Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Thanks for the info, deblittle. I just bought a brand new fiddle myself a couple of months ago. One important thing I didn't know was that the sound post would need to be replaced in about a year or so!
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I enjoyed reading this information too. It's nice to see the strong relationship that develops between a musician and a beloved instrument. Deb, why do you call your fiddle #14? I too believe that leaving it out by the stereo is helpful. It may not be scientific, but it is intuitive. Have you seen the movie The Red Violin with Samuel L. Jackson? It is one of my favorites.
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
That would be Eoin O Riabaigh. They are Taylor pipes that were buried with their owner at his request. His family, after a year or so, got to thinking that it was a shame that those pipes were mouldering in the ground, so they dug the grave back up and extracted the pipes. The pipes wound up stuck in an attic after a generation or two. They were given to Eoin by the family, who thought it was a shame that they weren't being played after all that.
Another story about the pipes that Eoin gave us while here in Denver was that he looked at Dirk's pipes and said, wow, I haven't seen that set in a very long time. His brother in law had made them and Eoin was probably the first piper to play them. How they got from Ireland to a teenager in Vail, Colorado (from whom Dirk bought them) we don't know.
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Wow! that is a great analogy to the story in The Red Violin..! Very interesting...., almost uncanny, as if that was the basis for the story line, who knows.... Thanks for relating it Zina. I don't know Dirk, but I'm so glad he recovered those pipes! I have been a vintage instrument dealer and collector for many years. The pedigree of an instrument really enhances the relationship. This brings back a lot of great memories about that movie and I'm headed to Blockbuster tonight to refresh the synapses.
What I was actually remembering was the acoustic experiment when the Technician placed the violin in the sound chamber, right above the speaker. It was the method of scientificially measuring its purity,... and a vivid moment, reminscent of King Solomon as he was about to cut the baby in half and the true mother screamed out,... when Samuel Jackson could not stand it as the violin was tortured.
But still, the point being, I think exposure to recorded music is good for an acoustic instrument, like reading to a baby in the woumb... (Ha, and all this coming from a drummer, what do I know?).~!~`
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
You know,(I thought about that aspect for a few moments. Yes, in once sense it is a little unsettling, but again, I have come to believe that is is better to correct mistakes in life than to stubbornly live with them. And I loved Zina's word "mouldering", I didn't even know that was a word.
Hey Deb, I'd be a little cautious about cleaning my instrument every time I played it with Xylene. Maybe I'm wrong, but for me, that sounds like an accident, waiting for a place to happen. Of course, I'm one of those people who would be trying so hard to be perfect that I would dump the whole bottle over in my violin during the process of trying not to spill a drop from the cleaning cloth. (smile).
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Yes, it's quite creepy, Andee and Charlie -- thank goodness you don't blow on uilleann pipes, don't you think? I don't think I could quite bear the thought of putting lips to a reed on that set no matter how many times one cleaned it if they were mouth blown...eeeaaauuugh. *grin* I imagine by now they're quite over their six-foot-down experience, but still...
I mainly remember that story so well, Deb, because it impressed the heck out of Dirk. (Well, it probably impressed him more that Eoin had been the piper that had played in Dirk's set in its infancy -- how unlikely is that?!) Dirk tells the story (actually, both of them) fairly often at gigs, so I hear it fairly often.
I know of techs who swear that the whole tone-wood-over-a-speaker thing is so much persiflage, and others who absolutely swear by it. Those who think it's a lot of bull-puckies tend to talk about the fact that wood is dead and therefore cannot "loosen" anything except by deterioration. Me, I've no idea whatsoever if it's true or a fairy tale. We should get Will in on this, as an old maker himself...
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
P.S. Eoin is a very, very, VERY funny man. Absolutely delightful guy (as are the other two main tutors, Kevin Glackin and Conal O Grada), and if you ever get a chance to get a lesson from him (or the other two), do it. Which of course, you can, through Scoiltrad.
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I'd use isopropanol ("isoprop") rather than xylene. You can get it in most drug stores (chemist in the UK). It doesn't have anything like the health hazard of xylene, unless you drink it, but you need the same level of care when applying to the strings. Like xylene or alcohol, it will make the varnish vanish in double-quick time, so keep the bottle well away from the instrument and apply it to the strings using a lint-free cloth. Isoprop evaporates very quickly (possible fire hazard!) so provided you hold the fiddle so that the belly is vertical the chances of the stuff dripping onto the belly is remote.
I wouldn't recommend surgical spirit or industrial spirit because they contain added oils and other stuff which are not a good idea on the fiddle strings.
Trevor
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I once took a look at a fiddle of a friend from the East Coast. The poor thing was coated with rosin dust. "You should clean that stuff off," I pointed out, "or sooner or later it'll eat the varnish off your fiddle and wreck it." I'll never forget the look of outright horror and consternation on his face and for a split second I thought he was all concerned about his fiddle. But no.
"Clean it off!?" he exclaimed. "But I worked so hard to get it all on there! And it looks so good that way!"
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
re Cleaning:
What you want to clean is the fingerboard and the strings, I suppose.
If you hold the fiddle horizontal, back side facing up, while cleaning with a moistened clean rag there
Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Proper maintenance and care, breaking in a new instrument and information about tone. Provided by Santiago & Star Violins.
I just bought a new fiddle from Santiago & Star Violins. This is the 2nd one I
# Posted on April 30th 2003 by deblittle
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Thanks for the info, deblittle. I just bought a brand new fiddle myself a couple of months ago. One important thing I didn't know was that the sound post would need to be replaced in about a year or so!
