Author Topic: Musical Instruments  (Read 10214 times)

Offline tangler

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Musical Instruments
« on: March 01, 2013, 09:15:27 PM »
As requested, here are some 1:1 models I made of early musical instruments:


 A bass viol after John Rose c.1600




A violin with baroque fittings after Jacob Stainer


My first instrument, a lute, which is exactly as I made it except that over the years I've changed the pegbox, neck, fingerboard, front and bridge  8).

I'll post some pics of the workshop and tools when I've tidied it up a bit.

Rod
« Last Edit: March 01, 2013, 09:19:18 PM by tangler »

Offline ths

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Musical Instruments
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2013, 09:52:37 PM »
Thanks, Rod. An enviable collection, very beautiful. I'll show them to my 15yr old, hopefully get a return shot in of his uke!

I know that if I was to ask did you cut out the soundboard of the lute with a fret/coping  saw, you'd say 'yes'. Well done.

Hugh.

Offline tangler

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2013, 10:02:25 PM »
Hugh,

The soundboard rose was cut out using some tiny chisels I made from bits of hacksaw blade.  You stick a paper pattern on the back and then cut through.  Not as difficult as it sounds.  The soundboard is only about 1.5mm thick at the rose, a fretsaw would tear it apart.

Rod

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2013, 12:21:11 AM »
Beautiful work there, Hugh.
A buddy of mine at work builds guitars. He'll want to see these.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
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Online steamer

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2013, 12:24:28 AM »
Beautifully Done Rod!   As  a owner of a custom hand made guitar. ( NOT by me) ..I can really appreciate the amount of work that goes into that!

Dave
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2013, 12:43:43 AM »
Lovely work Rod. Thanks for posting the pics . Wood is a different animal of course, but takes every bit as much craftsmanship to turn it into something as beautiful as those.

Bill

Offline ths

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Musical Instruments
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2013, 06:08:34 AM »
Thanks, Carl, but really, Rod should get the credit.

Hugh.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2013, 12:27:45 PM »
I was just telling you (Hugh) that Rod's work is beautiful.  ;D

Yeah...I wouldn't buy that either. I did mean Rod. Sorry.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline ths

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Musical Instruments
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2013, 06:10:11 AM »
Carl, I can see what you meant, and I hope that when I finally build something to show on here, that those sentiments will remain unchanged!

Hugh.

Offline CliffH

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2013, 08:08:38 PM »
Oh, so beautiful!
Do you play these, tangler?
How long does it take to make them?
How do you design...or measure them up?
Presumably brand new, do they sound just like the originals, or do they 'grow' into it?
In admiration from a saxophonist,
CliffH
CliffH

Offline tangler

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2013, 11:22:47 PM »
Hi Cliff,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been freezing my fastenings off on the back of a narrow boat for the past week.  I can play a few tunes on the lute and I've been having classical guitar lessons for the past 4 years.  I made 2 lutes for myself and on seeing these some work colleagues and others asked me to make some instruments for them - a couple of bass viols, a baroque viola and 2 violins, one of which was the Stainer copy.  I was really loath to hand over the Stainer violin, it's definitively the best thing I've ever done.  I've no feel really for how authentic the sound is but I tried to build my instruments according to the best understanding at the time of historical construction methods.  The instruments were mostly based on museum drawings.  I've made the mould for a chittarone which is a ludicrous instrument, a bass lute with a 2 metre neck but that's on hold while I do some engineering.

Thanks for your interest,
Rod

Offline CliffH

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2013, 04:49:18 PM »
Tangler, please don't apologise for delay in replying. And now, freeze no more ! well, not until next winter, now only a few months away....
If you do get a few minutes, I'd like to hear how you went about getting started: it's not that I'm going to do anything like it (my personal musical interest is in what may be our newest instrument - apart from electronic instruments- the saxophone; I'd love to see them made, but am happy to play them) as you have rather tossed off the idea of having made them, and it takes a lot of skill.
CliffH
CliffH

Offline tangler

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2013, 09:10:39 AM »
Cliff,

Many years ago I used to listen to Radio 3 and one morning they reviewed a book called "Making Musical Instruments" by Charles Ford.  There was a chapter in that book on making a lute and, because I'm a fan of Julian Bream and had some records of lute music  by him, I thought I'd buy the book and have a go.  Which I did.  The first lute was usable but I knew I could do better. I bought the drawings for a lute in the Warwick museum and made a second one, which was better.  The picture in the post shows the first one which has been completely refurbished over the years, only the back is original.  A publication called FOMRHI was very useful in providing contact with makers, reviews of books, plans and techniques.  As I progressed I decided I needed a metal working lathe to make some tools, which of course, is where it all went wrong ;)  I'd had a small amount of previous experience - after I got slung out of Bath University I was unemployed for few months and tried to make an electric guitar based on zero knowledge.  It wasn't a success.

Cheers,

Rod
« Last Edit: April 15, 2013, 09:14:17 AM by tangler »

Online steamer

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2013, 12:09:54 PM »
Cool!  I went to see Bream in concert say 10-15 years ago at Boston Symphony Hall.   Quite the night.   He went the gamet from very old to ultra modern. :ThumbsUp:

Dave
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Damned ijjit!

Offline CliffH

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Re: Musical Instruments
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2013, 03:01:44 PM »
Rod,
Thanks for that, it's very interesting. I'm even more impressed!
Cliff
CliffH

 

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