Howery Violins

Will’s Blog Posts:

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Violin Regina: Scroll carving is done, now need to make the fingerboard. I’m using Blender to figuring out the string spacing, angles, nut width, fingerboard radius, bridge width, and bridge profile for this 5 string violin/viola

Violin Regina: Scroll carving is done, now need to make the fingerboard. I’m using Blender to figuring out the string spacing, angles, nut width, fingerboard radius, bridge width, and bridge profile for this 5 string violin/viola. #orchestra #fernandinabeach #ameliaisland #brunswickga #staugustine #stmarys #jacksonville #jaxsymphony #unfmusic #jumusic #luthier #violinmaker #whatsonmybench #violinist #symphony #florida #Georgia #luthier #whatsonmybench…

January 25, 2019
January 23, 2019 (2:51 am)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by William Howery (@howeryviolins) on Jan 22, 2019 at 6:51pm PST

January 23, 2019
Violin Regina: Finally have Regina setup to play in the white. I’m taking this violin to Joe Robson’s Violin Varnish workshop in April as an instrument in the white with no ground. Joe does case studies with those of us who have attended a few years, experimenting with different techniques and several makers going through the process. We all learn through the experience. So, I’ve not been in a real hurry to setup Regina, since I won’t do anything but give her a suntan for the next couple of months. But, I wanted to see the results of how the Oberlin acoustic workshop stiffness and impedance calculations resulted in Regina’s sound. I’m using these same calculations on Jameson, so really wanted to hear Regina’s results and feel the string responses before finalizing the graduations on Jameson. And, I’m really really happy with Regina’s sound and response. She responded with VERY little bow pressure, and yet can carry solid tones through a strong forte. It’s so rewarding to apply theory to a physical instrument and see the results play out in the real world. Regina is also very focused, she gives me feedback on where the tone is. I’m always impressed how a good violin actually makes it easier to tighten up intonation. I can play the same passage with an average instrument and feel myself struggling with intonation, then play it with Regina and I just feel the correct intonation, effortlessly. Amazing how the instrument talks back to me. This experience makes me wonder where I’d be as a player if I’d been playing better instruments during my younger violinist days?

Violin Regina: Finally have Regina setup to play in the white. I’m taking this violin to Joe Robson’s Violin Varnish workshop in April as an instrument in the white with no ground. Joe does case studies with those of us who have attended a few years, experimenting with different techniques and several makers going through…

January 16, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Acoustics, what sound features make a good sounding violin?

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Graduation

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: The purfling corners are all glued in, the arching or the outside curvature of the plates is almost finished all except the finalizing of the edges.

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Setting and gluing the purfling.

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Cutting and trimming the purfling groove

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Trimming the margins.

January 15, 2019
Fiddle Jameson: Acoustics, what sound features make a good sounding violin? Ask three violin makers and get four opinions… Actually thanks to some great work done by Carleen Hutchins, Joseph Curtin and the Oberlin acoustics workshop luthiers we have a fairly good idea of What acoustically represents a “good” sounding violin. The video shows Chladni sound patterns forming as a signal generator excites the plates at ascending frequencies. You can also identify the frequencies where these patterns occur with a spectrum analyzer, looking for peak energy for specific frequencies. We use the frequencies to calculate the plate stiffness and impedance. Calculating the stiffness is better than twisting the plate and hearing a crack when you press too hard… done that a few times, Ouch Impedance determines how much bow pressure a violinist needs on a string to start and maintain a tone. Too much pressure and the instrument is hard to play having limited dynamics. Too little pressure and the tone is mushy having little projection. Like Goldie Locks in the fairy tale we are looking for the acoustics that are just right:-). We take lots of measurements and compare the results over and over and over

Fiddle Jameson: Acoustics, what sound features make a good sounding violin? Ask three violin makers and get four opinions… Actually thanks to some great work done by Carleen Hutchins, Joseph Curtin and the Oberlin acoustics workshop luthiers we have a fairly good idea of What acoustically represents a “good” sounding violin. The video shows Chladni…

January 12, 2019