My new (old) violin is really light, much lighter in weight than my old skylark. When I was at orchestra yesterday, I held my friends Stainer for her, and it was so much heavier than mine! Is this because of the domed style of carving used on the Stainer models? What is better? Does more wood dampen the sound, or does too little wood make for little resonance?
THe weight of the violin has to do, in simple terms, with how mush wood was carved out of the spruce on top, and maple on the back. Generally a lighter violin could resonate more, but some of the Markneukirchen German facory instruments are very nice even though they are a bit heavy.
In general light is good. A well made fiddle will have a front that is mostly less than 3mm thick. The back should vary from about 5mm down to about 2.5mm. A cheap factory made instrument will have thicker wood throughout. On the other hand, there are always exceptions. A heavier fiddle might only respond to more vigorous "violinistic" playing, but sound great when it does.
The fittings, particularly the chin rest make a surprising amount of difference. Instruments are only comparable without them.
The other place where there might be less wood, hence less weight, could be in the neck. My 200+ old German violin is much lighter than my cheap 1970's Chinese one too. It has a narrower neck, for one thing. When I picked it up from the Post Office I thought it couldn't possibly have been in the parcel. It has, to my ear, a lovely tone, and it vibrates before its even played. I wish you the very best with your new old instrument. Cheers.
A narrow neck, as well as being lighter and improving the tone and resonance of the instrument, is slightly more comfortable to use than a broader-necked fiddle.
Gripping the neck of the fiddle tightly with the left hand will noticeable deaden the resonance of a good fiddle (same thing happens with a good guitar), so if you can avoid gripping and just let the neck rest lightly between the thumb and finger, all the better for the tone and facility and speed in fingering.
Think of the fiddle as just "floating" in the air and, by chance, your left hand happens to be resting under one end and your collar-bone under the other, and you rarely need much, if any, gripping by the chin - really only if you're coming back down the fingerboard from a high position (and that's rare in ITM).
I prepared my previous post in MS Word 97, using Times Roman Italic, and copied and pasted to the Reply form. This website has obviously completed ignored that font, so I can only conclude that using italics here probably isn't possible.
BTW, I raised this question in passing a few days ago on another thread.
Trevor
not too sure..
your obvious impresion would be that a heavy wood would hold the vibrations more than a lighter wood, therefore a more mellow sound than a damper sound..
I bet your "lighter" violin is way better than your other instrument. Usually the better quality wood is always lighter. This has to do with the age of the wood itself, and the drying process.
Also other huge factors are tailpiece (and what it's made out of), and all your fittings, etc. Yes, the graduation of the instrument makes a big deal, but it has got mainly to do with the age of the wood. Even if the violin was made last year, I bet the wood is way old. cheers
Light weight violin
Light weight violin
Hello,
My new (old) violin is really light, much lighter in weight than my old skylark. When I was at orchestra yesterday, I held my friends Stainer for her, and it was so much heavier than mine! Is this because of the domed style of carving used on the Stainer models? What is better? Does more wood dampen the sound, or does too little wood make for little resonance?
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by beano
Re: Light weight violin
i think lighter is better
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by aye
Re: Light weight violin
THe weight of the violin has to do, in simple terms, with how mush wood was carved out of the spruce on top, and maple on the back. Generally a lighter violin could resonate more, but some of the Markneukirchen German facory instruments are very nice even though they are a bit heavy.
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by Sunnybear
Re: Light weight violin
In general light is good. A well made fiddle will have a front that is mostly less than 3mm thick. The back should vary from about 5mm down to about 2.5mm. A cheap factory made instrument will have thicker wood throughout. On the other hand, there are always exceptions. A heavier fiddle might only respond to more vigorous "violinistic" playing, but sound great when it does.
The fittings, particularly the chin rest make a surprising amount of difference. Instruments are only comparable without them.
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by TomB-R
Re: Light weight violin
Then get rid of the chin rest and shoulder rest!
Trevor
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Light weight violin
The other place where there might be less wood, hence less weight, could be in the neck. My 200+ old German violin is much lighter than my cheap 1970's Chinese one too. It has a narrower neck, for one thing. When I picked it up from the Post Office I thought it couldn't possibly have been in the parcel. It has, to my ear, a lovely tone, and it vibrates before its even played. I wish you the very best with your new old instrument. Cheers.
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: Light weight violin
A narrow neck, as well as being lighter and improving the tone and resonance of the instrument, is slightly more comfortable to use than a broader-necked fiddle.
Gripping the neck of the fiddle tightly with the left hand will noticeable deaden the resonance of a good fiddle (same thing happens with a good guitar), so if you can avoid gripping and just let the neck rest lightly between the thumb and finger, all the better for the tone and facility and speed in fingering.
Think of the fiddle as just "floating" in the air and, by chance, your left hand happens to be resting under one end and your collar-bone under the other, and you rarely need much, if any, gripping by the chin - really only if you're coming back down the fingerboard from a high position (and that's rare in ITM).
Trevor
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Light weight violin
I prepared my previous post in MS Word 97, using Times Roman Italic, and copied and pasted to the Reply form. This website has obviously completed ignored that font, so I can only conclude that using italics here probably isn't possible.
BTW, I raised this question in passing a few days ago on another thread.
Trevor
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Light weight violin
Trevor, if Jeremy let them have italics they'd be wanting coloured text and bouncing smiley faces next. It's probably best this way.
# Posted on November 2nd 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Light weight violin
Dave, that sounds great! Let's lobby Jeremy for them
Trevor
# Posted on November 3rd 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Light weight violin
not too sure..
your obvious impresion would be that a heavy wood would hold the vibrations more than a lighter wood, therefore a more mellow sound than a damper sound..
but, to me, its all about the light bow...
# Posted on November 3rd 2004 by jimmyoats
Re: Light weight violin
I bet your "lighter" violin is way better than your other instrument. Usually the better quality wood is always lighter. This has to do with the age of the wood itself, and the drying process.
Also other huge factors are tailpiece (and what it's made out of), and all your fittings, etc. Yes, the graduation of the instrument makes a big deal, but it has got mainly to do with the age of the wood. Even if the violin was made last year, I bet the wood is way old. cheers
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by nfiddle