to take varnish too if it is soft. Let's see what Olaf suggests.
Hi Olaf! Is it okay to buy $2000-$3000 violin even when I don't think I'm "qualified" for it yet? I've been sticking with my $50 violin that I purchased in 2010, I quit violin 5 years ago and recently get back to playing violin. My new teacher told me that my violin actually sounded like a $200 violin but she also made me realized that I've been very uncomfortable in playing & it's difficult for me to play my own violin (I would say I've also been using inefficient techniques which I'm now trying to fix). I'm not the type of person who likes to purchase numerous violin so I'm thinking to purchase one that I could keep for the next ten years plus to come..
15:36 Hi Olav. I may be wrong, but I don't believe that the peaks and sometimes the bottoms of the sonic waveform are cut off to reduce the file size. Rather, it is a mistake made by the person who took care of the original recording when he left the recording volume too high and so the peaks are just cut off automatically - and the result is "sticky" sound. If the person is a professional, they know how to adjust the volume for the recording to be low enough so that it does not cut. If the original recording was successful, a careless or incompetent post-processor can spoil the sound by increasing the decibel value of the sound wave, so that the peaks in the upper part usually disappear from the recording. It's possible that there is some automatic process, but I don't think it will reduce the file size anyway, since it's just a sound wave. And actually I think peak clipping can increase the file size because without clipping we would be saving a simple sine curve which is more of a vector than pixels.
"Ah-Laugh" sounds like you pronounced your name in English. How did a German accented violinmaker wind up in Australia? Seems far away from an European market. Interesting Q+A, thanks.
I would recommend for the perspiration build-up in the wood to use high glue mixed with carbon fiber powder. It turns the stuff into concrete. I use this for square piano soundboard ribs.
I think this would cause more problems because for violins you need to be able to undo the glue for other repairs. And whether or not the glue is "concrete" probably doesn't change the fact that the wood is so soaked with grime and salts that it won't hold the glue.
More like, why would you lean it against the back of the car? Why not put it in the car immediately? Or, if it was in a case, put the case on your back?
Sadly you did not answer the first question properly. What makes it a student violin? Lower quality wood? Less precise carving of the wood? Why is it cheaper?
Usually it's mostly factory made with cheaper materials with very little to no skilled hand crafting. I play woodwinds, and I can tell you for them, there are huge differences in the materials and the precision of the manufacturing. I've seen videos where people were trying out $100 violins (Olaf even did one) and they varied so much in that some cases the instruments weren't even playable. A good student instrument should be easy to play, though the sound quality won't be that of a higher end instrument.
Sorry... Cheap wood Terrible workmanship Cheap varnish And All the measurements are wrong I'll go into more details in part 2... Also watch my $100 violin video
Moral of the story: don't sweat all over your violin! Can you tell us if really pale violins are made of a different wood? They seem fairly rare... Are they special?
5:43 (bow rehairing) "once every few weeks" .... that's excessive. What's happening with that? Surely he's not breaking that many hairs and certainly the barbs on the hairs aren't weakening in such a short period of time. I'm pretty sure. I've asked many world renowned soloists what bows they use and how often they would get a rehair, and the ones who are playing an hour-long concert at least every two days still say that around 4 or 5 months for a rehair is perfectly good. I collect bows and play on different bows all the time so, mine are in rotation, and I can't really say how often I get rehairs. I really wouldn't want to waste top quality horse hair by getting rehairs every couple of weeks.
He just posted some photos on instagram of his most recent concert with the NY Phil and you can see broken hairs everywhere. So it must be how he plays.
Thank you, very insightful! Regarding the rich quality of wooden violins, the summer/winter grain structure of wood is a beautifully simple explanation with deep implications. Certainly not easily reproduced in synthetic materials. Also enjoyed your famous violin and cello stories.
Thank you so much for addressing my question! I did look up ornamentation on Stradivarius violins to see what you spoke of and it was very beautiful.
Thank you for your response! I love my Xuechang Sun and am paranoid about damaging it especially after seeing some of the wrecks you work on.
A great sounding violin always seems to look great, like art. Are great sounding violins ever made without the decorative appearance?
Thanks for this, Olaf! Good information!
In Iran, some violin makers by treating wood with some materials make it older and they produce good instruments in term of sound, but makers keep that as a secret. Please explain about this🙏🌹🌹
Olaf, can I please ask; have you ever worked on violins made by Australian makers and how would you compare the general craftsmanship to a European made instrument.
We've had some amazing Australian makers like John Devereux, AE Smith and Guy Aubrey Griffin...
There were also a lot of self trained makers.
These days we have a really vibrant violin making scene. Most of the good makers were trained in Europe at one of the many violinmaking schools and a handful we're trained by good master makers like my father Helge Grawert.
Olaf I enjoy your info and knowledge and have enjoyed every one thankyou did Strad make a 3/4 1719 ?
Hi Olaf,
Not an instrument question, but do you think rosin goes bad at all? I’ve seen some replacing it every year, and some use the same block from decades ago.
A great video of answers & other you brought this time, but why the mirror image? 😀
Going well here in Arlington, Virginia
Hi,
Recently I came across a violin with a lable of Stradivari 1716 but don't know whether it is a genuine one. How can I send you a video of that violin? Will you please appraise?
A little friendly dig at Ray and his ever-breaking bow hairs saga!
Olaf, How can you tell the difference between a Nicolo Amati model vs. a Stradivari model ?
Question: We were given a violin. How can we determine if the repair / TLC will be worth the money?
