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SlowPockets - Posted - 06/27/2007: 08:20:46
Jerry's Ebay fiddle got me to thinking. The back on his is a nice big solid one piece with the grain running all the way across the back, while my fiddle has a two piece back. Does it make a difference in tone at all or is the decision to use one piece or two pieces more of an aesthetic or regional factor?
fiddlebob - Posted - 06/27/2007: 10:34:06
There are two schools of thought on the one piece, two piece back for a fiddle. The "purests" think that the two piece back is right . However brief look thru of "an Encyclopedia Of The Violin" would indicate that some of the old Italian makers used a one piece back. I don't think that Stradiuvarius did, and he is the benchmark by which violins a judged.
I have a fiddle (Trammell No. 23) that has a one piece back, is made of walnut, and has an undersized neck. A violinist would turn up his nose at this fiddle, and be amazed when he heard it.
fiddlebob
I never will be real good, but, I ain't as bad as I was!
M-D - Posted - 06/27/2007: 11:17:17
Amati, Guarneri del Jesu, and Stradivari all made one-piece backs at times. See some of the Strad posters for examples.
I have a bench-made fiddle from a C.M. Bendix, 1923, of Badger, Iowa, with a one-piece back. Sold another made by a man in Maine, 1928, and my Otis Tomas has a one-piece back, top, and lower-bout rib. I suppose I just like the aesthetics.
Edited to correct Bendix initials.
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M-D
Edited by - M-D on 06/27/2007 22:31:50
hardykefes - Posted - 06/27/2007: 20:00:37
No difference, just the way the wood was cut.
Violin/Fiddle Instructor and Repair Service
G-string - Posted - 06/27/2007: 21:15:51
I agree with hardy ----- no difference in tonal properties. Lp
Jerry Byers - Posted - 06/27/2007: 21:27:30
Does grain width or straightness affect tonal qualities?
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Jerry
'04 Altman M-F5 #5
'05 Mid-Mo M-2
*something new is in the works*
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Twelvefret - Posted - 06/27/2007: 21:34:38
I have both and like them, but not because one sounds better than the other.
chuck
Here is an archive of old time music from Berea College in Berea Kentucky, http://tinyurl.com/d5mnx
SlowPockets - Posted - 06/27/2007: 22:37:02
Since it's just aesthetic, I really prefer the way a two piece back looks. Especially when the sides are matched up really even, that effect looks so classy to me. Oh course I'm probably partial because my fiddle has a two piece back.
