Two Different Violins, Start

Recent posts on Maestronet have me thinking about the Plowden again. It is a great poster. The outline is classic. F holes are a little weird, but that makes it different. I do still believe that the basic architecture of the violin is created on the inside; del Gesu is no exception. In fact, we can see the way he did his long arches from the inside on the poster.

Uh, well maybe. I've been looking at a lot of del Gesu violins lately, and he seems to have changed his belly design, and even back design a few times. The "Ole Bull" has a straight catenary arch for the long arch on the belly, just like Guadagnini did. I just saw the "Terminator" yesterday, http://sparebankstiftelsen.no/Dextra-Musica/Instrumentene/Guarneri-del-Gesu-Guiseppe-Violin and it has a very long flat, and almost a diamond shaped back. What's up with that? The "Cessole, Teja-Ferni" cross arches look like it is almost all recurve, with a little lump in the middle, front and back. Others seem to be the same front and back, just a full radius.

So it seems del Gesu was experimenting all the time. Or maybe it is just that the belly long arches have sunk in from string pressure? The "Cessole" is a lot like the "Plowden" with a higher belly arch that looks like it still has its curve. Maybe that's how it looked originally?

I was looking at the outline of the Montagnana violin. I never made a form for the one I made; built it on the back. It actually looks fairly decent, the varnish job came out nicely. I thought of making another using maple, and a mold. I checked my drawing, and my new ideas on drawing up a violin fit right in on whatever I was using before. The Montagnana c bouts are shaped the same as del Gesus c-bouts are. The only difference is that Dominico made c-bouts shorter, the violin 3mm longer; and it has a longer stop. OH, and the almost 20mm arch.

I was thinking of making two violins based on Gagliano, with a short stop, and high arch, and a long stop and a low arch; but I think I'll do another Montagnana, long stop, high arch, and a del Gesu, short stop and low arch. Just the opposite.

First the outlines. To make a convincing copy, the shape had better be there. All violins are made to a print. Problem is, we don't have it. We have Stradivarius forms in museums, and know what model went on what form. Del Gesu got his form handed down through the family. With the one form, all of the instruments can be made on it, simply by changing the corner block shape, or making the upper, or lower, or both blocks longer.

Let's draw them up. My method is a compilation of ideas. I like Muratov's idea on proportions, and ratios, and getting the corners involved (the corners draw the eye, so they better be in the right place). I'm not so sure about the special curve though, and just use a compass instead. I added my own idea on the base and apex for the corners, and the f hole locations are my idea, with the constrictions that are given.

I base all my ratios off the length of the mold, the rib form, which is basically the prominent line of the purfling that we see on an instrument. The edge just happens. Everything we need will be on the drawing, so that it is all in one place. Here are the posters side by side:

We'll talk about it next.