Violin Forum/Message Board

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

The Hill book on Stradivari has an appendix setting out the measurements of a number violins throughout various periods of the makers life.

The widths especially varied considerably, often reaching 8 1/2 inch, or about 109.5 mm in the lower bouts.

Lots of Guarneri violins are a lot narrower than that, as much as 5 or more mm less.

I'm interested in opinions on the effect of size on sound (assuming all other variables are constant, if that's possible.)

I read in one of Michael Darnton's past posts that a too large instrument will tend toward hollowness and lack of focus. But what is too large? A 1734 Stradivari in the Hill book has a length of 14 1/8 inch, sides of 1 1/4, top bout 6 3/4, lower bout of 8 1/4.

Thats a pretty big violin compared against lots of other makers, and yet is highly praised for it's sound.

Michael Darnton · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject:

Yes, that's a big violin, and I'm sure it sounds great. If only I could pull off everything he does, though. :-) When I spoke about big violins, I meant those made by mortals.

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

My son's violin teacher has a quite small Andrea Guarneri... could almost be a 7/8 size, and the complex harmonics and focused sound makes one wonder why you'd ever want to go bigger.

So is size relatively unimportant?

Andres Sender · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject:

Unimportant to whom and for what? Mortals or non-mortals; tone, tonal range, or projection? Wink

Not to mention response, i.e. 'ease of production', as the Hills call it.

Michael Darnton · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:06 am Post subject:

I would say size is very important.

If you can control all of the variables you might win; Stradivari's big violins are some of his best. However, Vuillaume and his contemporaries, and later Germans, decided they would make big violins for that reason, and things didn't turn out as well for them. The general problem is that larger instruments *tend* towards being more diffuse sounding, and smaller ones *tend* to have more core and intensity. For someone who can control the tendency towards diffusion, a large model has a lot to recommend it.

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

So anyway... I was doing a setup on a new instrument today... got to fitting the bridge late this afternoon, and discovered that a Molson Export beer cap weighs about exactly 1.9 grams... just about the ideal bridge weight!!!

Ahem...

MANFIO · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject:

One of the best violin sounds I ever heard was produced by Leonidas Kavacos on a long Strad.
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CT Dolan · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2008 Posts: 143

The Stradivari violins that Oistrakh played, both the Marsick and the earlier one he owned (I forget the name of his earlier one, but both were made prior to Stradivari's "Golden Period"), are simply marvelous. One would be hard-pressed to find a better sound, and I do not believe either of these instruments would classify as large in size, although I may be wrong.

MANFIO · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:35 am Post subject:

Oistrack is my favourit player...

In the DVD "The Art of The Violin" Perlman mentions that Oistrack's violin was not a particularly good Strad.
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CT Dolan · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2008 Posts: 143

Which means that Oistrakh must have been an even better violinist than I had previously thought! Surprised

Perlman's 'ex-Soil' Stradivari certainly must rank among the better ones out there. I love the close-up of the back of the ex-Soil in Sacconi's book (the close-up of the c-bout). The form is gorgeous and the "texture" of the flame stunning!