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Making musical instruments from Ladoll - DIY violin. What do violin makers make violins from? How paper clips are made

What do advanced violin makers make classical violins from?

Violin maker Stradivarius and spruce

The great Stradivarius from Cremona - violin maker, what he breathed, what he thought about, what he dreamed about when creating his masterpieces. Stradivari is the great violin master of creating and manufacturing a classical violin, whose secrets many craftsmen have been trying to unravel for three centuries and create their own master violin. In the period from 1930-50, a number of studies of classical Stradivarius violins were also carried out in the Soviet Union. They tried to organize the production and production of classical violins in mass production. Anfilov Gleb Borisovich in his popular science book “Physics and Music” (1962) mentions the ongoing research and its results.

Violin makers we wondered what the great masters made violins from, what wood the violins were made from, and what was the secret of the unique sound of violins made by Stradivarius.

Rest violin makers intuitively looked for the zest in making a classical violin.

Their assumptions boiled down to basic things; they thought the secret was:

To remove resin from spruce:

Spruce in resonance:

In the type of wood;

In the soil in which the tree grew;

At the time of year of cutting down the tree;

In dryness and the presence of wormholes.

It is believed that Russian spruce gives the sound a special sensuality, tenderness and even silveriness.
German - has strength, power and even rudeness.
Using this chain of thought, it can be assumed that musical instruments and classical violins made from a material that is characteristic of a given area reflect the character of the people. Russian music should be performed on native instruments, just like German music. But what about the skills of the master, the tuner’s ear, the violinist’s performance style and the quality of the scores?

Violin maker Mukhin and foam plastic

Vasily Filippovich Mukhin, a Leningrad violin maker, disputed these assumptions.

He proved with his works that alder is no worse than the famous Tyrolean spruce. From my experience making a violin with my own hands, I conclude that using wood to make a violin, it is impossible to create instruments that sound the same. To make identical instruments with a repeating sound, it is necessary to use a homogeneous material, for example, make the body of a violin from hard foam.

Imagine how surprised the musicians were when they made their own foam violin. Curiosity took over, a wave of the bow and classical music began to flow, everyone was amazed by the beautiful timbre and powerful sound of the violin. The creator was pleased with the finished violin. At that time it was a breakthrough. He did not stop at the violin; the Leningrad violin maker made a violin, viola, cello and double bass from foam plastic for an ensemble of bowed players. Where are they now?

One day this history of the violin and its testing, similar to the legend, happened on the radio, when two groups were recording Mozart’s works there, but none of the sound engineers signed the magnetic tape. I had to turn to the musicians of the State Quartet named after S.I. Taneyev to identify the recording. Surprisingly, the musical pieces sounded the same in timbre and color of sound. It was difficult to distinguish foam tools from regular ones. Using porous material, homogeneous in physical properties And chemical composition, V. Mukhin proved that it is possible to make not only a violin, but also to make identical instruments that are not inferior to classical ones, but not exceeding them. They are probably more suitable for jazz or teaching purposes than for academic use in a symphony orchestra. You can’t buy such a violin in a music store, but there is a trend to print electronic violins on a 3D printer.

Masters from pBone and plastic

Plastic has a richer range and spectrum of frequencies than wood or foam plastic. It can be given different colors of a musical instrument and sound, volume and transparency. The beginning has been made, the music becomes plastic.

I needed a violin. Well, as you already know, the simple BUY route is not for me.

For work we will need:
The base is cardboard. Here I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the cardboard is preferably thin - not corrugated. Because corrugated cardboard has ugly sides and “waves” are visible. I use a tea box.
Glue. I use a pencil to glue blanks - it will work with it required quantity glue and the workpiece will not bend, like from, for example, PVA.
Grinding tools. For me it's sandpaper, needle files and a nail file.
Ruler.
Scissors.
Pencil.
Needle. Or, in my case, a multifunctional knife, which now has a needle attachment.
Paints, brush, varnish.
Threads for strings.
And, not included in the frame, polymer clay for making the head.

