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Turtle fiddle sound comparison

Turtle fiddle sound comparison

When I presented the first two unusual fiddles on social media people naturally wanted to know how they sound.  Here they are compared to two instruments of the same model, dimensions and wood.  Make your own judgement, but to me they sound quite normal, I think that...

Interview with Laurie Niles of violinist.com

Interview with Laurie Niles of violinist.com

 Longtime violin-maker Andrew Carruthers has struck on an idea: that perhaps new violins can be inspired by something other than old violins.
Not that the San Francisco Bay-area luthier has any problem with old violins — he’s studied the great masters and reveres their work. In fact, he’s made hundreds of stringed instruments based on Guarneri del Gesùs, Stradivaris, Montaganas and more.
But these days he also has been looking to nature, geometry, architecture for inspiration in his instrument-making.

Cellular fiddles  Part 2:   X’s and O’s

Cellular fiddles Part 2: X’s and O’s

In part 1, I described a plan to make a pair of violins with structural features that I think will have effects on the way those instruments sound.  I decided to base the designs for the two violins  around two of the vibrational modes that have been studied and used as tools by many violinmakers in an attempt to control the tonal qualities of our instruments.  This second part describes the designs that I came up with for the two fiddles I intend to build.