It's so cool how modern foresters and scientists are using computers now to identify so many things about trees by using magnified imaging of the end grain and putting all that information into a database. From beginning to end, I find everything about instrument making so fascinating.
Honestly, Olaf. The amount of knowledge we get from you is spectacular and shows such a great deal of variety. The music world is ever so lucky to have you.😋
So what's wrong with Canadian Spruce? We have very cold winters and warm summers, one would think that would produce ideal Spruce for Violins. Just Wondering.
I love your videos, but it's Spring wood and Summer wood. In temperate regions, trees grow quickly in the Spring (light wood), and slow down in the Summer (heavier wood). Next to nothing happens in Fall and Winter. Look in any plant physiology book. And a few cold years would only be a few tight lines in the annular rings (I often work Sitka with 20 years in a cm), it's not enough to make a top with many decades of growth any different. And wasn't he the guy who literally nailed the necks onto the body (almost all changed out by luthiers with more sense)? Most of the magic is in people's minds, not in the instruments- as some blind tests have shown. edit: spelling
Welcome to Italy, I live between where you have been and the Swiss location where moon spruce comes from. I guess you can find good spruce quite everywhere here around and I wish I had the capacity to tap a spruce to find out the special one, as you have seen it’s not an easy task 🙂 Non the less it’s funny and flattering to see a downunder wandering around our woods 👍
Uhhhmmmm...yes....there is some nut knocking on trees. An hour later we see Olaf being hauled away by the constabulary saying “I’m a violin maker..I’m just !......😂😂😂😂😂😂
The little ice age affected all of the northern hemisphere and convinced a small Viking settlement in Newfoundland Canada to leave. A site has been excavated and there is a historic site in Canada you can visit. 😀😀
Olaf you’re one of my favorite creators to watch, thank you so much for your countless efforts in sharing your passion and thus entertaining and informing us all. It’s a true joy to watch. Much love from The Netherlands
There is absolutely no growth in the trees during winter. The lighter grain is the growth during spring and early summer. The darker grain is from late summer and autumn. The darker grain is because the growth slow down. It makes higher density and higher level of lignin. The tree prepare itself for winter when there is no growth.
It does make sense if we're farming spruce there that eventually nature would balance that out. With that in mind I wonder if the early makers even cut trees. Using fresh fallen wood might well have been all you needed. One tree would probably carry you through the year. It seems impractical, but if you think of early land, less influence by mankind, and more wild, it seems easier to think of going out after a good storm and looking for good fresh fallen wood. Wouldn't have been many cutting that wood or logging it due to it's difficult location. If you walk through a thriving forest looking for good wood it's easy to find within a day's hike. Maybe you'd have to be prepared to go as long as a week. But I wonder.
Climate change is becoming a tricky thing for music. The grass that woodwind reeds are made of is getting harder due to the fact stronger winds hitting the stocks makes them have to spring back stronger. Artificial cane reeds are becoming more popular, but for me the sound isn't the same unless it is a natural reed.
Come to think of it, Brett & Eddy were comparing the different sound quality of their loaned Strads.... 'The Empress Caterina' & 'The Regent' ('We Got Our Strads' vid).... and Eddy made the comment @ 10:46 that one went to Russia [which will have affected the wood]. So even though both these violins were made in 1708, and possibly from the same wood, their environment continued to shape their sound. Fascinating....
Very instructive. Sitka spruce from Alaska makes the best soundboards for American pianos. Does anyone use Sitka spruce for violins? Do European piano makers get their soundboard timber from this Italian forest?
Gdyby przepuścić dźwięk przez to drewno i zmierzyć falę oscyloskopem to byłoby zupełnie inaczej przenoszona barwa niz w drewnie księżycowym. Drewno księżycowe nie posiada w swoich klastrach wody, jest odporne na czynniki atmosferyczne, oraz nie jest podatne na wpływ koników oraz innych żyjątek. Dzwiek jest rownomoernie zwiększony oraz wyrównany co powoduje że 🎻 wykonane z tego drewna generują bardzo czysty piękny głęboki dźwięk który rezonuje jak Stradivarius.
No, as far as I know het went to Austria for the topblades, maple did come from the Balkan - As far as I know. Not much different present day. I am not sure if this is true as there were many suppliers for the sought after Spruce. (Pinus Sylvestrus).
