Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer
Agreed. Today there is a higher level of workmanship, on average, than in Strad's day. There is a better understanding of how violin-family instruments work. There is a more open relationship between master luthiers and those with aspirations to become masters themselves. There is a better understanding of wood and wood movement. There is better training and an explosion of useful information-sharing that is propelling luthiery forward.
There is also an explosion of pomposity amongst self-appointed experts who have little if any experience in the field but like to publish huge tomes of self-aggrandizing information on the internet for their own ego gratification.
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Arnold, I know you don't use any type of machines to get the results you do. How do you explain your success in restoring old Basses and improving their tones as well as the beautiful mature sound I have heard on no less than 6 of your handmade Basses that I have had the pleasure of playing?
On the great old makers like Strad as mentioned, how do we explain why some of them were more consistent in results while others were less than consistent? I have played two similar Gagliano Basses back to back. Both sweet and even sounding and one of them had been cut down. I have also played two Martini Basses back to back. The first was mine, possible the earliest known (1919) and the other one of his latest (1946). These varied more model wise than with the Gaglianos and only have the FFs and Scroll in common. Mine was much deeper with a sweet low end spread type sound and the newer one was more of a punchy brighter sounding Bass. I also compared my Martini to a G.Gemunder Villuame model. The Gumender sounded more like the later Martini than mine and this was back to back in the same room with my Martini. The Gemunder being about 90 years older was better than the later Martini as expected. Also, I have played two Dodd Basses (not back to back) and they both sounded completely different. One was soft, smooth and deep sounding but not so powerful while the other was in your face, sounding an octave lower than that average Bass and shook the walls when played.
Sorry for the slight rant above but all the Basses mentioned above including Arnold's work were made without any machines to test or alter the sound. All of the Basses mentioned above are great Basses individually. I don't think much could be done to improve them in their current conditions as all of them seemed optimum for the condition they were in fully repaired and the model they were made within.
On the other hand, I have seen some Basses that have been made with at least 20-30% too much wood within the graduation, ribs or linings. Correcting a few of them that I was involved in greatly improved them. Could AO-BO matching have gotten these same improved results or does going to the 'knife' make the only sense in getting the job done?