# Posted on April 30th 2003 by Andee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I enjoyed reading this information too. It's nice to see the strong relationship that develops between a musician and a beloved instrument. Deb, why do you call your fiddle #14? I too believe that leaving it out by the stereo is helpful. It may not be scientific, but it is intuitive. Have you seen the movie The Red Violin with Samuel L. Jackson? It is one of my favorites.
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I referred it as # 14 because it is part of the label system of the maker. I have #14 and my new #20. I
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by deblittle
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
That would be Eoin O Riabaigh. They are Taylor pipes that were buried with their owner at his request. His family, after a year or so, got to thinking that it was a shame that those pipes were mouldering in the ground, so they dug the grave back up and extracted the pipes. The pipes wound up stuck in an attic after a generation or two. They were given to Eoin by the family, who thought it was a shame that they weren't being played after all that.
Another story about the pipes that Eoin gave us while here in Denver was that he looked at Dirk's pipes and said, wow, I haven't seen that set in a very long time. His brother in law had made them and Eoin was probably the first piper to play them. How they got from Ireland to a teenager in Vail, Colorado (from whom Dirk bought them) we don't know.
Zina
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Wow! that is a great analogy to the story in The Red Violin..! Very interesting...., almost uncanny, as if that was the basis for the story line, who knows.... Thanks for relating it Zina. I don't know Dirk, but I'm so glad he recovered those pipes! I have been a vintage instrument dealer and collector for many years. The pedigree of an instrument really enhances the relationship. This brings back a lot of great memories about that movie and I'm headed to Blockbuster tonight to refresh the synapses.
What I was actually remembering was the acoustic experiment when the Technician placed the violin in the sound chamber, right above the speaker. It was the method of scientificially measuring its purity,... and a vivid moment, reminscent of King Solomon as he was about to cut the baby in half and the true mother screamed out,... when Samuel Jackson could not stand it as the violin was tortured.
But still, the point being, I think exposure to recorded music is good for an acoustic instrument, like reading to a baby in the woumb... (Ha, and all this coming from a drummer, what do I know?).~!~`
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Zina - Thanks for putting the story together and for refreshing my synapses. Awesome story! I thought that it was something like that but it
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by deblittle
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Zina, creepy story about digging the pipes back up from the grave. Kind of Wuthering Heights-ish.
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by Andee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
You know,(I thought about that aspect for a few moments. Yes, in once sense it is a little unsettling, but again, I have come to believe that is is better to correct mistakes in life than to stubbornly live with them. And I loved Zina's word "mouldering", I didn't even know that was a word.
Hey Deb, I'd be a little cautious about cleaning my instrument every time I played it with Xylene. Maybe I'm wrong, but for me, that sounds like an accident, waiting for a place to happen. Of course, I'm one of those people who would be trying so hard to be perfect that I would dump the whole bottle over in my violin during the process of trying not to spill a drop from the cleaning cloth. (smile).
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Yes, it's quite creepy, Andee and Charlie -- thank goodness you don't blow on uilleann pipes, don't you think? I don't think I could quite bear the thought of putting lips to a reed on that set no matter how many times one cleaned it if they were mouth blown...eeeaaauuugh. *grin* I imagine by now they're quite over their six-foot-down experience, but still...
I mainly remember that story so well, Deb, because it impressed the heck out of Dirk. (Well, it probably impressed him more that Eoin had been the piper that had played in Dirk's set in its infancy -- how unlikely is that?!) Dirk tells the story (actually, both of them) fairly often at gigs, so I hear it fairly often.
I know of techs who swear that the whole tone-wood-over-a-speaker thing is so much persiflage, and others who absolutely swear by it. Those who think it's a lot of bull-puckies tend to talk about the fact that wood is dead and therefore cannot "loosen" anything except by deterioration. Me, I've no idea whatsoever if it's true or a fairy tale. We should get Will in on this, as an old maker himself...
zls
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
P.S. Eoin is a very, very, VERY funny man. Absolutely delightful guy (as are the other two main tutors, Kevin Glackin and Conal O Grada), and if you ever get a chance to get a lesson from him (or the other two), do it. Which of course, you can, through Scoiltrad.
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I'd use isopropanol ("isoprop") rather than xylene. You can get it in most drug stores (chemist in the UK). It doesn't have anything like the health hazard of xylene, unless you drink it, but you need the same level of care when applying to the strings. Like xylene or alcohol, it will make the varnish vanish in double-quick time, so keep the bottle well away from the instrument and apply it to the strings using a lint-free cloth. Isoprop evaporates very quickly (possible fire hazard!) so provided you hold the fiddle so that the belly is vertical the chances of the stuff dripping onto the belly is remote.
I wouldn't recommend surgical spirit or industrial spirit because they contain added oils and other stuff which are not a good idea on the fiddle strings.
Trevor
# Posted on May 1st 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
I once took a look at a fiddle of a friend from the East Coast. The poor thing was coated with rosin dust. "You should clean that stuff off," I pointed out, "or sooner or later it'll eat the varnish off your fiddle and wreck it." I'll never forget the look of outright horror and consternation on his face and for a split second I thought he was all concerned about his fiddle. But no.
"Clean it off!?" he exclaimed. "But I worked so hard to get it all on there! And it looks so good that way!"
zls
# Posted on May 2nd 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
re Cleaning:
What you want to clean is the fingerboard and the strings, I suppose.
If you hold the fiddle horizontal, back side facing up, while cleaning with a moistened clean rag there
# Posted on May 6th 2003 by musiklab
Re: Proper maintenance and care: Santiago & Star Violins.
Thanks for you suggestions and comments. Michael - good idea about turning the fiddle over!!
Deb
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by deblittle