Usually, the violin maker will tell you so! I had a favorite violin that I had not played in seven years and then the violin neck had dropped. The violin maker said the repair would be around 1000€, while I had purchased the violin for 800€. It was, however, my dream instrument that I had stumbled upon purely by chance and it would be hard to find one sounding quite similar to it. So I paid that price.
So, I think you will be told if the repair would surpass the reselling price and flaws of the instrument will be pointed out. You can then decide if you will pay the repair price because you love that particular instrument or buy a new violin for the price of the repair. Or you set a budget and just say, everything above it will not be paid, so if the repair is more expensive, you will not have it repaired.
@@Fidi987 Thank you so much for the answer! We haven't played the instrument just yet as my child is only 10 years old and the violin is still to big for him. His teacher restrained it and gave it a try and said it is a quite okay instrument. Will see what the violin maker will say.
@@Fidi987 You're so right about how sometimes you just want to repair the instrument even if it isn't really "worth" it. My sister had her old flute repaired because she she had such an attachment to it--even though she also has a very nice, very expensive flute she performs on.
I brought my granddads old violin to a luthier to see if I could start learning with it, the neck had dropped so it was touching the top plate and it wasn't a very good violin to start with, so he did not recommend fixing it, it would've been many times more expensive than the violin itself was worth. But it would've been impossible for me to google my way into figuring that out, I did need the professional to do it.
Olaf do you do payment plans for your instrument’s?
I need to clean an old violin what can I use that will not damage the varnish but wi!! Remove the rosen
I was told as a student to use rosemary oil & I've used it since & it is effective but still be careful as it can eventually start to take varnish too if it is soft. Let's see what Olaf suggests.
Hi Olaf! Is it okay to buy $2000-$3000 violin even when I don't think I'm "qualified" for it yet? I've been sticking with my $50 violin that I purchased in 2010, I quit violin 5 years ago and recently get back to playing violin. My new teacher told me that my violin actually sounded like a $200 violin but she also made me realized that I've been very uncomfortable in playing & it's difficult for me to play my own violin (I would say I've also been using inefficient techniques which I'm now trying to fix). I'm not the type of person who likes to purchase numerous violin so I'm thinking to purchase one that I could keep for the next ten years plus to come..
Well that was really I retesting, even though I don’t own or play a violin.
15:36 Hi Olav. I may be wrong, but I don't believe that the peaks and sometimes the bottoms of the sonic waveform are cut off to reduce the file size. Rather, it is a mistake made by the person who took care of the original recording when he left the recording volume too high and so the peaks are just cut off automatically - and the result is "sticky" sound. If the person is a professional, they know how to adjust the volume for the recording to be low enough so that it does not cut. If the original recording was successful, a careless or incompetent post-processor can spoil the sound by increasing the decibel value of the sound wave, so that the peaks in the upper part usually disappear from the recording. It's possible that there is some automatic process, but I don't think it will reduce the file size anyway, since it's just a sound wave. And actually I think peak clipping can increase the file size because without clipping we would be saving a simple sine curve which is more of a vector than pixels.
"Ah-Laugh" sounds like you pronounced your name in English. How did a German accented violinmaker wind up in Australia? Seems far away from an European market. Interesting Q+A, thanks.
I would recommend for the perspiration build-up in the wood to use high glue mixed with carbon fiber powder. It turns the stuff into concrete. I use this for square piano soundboard ribs.
What? You want that clue to come appart for future repairs.
I think this would cause more problems because for violins you need to be able to undo the glue for other repairs. And whether or not the glue is "concrete" probably doesn't change the fact that the wood is so soaked with grime and salts that it won't hold the glue.
❤
Raise your hand if you gasped audibly at the “reversed over the violin” incident.
More like, why would you lean it against the back of the car? Why not put it in the car immediately? Or, if it was in a case, put the case on your back?
Sadly you did not answer the first question properly. What makes it a student violin? Lower quality wood? Less precise carving of the wood? Why is it cheaper?
Usually it's mostly factory made with cheaper materials with very little to no skilled hand crafting. I play woodwinds, and I can tell you for them, there are huge differences in the materials and the precision of the manufacturing. I've seen videos where people were trying out $100 violins (Olaf even did one) and they varied so much in that some cases the instruments weren't even playable. A good student instrument should be easy to play, though the sound quality won't be that of a higher end instrument.
Sorry...
Cheap wood
Terrible workmanship
Cheap varnish
And All the measurements are wrong
I'll go into more details in part 2...
Also watch my $100 violin video
Moral of the story: don't sweat all over your violin!
Can you tell us if really pale violins are made of a different wood? They seem fairly rare... Are they special?
I thought that was just because of the varnish
5:43 (bow rehairing) "once every few weeks" .... that's excessive. What's happening with that? Surely he's not breaking that many hairs and certainly the barbs on the hairs aren't weakening in such a short period of time. I'm pretty sure.
I've asked many world renowned soloists what bows they use and how often they would get a rehair, and the ones who are playing an hour-long concert at least every two days still say that around 4 or 5 months for a rehair is perfectly good.
I collect bows and play on different bows all the time so, mine are in rotation, and I can't really say how often I get rehairs. I really wouldn't want to waste top quality horse hair by getting rehairs every couple of weeks.
...but he practices 40 hours EVERY day! ;-)
@@KonradTheWizzard Such a f&$^ing stupid meme....
He seems to be playing in a very, very intense way! Watch some of his concerts.
He just posted some photos on instagram of his most recent concert with the NY Phil and you can see broken hairs everywhere. So it must be how he plays.
I think it was a a bit of a joke, as Ray Chen has had misfortune oof 2-3 episodes of breaking strings and bow hairs