nathan slobodkin

For those with old wood samples to play with is there any way to see if the wood itself is more opaque absent the dirt that builds up inside instruments? I just had a violin in the shop that was absolutely impervious to light even though only a hundred years old. Made me wonder if it's just dirty or If I'm off on the date or if the wood itself gets opaque faster than I have thought it does. And while I'm asking how would opacity of the wood affect the optical appearance of the vanish?

I have always used a regular coping saw for cutting cello FFs. Unfortunately the nice ones like the Disston #9 are no longer being made and the cheap ones are really pretty substandard. What you need is a saw that can have the blade installed with only moderate pressure to close the arms and slip the blade in and that has rotating blade holders with a lever to turn the blade and detent stops to index the rotation These used to be in every hardware store but are now hard to find. I'm told Lee Nielsen has them or  will be making some soon.

The father of my old boss once saw me trying several sets of strings on a Strad they were about to sell. He asked if I knew what they cost. I asked him if he knew what the Strad would eventually cost. He smiled and left the room. Smart man! You always choose the best materials that you can, and then you do the best work that you can. One proviso. The customers wishes should always be taken seriously. You can always try and persuade them otherwise, b  ut first you have to convinced yourself. 

Thanks for the input Roger

My issue is that often I am trying to figure out what setup and string combination to put on an instrument which I am sending to a shop on consignment (and I know THEY are not changing the strings every month!)  or that I am sending the thing to some one who contacted me on the internet and who I have never met or heard them play. So I'm trying to find a set-up which will appeal to the broadest spectrum of players (and or their teachers, colleagues and  Tom, Dick or Harry that they they may show it to) as well as having the best chance of staying more or less well adjusted over a reasonable length of time. I know that this is not easy to do but the closer I can get the less the chance of getting a fiddle back after two years in some shop and finding that it's been ridiculously out of adjustment since the day it arrived.I do try to find out as much about the client as possible before sending them something but this remains a thorny problem. I sometimes think that the best bet is to just set up for maximum power and hope that the client will realize that if it has power to spare then you can trade some of the power for a more malleable or sweeter sound if you want to.

Sorry joining late in the chat!

Really surprised you guys are fretting over the cost of strings when your instrument sells for 100x or more over the cost of a full set (well for cellos anyway). Surely what matters is that it sounds the best it possibly can, period. Saving $50-100 on cheapo strings is a false economy if it makes your instrument less sellable.

Using quality used strings is possible but be careful on the brand - some strings after being unwound lose any special qualities they might have had: the inner construction might be sensitive to the unwinding process, with some internal damage resulting in a loss of certain acoustic qualities.

@vclatl : the FX rate is actually $1.51
The last time the rate was $1.75 was in Oct 2008!! Anyway, give us a week or two and we will have prices in USD to make sure you don't apply exchange rates from yesteryear

Our strings are effectively free to try. If you don't like 'em, send 'em back and get a full refund. This is super fair and demonstrates our belief in our product - no one else is offering this

If you still don't want to try them it is probably because you have already made up your own mind what are the best strings out there without venturing further afield. No price changes, promises, free gifts or anything will make an once of difference..

I certainly agree that $50 dollars for a set of strings on a $10,000 or $20,0000 instrument is not a problem but when you are showing three or four of them and it takes a year or so to sell them all you may end up spending hundreds per instrument and on cellos that can run three or four times as much. if you have to change  strings for every showing.  If you are dealing with less expensive violins you still have to consider that you may lose a sale if the kid shows their teacher the one violin out of the dozen you show them  which you didn't change the strings on.  That's why I asked the question ;because this really does add up to a signifigant expense as well as taking precious time keeping dozens of instruments sounding their best in case someone walks in and wants to look at them.

We probably  had the same teacher...but you were a better student.

   Thanks Kubasa It's nice to fix stuff...I learned a lot in a  simple way,It was my first time working willow .I will use it again for blocks.

James

I have always used willow for blocks .Great stuff. I would reccomend sticking with the American black willow or the European stuff. The American weeping willow is too soft for upper and lower blocks however.