First of all, let's determine the size of the violin. I’ll say right away that I made a mistake in my calculations (I should have counted from the chin to the end of the arm + the head, I didn’t take this into account and it turned out that the doll’s palm contained a head - a little short by about one and a half cm - in 1:6 format this is very critical), therefore my violin will live only in a case for beauty.
So, we’ve decided on the length, find a picture of a violin on the Internet and use the good old “draloscope”, as my grandfather called it) That is, we adjust the size on the screen with a wheel, measure with a ruler so that it fits, apply a piece of paper and carefully edit it with a pencil.

Or, if you have a printer at home, then there is a simpler option - upload the picture into Word (here important point- select the scale of the sheet on the screen so that its width matches the A4 sheet), stretch it to the size we need (measure with a ruler) and send it for printing.

My version is hand drawing.

We cut out the pattern and transfer it to cardboard. We repeat several times. We cut out and glue the pieces together.

I got something like this) Don’t be alarmed if the edge is not smooth, it’s very easy to sand it down until it’s beautiful.

I sanded with a nail file, sandpaper and needle files. It’s more convenient for someone here)

This is roughly the smooth edge you should get after sanding.

In the same way, we make a neck from several layers of cardboard. I made the head from polymer. The black on the violin itself is the string stand. A piece of cardboard is cut in, glued into the middle and painted. It's too small of a detail - I didn't take a photo.

Glue all the parts together and paint. We stretch the strings. This time I took thread for the strings. The wire looked too rough. And for a guitar, I advise you to take a silver thread, because the paper bends under the tension of the wire and the strings sag. On my guitar, the strings are fixed in four places, because I’m stubborn)))) Otherwise, it was easier to take threads)
We tighten the strings like this - we drip glue at the bottom of the violin, lay out the “strings”, wait for it to dry, then we tighten it (without fanaticism, just so as not to break everything) and put it in the head. At this moment, we hold the strings in the head with one hand, and with the other hand, using a needle or other thin instrument, we lay out the strings on the stand. And only after that we drip glue into the head and fix the strings at the top.

We use a huge number of things every day and have almost stopped noticing them. But it turns out that in the production of things that seem insignificant at first glance, there is a lot of interesting and educational stuff hidden. The entertainment program “Conveyor MK” will reveal the secrets of making the simplest things at first glance. Today on the program: .

The violin is practically the only musical instrument, not counting ritual drums and Greek harps, that was deified. The names of the parts of the violin have been preserved: head, neck, chest, waist, darling. The violin was created as an analogue of the human voice. Until now, even with the most modern technology, it has not been possible to synthesize the timbre of a human voice and a violin. For centuries, the technology, materials and methods of its manufacture have been developed, which have remained virtually unchanged since the mid-18th century. The violin has become one of the most classical instruments.

The structure of a violin is the most complex in terms of physics, acoustics and resistance of materials. In fact, it is a complex acoustic device that requires precise tuning and adjustment.

There are many schools and directions of violin making, but the most prominent are Italian, French and German. They all have their advantages and disadvantages and differ significantly from each other both in sound and manufacturing methods. The sound of instruments of the Italian school is recognized as the most timbre, flexible and controllable. That is, the musician can control the timbre characteristics of the instrument. The sound of German school instruments is bright and empty. French instruments sound somewhat glassy and hollow. Although in all schools there were instruments with “foreign” characteristics.

Three types of wood are used to make a violin: maple, spruce and ebony (black) wood. Depending on the properties of the tree, they are made from it various parts tool. Since the top is almost entirely responsible for the sound of the bass strings, the combination of softness and elasticity of spruce is ideal for it. The back, head and sides are made from maple. The back mainly works for the upper register, and the density of the maple corresponds to these frequencies. The neck is made of ebony. Ebony, due to its high rigidity and strength (by the way, it sinks in water) has maximum resistance to wear from strings. Only ironwood can compete with it, but it is very heavy and has a green color.

The combination of maple, spruce and ebony is used in almost all stringed wooden instruments: bowed instruments, guitar, balalaika, domra, lyre, zither, harp and others.

Many generations of craftsmen have experimented with various materials for making a violin (poplar, pear, cherry, acacia, cypress, walnut), but maple and spruce best meet the acoustic requirements. This is confirmed by all modern research.

