Exploring lost violin making practices 2: the back plate
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2018
- Around 2009, research was started on the life, instruments and working methods of the violin maker Benoit Joseph Boussu (1703-1773). As a first step, his previously unknown biography was disclosed in detail, demonstrating that Boussu first practised as a notary in the north of France until 1748, before working as luthier in respectively Liege (1749), Brussels (c1750-c1762) and Amsterdam (c1767-1772). The biographical results were published in the Galpin Society Journal of 2013 and updated in Early Music journal (November 2016). These investigations are part of the PhD project of violin maker/researcher Geerten Verberkmoes, initiator of the Boussu research project.
Next, many surviving original instruments by Boussu were studied, amongst these a violin and a cello in unaltered mid-18th century state from the collection of the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels. The unaltered violin was CT-scanned and analysed in cooperation with dr. Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans (MIM Brussels), prof. dr. Danielle Balériaux (Erasmus hospital) and dr. Berend Stoel. The results of this study were published in the Galpin Society Journal of 2016. In a later stage, the unaltered Boussu cello was CT-scanned in the St. Luc hospital in Brussels under the guidance of professors Danse and Coche and their team.
Based on the CT-scan of the violin, two replicas were built in parallel between spring and fall of 2017 by Verberkmoes, using construction methods most likely employed by Boussu. These practices include an assembling process without the use of an inside mould. The replication process was captured entirely on video and is presented here as a series of videos. After finishing the violins, a cello replica was made in a similar way, during the end of 2017 and early 2018.
In the final stage of the study, the three replicas are played by the newly formed 'Ensemble Boussu' (dr. Ann Cnop, Shiho Ono and Mathilde Wolfs), to perform Brussels court music from the times of Boussu. The musicians perform the trio sonata repertoire using solely bowed stringed instruments, a nowadays abandoned practice, but apparently a more common fashion in the middle of the 18th century. Examples of these performances can also be found on this channel.
The PhD project 'Boussu Inside Out' is supervised by prof. dr. Francis Maes (Gent University), dr. Geert Dhondt (School of Arts Gent) and dr. Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans (Musical Instruments Museum Brussels).
Enjoy watching and listening!
All those videos is so fantastic. No talk at all, just a progress of working details. Thanks for great videos. Will soon see them again, because this gives me a sort o piece.
Hello Tribes Tribes, many thanks for your kind reply! It's good to hear that you enjoyed the videos and that they gave you peace of mind. I hope you still enjoy them when watching for the second time (-:
Best wishes, Geerten
Great work. I find that very often, the less figured wood sounds best.
Wow!
Thanks! I really enjoy your passion.
Also I really like the contrast from the clean maple wood and the old workbench.
Dear Greg, thanks a lot for your motivating reply. Your observation regarding the maple and the workbench is also great, I never realized this, since it is an everyday view for me... but now you say it, yes, it is contrasting (-:
Are you an instrument maker yourself?
Best regards, Geerten
@@Boussu_Inside_Out no I do not make any instruments, but I am catching the "bug" to build one.
But really don't know where to start.
I know it is not easy, but I love the passion that luthier's put into they're craft.
Have a great day!😆
Thanks Greg, you last message went under the radar a bit. To start making, try a good book, like "The art of violin making" by Courtnall and Johnson. And... have a nice day too (-:
Cutting a Purfling channel should be an Olympic sport!
Hi Charles, yes it takes some patience and practice to do it well (-: Thanks for your nice comment!
Always such a fascinating process, albeit hard work I’m sure.......
Thank you so much Adam for your kind reply. Hard work indeed, but satisfying!
Love this. What specific tools are you using to shape the back? I see finger planes but wondered the size and brands as well. I like that you just show the process.
Hello again Charles. Some of my planes are self-made, others were ordered (in a batch of 5 from different sizes) on ebay, from a supplier in China. Didn't cost a lot, and work as well as expensive ones (-;
Best regards, Geerten
Thanks for the reply. I have seen these planes and wondered about the blade steel quality. Softer steel isn’t necessarily a terrible thing depending on application.are these the planes you use?
@@Boussu_Inside_Out
@@charlesblithfield6182 Haven't experienced any problems with the blades that came with the Chinese planes. Pretty good steel. Sometimes I (temporarily) replace a blade by a toothed one, purchased from Dictum. BTW, you can make your own plane blades from old large/thick discarded saw blades.
Good luck!
merci c/est tres interessant
Merci beaucoup Ernie!
Ficou perfeito..
Thanks a lot for your kind comments, and thanks for your interest in the channel! I don't try to answer in Portuguese though (-;
By the way, the wood I used was the lowest possible grade of violin making wood available, to keep in line with the historical Flemish makers, who also used very sober wood. That's the kind of stuff most present-day makers only use to burn in their stove!
Hi , First of all thank for your explanation . I appreciate your help . I'm not a maker as such , but my interest in violas has led me into some violin making I'm working on a violin at the moment and have previously made a violin and a viola . I wish to do everything properly so I have made my own varnish and having been unhappy with fibrous purfling from a supplier I have been cutting veneers for purfling by hand and inspired and instructed by your video I am about to assemble so.e purfling . Not too worried about the colour at present .
