Spring 2008 Newsletter
Spring Concerts
Spring concert season is here and we've attended a number of the Fulton County concerts including the Fulton County Youth Orchestra, the Milton High School Orchestra and Wilson Creek Elementary.
A slightly different sort of concert was the dedication of Woodland Middle School in East Point. The new school is beautiful, built along the same lines as Elkins Pointe in Roswell, and Selinda Jefferson is doing a wonderful job with the students there. The orchestra, chorus and band were all in the rotunda welcoming guests as they arrived before moving on to the gym where the dedication took place.
The next few weeks will see us attending more, tuning instruments and doing emergency repairs as needed. Already we've been able to help a number of children play who otherwise might have had to sit out. Please feel free to comntact us with your school's information and we will be happy to help.
Instrument donations. You can help.
Last Fall we donated some violins to the City of Atlanta schools, which turned out to be one of the most rewarding things we've ever done. The children at Tull Waters Elementary School had been without a program or string teacher for over two years, and their families were in no position to buy or rent violins. Through our donation 25 students were able to begin taking orchestra, and their program is now on the rise.
Those kids are not alone. In many areas of the metropolitan Atlanta area there are both individual children and programs in need of help.
Because of this we are asking for your help. We will continue to donate instruments to schools as we can, but if you have any old instruments which can be donated, please come see us. We will sit down with you to examine the instrument, determine if it's an appropriate candidate for donations and if so and you an appraisal for it's value. We will then do any necessary repairs at our own cost and make the donation for you , making sure that you receive a letter acknowledging the donation and giving you credit to the recipiant.
Please help. If you're on this website you're a musician and know how much music can bring to a child's life. There is more need than anyone can imagine.
Beth, Dr. Mabel Johnson, Mark, and students from Tull Waters Elementary School
Lesson Studios
We now have lessons available in our new studios. Teachers include Jeanne Johnson for violin, Becky Weaver for violin, Ying Zhuo for violin and viola, and Stephanie Tessler for cello. Please call and speak with Beth at 770-664-4384 or visit this link to sign up online.
Soundposts
Soundposts will probably always be the magical mystery cure to most players when it comes to adjusting instruments. Violin makers often play along with this even though they know better. A proper adjustment is not some sort of black magic but rather getting all of the details exactly right, and as far as soundposts are concerned, there's a lot more to a proper soundpost adjustment than tapping the post around and getting lucky on the location. Before a post can be adjusted, there are a number of things that have to be correct or any adjustment is just a poor compromise.
In fitting a new post first the wood must be chosen. Age, density and diameter will all play a role in the end result, and experience helps in making these decisions. We usually start with an oversize piece of spruce, making the determination as to which piece of wood to use first. We then split the wood and make it round to our decided diameter before beginning the fitment. Sound travels across grain at a totally different speed than along the grain, so splitting the wood makes sure that the grain will be as straight as possible. Most pre-cut soundposts have an alarming amountf twist or runout.
The post does not "transmit" vibrations from the front to the back as many think, but rather it creates a nodal point in the top and back and couples them. Wood density, mass and dampening all affect how that coupling will take place, so the proper decisions concerning diameter will now need to be made based upon the construction of the instrument.
Now we will actually fit the post to the approximate location we want it to be. Two things are most critical, the first being the fit against the top and the back, and the second being the tension. All fitting is done with a knife. We often cringe when we remove soundposts to find that the ends have been filed or taken from a disk sander. One cannot get a clean fit from a fizzy or ripped surface, regardles of how fine the cut on the file or sandpaper might be. The difference in sound between a cut soundpost and any other finishing method is astounding. As far as fit is concerned, there is no "close enough". The post must fit against both the top and back with no gaps whatsoever, making examinations through the endbutton hole and with mirrors to ensure perfection.
Last, tension is critical not only for sound but for the long term health of the instrument. The tension of the post sound exactly counteract the pressure from the strings through the bridge. In other words, the post should be a length and tension so that when the post is fitted and the instrument is strung up, the result is that the wing of the f-hole on that side is neither distended out nor sunken in. A improperly fitted post which allows one of these conditions will result in a deformed top (and sometimes back) which can end up costing thousands of dollars to correct
Once this has all been done, then the actual adjustment can begin. Fortunately, well fitted posts are usually fairly easy to adjust. Care must still be taken however, as significant movement from the starting location may result in the post no longer fitting. When that happens, we start all over again. It's simply a matter of getting everything exactly right.