The best wood for making a violin is considered to be one that grows in the mountains. It's a matter of climate. In the mountains, wood is exposed to sudden temperature changes and is not oversaturated with moisture. Thus, the summer layers become smaller than on the plain and, in general, the relative elasticity increases, i.e. sound conductivity. According to established tradition, to make the back, craftsmen use wavy maple, which is distinguished by a beautiful wavy pattern. Known historical fact getting to the Italian masters of wavy maple. In the 18th century, Türkiye supplied Italy with maple for oars on galleys. The oars were straight-grained maple. But since it is difficult to understand its structure without sawing a log, batches of wavy maple often came in, to the delight of violin makers. By the way, working with wavy maple is much more difficult than with regular maple.

Of particular interest, controversy and legend is the method of “tuning” the instrument’s decks. The most complex and effective way used by the Italians. A. Stradivari completely “honed” this method in the last 10 years of his life. It is known from physics that the thinner and softer material, the lower the tone it emits, that is, it reaches maximum resonance at low frequencies. Conversely, the denser (harder) and thicker the material, the higher its resonant frequency. Thus, by changing the density and thickness of the material, you can achieve maximum resonance for the desired sound. The essence of setting up the instrument deck is quite simple. For every sound “taken” on a string, there should be a section on the soundboard that resonates with it as much as possible and harmoniously combines with the rest. The problem is that all sounds have several overtones, which must also have “their place” and also be harmoniously combined with the rest. In addition, the soundboard of the violin is under constant tension under the pressure of the strings (for example, the stand “presses” on the upper soundboard with a force of 30 kg). Soundboard tuning is one of the most difficult and important operations in violin making. The genius of Italian tuning is that, being the most complex (total), it takes into account any properties of the material. This is why direct copying of the thicknesses of unique tools does not give the desired results, since there are no absolutely identical pieces of wood. Frequently published thickness maps of unique instruments (Vitachek) do not carry any information if you do not have the deck from which this map was made in your hands.

The plasticity of the vaults, and not their height, is of great importance. All other parts of the violin (head, neck, shells) also resonate, and therefore participate in the formation of sound. Wood, being an organic, dispersed material, can absorb and release moisture, thus changing its mass, and therefore its resonant frequency. This property is well known to violinists when instruments change their sound in rainy weather. That’s why the soil, about which there are many legends, is so important. Priming the decks is very similar to embalming Egyptian mummies. The materials are very similar and the goals are absolutely the same - to preserve the material in its original form, to prevent moisture and rotting. In a violin, this process is more complex, since by introducing soil into the wood, we change its mass, and therefore the sound quality. In addition, by changing something in one area of ​​the deck, its relationship with others is automatically disrupted.

There are many legends about the secret of the sound of ancient instruments. There is a claim that the secret is in the varnish. This is not true. The purpose of the varnish is to protect the instrument from external influence, highlight the beauty of the wood and not hinder the sound. When the varnish was washed off one of Stradivari's instruments, it began to sound worse. The fact is that the varnish was washed off, and not cleaned off mechanically. That is, they were exposed to a liquid solvent, which, of course, was absorbed into the wood and changed its mass and density.

But that's not all. In those days when violins were created, which delighted the whole world, there were different requirements for sound, different strings (gut), the neck was shorter, wider and at a different angle to the body, a different stand and the standard of the tuning fork “A” was half a tone lower. That is, now we hear a completely different sound that was embedded in them during manufacture. From an acoustic point of view, the shape of the violin is not ideal. Already in our time, research was carried out in this area, and it turned out that the ideal shape for sound is trapezoidal (in the shape of a small coffin). But there were no people willing to play such violins. The third string that suffers the most on a violin is the third string. Even on the best Italian instruments it is a little weaker than the others. Modern string manufacturers take this into account. Nowadays the authentic style of playing and the structure of the violin are being revived. And this is much closer to why this tool was created.

French master Menanteau was born on July 29, 1977 in Vendée, France. He subsequently moved to Newark, England, where he entered International school violin making to learn the craft of creating and restoring musical instruments.

Having received a certificate of completion from the School, Matthias went to Berlin and began working in the violin workshop of Anton Pilar. It was there, in a city with a rich musical tradition, that Matthias deepened and expanded his knowledge and skills. It served him well good service for further training in workshops in Paris and New York.