Thank you again for your help best wishes Kendy
Loving this series. Question…what type of plane are you using at 9:32 and 22:25. Is it a convex, concave or flat sole? Curious as to whether one needs to use a curved sole plane for arching or whether you can use a flat.
Hi Citizen Phaid, thank you for your kind comment, good to hear that you like the video's! For making the outer arching of plates, I use either planes with flat soles or convex soles. Both work for me, but at the final stages of establishing the outer arching, flat soled planes probably give a better result on the long arch. For the re-curve channel, small convex planes work better. For hollowing the inner side of the plates, only convex-soled planes can be used, since they better adapt to the concave inner surface of the plate. I made some of the planes myself for brass tubing material. This can be done in a few hours time, is an enjoyable job and working with self-made planes is very satisfactory (-:
Hope this helps...
Are you a maker yourself?
hello master, how do you paint the stripes black
The strips are walnut, they are dyed black (or actually very dark brown) by soaking them for several hours in a hot mixture of iron sulfate and oak galls.
Hi , When you are preparing your veneers for purfling why do you heat then in a pan and what is the liquid you heat them in ?
Thanks so much . Ken
Hello Kendy, thank you for your message and interest in the channel!
The veneers are walnut (as you probably had seen). I want to darken them, but not pitch-black. In the original (18th century) instruments I copied, the staining wasn't fully through and more brown-grey than black. You can control the degree of staining by the time of exposure. A few hours gives light darkening, a whole night gives black. It is not a bad idea to do some experimentation before working on the real strips (that's what I did to decide the degree of darkening).
So, this is the procedure:
1) Put the veneer in hot water (close to boiling), together with crushed oak gals.
2) Let this soak for a couple of hours, even a whole night. The walnut takes up the tannine from the gals. Heat moderately.
3) Take the veneers out of the brew, and quickly rinse with clean water.
4) Refill the pan with hot water, and add two spoon of ironsulphate . Now add the veneer. Let this soak for as long as suitable for the preferred darkening. Again, heat moderately.
5) When done, thoroughly rinse the strips multiple times with clean water, to get rid of all the excess chemicals. Leave them in the clean water for a few hours. You can monitor this by watching any black stain still coming into the water.
After this, leave to dry.
That's it I guess.
Good luck!
Are you a maker?
Best regards,
Geerten
Hello again Kendy, thanks for you second reply (which for some reason related to YT cannot see back in this video thread). But having read it, I wish you good luck in making the instruments that you make for your learning process. Great that you make your own varnish and purfling. A tip for the purfling: I use standard (0.6 mm) veneer, and made a scraper device based on a Stanley plane blade holder, with which the veneer strips can be accurately scraped to the right thickness (0.3-0.4 mm). The device is also depicted in Weisshaar's book on violin restoration.
Good luck and thanks again for your interest!
Mmmm.. by adding this reply, I deleted the first one...
I would like to make a crib but all the designs i find are really complex, while yours seems simple, how did you make it? Is it just the same you use to carva the upper profile with a cloth inside to keep the plate ?
Hello Simone, thank you for your message. I made my craddle of three layers of plate material: a bottom layer (just a flat plate), a middle layer (where the figure 8 shape is cut out, with c 2 cm compensation for the edges of the violin top or back to rest on) and a thin top layer (c 4 mm thick, cut to the outline of the violin top or back). The three layers are glue together. The inner sawing edges of the middle layer of the craddle where cut to a rounded shape, to accommodate the violin top or back. Sometimes, I put in a cloth, to make sure the violin plate does not move. In the years, I adapted the outline of the upper layer of the craddle for various models, that's why the outline got a little too wide, hence the cloth... Hope this helps, Geerten
By the way, the craddle is used throughout the entire "back plate making" video, also without the cloth! And you can see the cello version (without cloth) here at 3min 45 sec: ua-cam.com/video/5OulzkKl-tU/v-deo.html
Please note the the cello top is reversed in the craddle, so it is not properly used here. But just to give you a glimpse of the three layers in the craddle...
@@Boussu_Inside_Out thanks a lot for the very detailed answer, really kind of you. Keep up with your great work
@@simonecamplani2430 Thank you! Success with making the crib and the instrument!
Amigo sigo tus vídeos soy de México tengo un violin q no uso será posible que le pueda yo aser en la parte de atrás las vetas en forma atigrada
Hello @Dante Tellez, good to hear from you, and thanks for your question. Could please explain a bit more, I don't fully get your question right now. Thanks! Best regards, Geerten
I can‘t see anything here that is lost or forgotten 🤷♂️ which particular aspect are you concerned that other makers are not using?
Thank you for you insightful comment.
Please read my PhD thesis on these instruments here:
geertenverberkmoes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PhDthesis_GeertenVerberkmoes_A4_drukversie_15-10-2021.pdf
After you're done, please comment back here!