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The Silakowski Five-String Project

The Silakowski Five-String Project

John Silakowski (1949-2022) was a violinmaker in Scottsdale, Indiana. He was the first violinmaker to make purpose built five-strings for fiddlers. He was quite productive and despite their slightly folksy appearance, his instruments are very much sought after by...

The Unicursal Fiddle

The Unicursal Fiddle

this fiddle is the second in a series exploring the sources of variety that we see in violins. A broader discussion of the ideas behind this series is laid out in an earlier post. where I suggest that there are four sources of variety in any violin, or man made...

Freestyle Fiddles.  Part 2: Measurement Checks

Freestyle Fiddles. Part 2: Measurement Checks

In a previous post about the Freestyle Violin Project I documented how two violins, a "dark" sounding one and a "bright" sounding one , were made without the use of measuring tools. The actual dimensions of the materials used and the parts created were recorded and...

Tabolin – Part 3,  Sound Test

Tabolin – Part 3, Sound Test

The Tabolin was strung up and played with different configurations of weights on the velum panels. https://youtu.be/cMvSN32r9Pc Thanks to my friends Gabriel Wheaton and Joe Peterson, who helped me sound test the Tabolin Results With no weights The Tabolin is...

We Made the Cover of Strings!

We Made the Cover of Strings!

This is so gratifying! Thanks to every one who has been involved, this is far from a solo effort. You can get a digital version of the Strings story. Also read more about the project on The Redwood Violin Website Earlier Press The project also received local press...