After living in Germany for five years, he moved to the city of Cremona, located in Lombardy, Italy. This city is rightfully considered the cradle of violin making. Working in the workshop of Eric Blot, Matthias not only became an expert in restoring instruments, but also became acquainted with the dynasties of great Italian masters such as Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri. Finally, in February 2010, Menanto opened his own violin workshop in the ancient quarter of Monti in the historical center of Rome.

Here, in addition to repairing and restoring violins, he applies traditional techniques and methods for creating his own bowed instruments, which he borrowed from eighteenth-century Italian violin makers from Cremona and Venice.

The process of making new tools is subject to strict rules, while the art of restoration leaves room for freedom of action. Professional conservators, like wood specialists, do not neglect scientific approaches - such as the use of X-rays to detect the tunnels dug by termites, or dendrochronology - a method of dating changes in the quality of wood depending on the arrangement of growth rings.

Making a tool always begins with selecting wood. The cutting and cutting of the material must be carried out with filigree precision. Stringed instruments typically consist of a neck, along which the strings are stretched, and a soundboard, to which the neck is attached and which serves to amplify the sound.

The violin has more than fifty different parts, each of which is made from a different type of wood. The soundboard is made from spruce, which grows in sheltered valleys at altitudes of 1000-1500 meters (3280-4921 feet). The higher the growing zone of these spruce trees, the finer the wood fibers, since cold climate interferes with their development. The trees are carefully selected for their sound quality, which is determined by the woodcutter tapping the base of each trunk with an ax.

The violin's back and sides are made from maple, which grows widely in forests Central Europe and especially in Bohemia. But the neck is carved from high-quality ebony from Madagascar, known as “black ivory”. Menanto began stocking up on wood more than thirty years ago, buying it from old violin makers during his apprenticeship in England.

In conclusion, we cannot fail to mention the so-called “stand”. This is such an important part of the violin that it takes on the role of the master's calling card. It is here that Matthias Menanto, like many of his predecessors, leaves his signature mark on the violin.

P.S. Famous French violin maker will visit the Russian capital again and will take part in the Second Festival “Masters of Music”. Throughout the week from November 10 to 16, in the building of the Arkhipovsky Music Salon (the main venue for master classes), it will be available to all children every day in case of any breakdowns or problems with instruments and bows.

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Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

You can make a violin, guitar, balalaika. I made a double bass. To begin with, we find a suitable photo of a double bass on the Internet, print it out the right size

Cut it out. Transfer to cardboard. My cardboard was not very thick, so I had to glue four layers together for strength.

We put the glued parts under the press and dry them very well.

The result should be: the front and back surfaces of the body of the double bass, the neck, the headstock and two parts of the side walls of the double bass.

In the future, you will need to make a couple of parts that will at the moment it is impossible to do, since they need to be adjusted to an almost finished instrument.

We bend the side bars and screw them onto the glass.

Let's start assembling the double bass. Glue perpendicular to the back surface side walls using the papier-mâché technique.

Please note: the pin needs to be secured at the bottom at this stage. I used the top of the TV antenna attached to cold welding. Inner surface I painted the double bass with black acrylic, since the white insides will be visible through the f-hole slots.

Now you can attach the front wall in the same way, having previously cut holes in it - f-holes.

After drying the structure well under a press, I cover it with LaDoll on all sides and dry it again. You need to cover the fingerboard and the fretboard with LaDoll. Now you can make a stand for the strings.

We rub all the parts with fine sandpaper to a mirror shine.

Now you need to make a pattern, according to which the part will be made that holds the body of the double bass and the neck together. To do this, we place the neck on the double bass and use a wire to fix the desired angle.

I'm procrastinating masking tape attached to a broken nail file.

This file will be the basis for a thick layer of LaDolla.

We attach the resulting part (I don’t know what it’s called :)) to the neck with LaDoll.

Now you can start making the headstock. To do this, I took a sheet of paper, cut out a pattern from it, rolled it into a tube and, depending on the result obtained, adjusted the pattern. Transferred from the pattern to the LaDolla layer.

Raw LaDoll was rolled into a tube and dried, giving the free end a curved shape.

Now we put the three parts together, adjust them and grind them. We make a recess and side holes in the headstock.

I used wooden teeth from a massager as pegs. It is too early to attach them at this stage. We paint, dry, and varnish all the parts. I used parquet varnish. Dry again very well.