I planted white pines on the property line of a 1.5 acre home lot in Nashville, TN. I planted them so they would grow quickly and they did. After about fourteen years I pulled into my drive and noticed the first tree in the row of trees had turned brown. As I walked up the grade to the trees my neighbor met me. May of 2014. He said he had seen the problem too and reported that it was Pine Bark Beetles. He knew the tree had to come down but I went in and learned all about the problem. My neighbor helped and we cut that tree down on the weekend. We looked at all of the other trees and they were infected as well. Over the next couple of weeks they all went dead and we took them all out. I understand it is impacting White Pine trees starting in Colorado and is now sweeping through the southern states. After they are cut down and cut to length, you can see the wood in the tree has discolored black rings through out. It looks like a bullseye. Although any normal person would say they are no good, some unscrupulous furniture makers have bought the wood and are using it to make furniture. I saw furniture advertised as premium quality Pine Bark Beetle furniture. Maybe they can do the same with a violin. Sell them in Target stores. The discolored wood did seem to be very hard. I have Spruce now intermixed with a variety of Oak trees to the back of my lot in Ohio. I haven't seen a problem with the Spruce but there is a problem with at least three varieties of Oak. Some say global warming. Over the years the temperature in Nashville got hotter and hotter. Four small snows here in Northeast Ohio this year. In three days it is reported the temp will go to 48, 57, and 62. Still in February. Go get that prime wood now while you can.
So, In a way Stradivarius was just lucky there was a lot of old wood that grew in that time. 🙂 If he had lived today he would not be able to get that wood. Do you think they already had the knowledge about summer/winter wood ? Or was it just because almost all wood back then was dense due to the climate back then ? Thanks, interesting video.
Have just posted this comment: Come to think of it, Brett & Eddy (TwoSet) were comparing the different sound quality of their loaned Strads.... 'The Empress Caterina' & 'The Regent' ('We Got Our Strads' vid).... and Eddy made the comment @ 10:46 that one went to Russia [which will have affected the wood]. So even though both these violins were made in 1708, and possibly from the same wood, their environment continued to shape their sound. Fascinating....
@@wakingtheworld It is not strange they sound different. Back then everything was done by hand so good chance the thickness of all parts is not the same, wood from different trees, even glue and paint was hand made so probably differences from batch to batch. Both are probably repaired several times, as I understand well on many violins the necks are not original or at least altered because necks got longer over times so violins were "updated" for post-barok size. Besides that the "between the ears" effect . A good playing or sounding instrument often causes the player to play better because it feels optimal between the ears. And when that instrument is considered by the whole world to be the best playing/sounding violin you start playing with a totally different mindset. But in the violin world, like in the high end audio world, there is a lot of placebo, voodoo and snake-oil and many people hear things that are not there. There have been double blind tests but many people do not want to believe the results or cooperate. I bet some high skilled modern violin maker with modern tools can make a violin that is better as a Stradivarius and consistent in quality but unless he has a "good name" thanks to some world class players, people will never value his violins for what they are. I'm glad I'm not a violin builder. ;-)
@@pa4tim Yes, so many variables in a hand crafted item.... Thank you for your reply. Interesting to note that I also posted another comment about the soul of a wood instrument and a story I heard relating to it BUT IT'S BEEN TAKEN DOWN!!! YT? Olaf? (I doubt). If it's showing your end let me know otherwise I'll type it again.... It was a long comment!
@@wakingtheworld I do not see an other post besides the 1 you placed as a reaction to my post and the one 1 react to now. But I see a short reply a few posts down this page.
I own ower old Famali violin by told is the instument ver yold , aginst the old guitar own as instuments i done handel , sthe Violin have a plastic alike feeling ( is alos rubust as bakelit the defentv had alen up 3 time from the pino in my memory ,just she have no cracks ) aginst that i have i senn i calulate that is on some cocked glue alike thing finished , i buy a cheap old and test that .
1:57 winter grain - darker grain going to the knot, and then summer grain - the lighter part going towards the knot? I wasn't shown this using a knot so I'm a little confused, but as my 7 years as a luthier, I'm sure I know which is which. I personally believe using a knot in the example plus digital lines was a little confusing.
Happy to hear your thoughts and even a diagram if you have the time please Olaf! Keep up the great and entertaining videos. P.S. I have wonderful Carlo A. Testore come to my place and the certificate said: "the outer edges in the lower portion of the violin's tavola show great "mirrored growth" of winter grain". When I looked at the violin's top - the lower section of the violin's top showed ALL narrow grain for about an inch on either side [VERY evenly]. So I believed that winter grain was always narrow. In the middle where the table was joined - the grain was much wider and a little "erratic" in terms of symmetry. So I'm a little confused with your description in this video. I might make a video on what I was taught 'winter grain' is. By the way, my luthier teacher was Mr Arthur Robinson. I've forgotten whether or not I've asked if you've met or heard of him. He was the English/Australian luthier who worked/often visited Mr Charles Beare and Mr Peter Biddulph.
There was a mini ice age in 14-1500 period and that stunted growth of spruce and all other trees.This was the reason for the closer growth rings of spruce trees.Antonio Stradivari chose these spruce wood for his violins that gave excellent tone and resonance.Trees from Tyrol alto adige also have fine spruces suitable for violins.
Very interesting information that gives us a much better understanding of the unique complex material elements that are at the core of violin creation. Thanks for sharing your forest visit.
Well that would figure. The tree is a living being with a soul and in the same way that we resonate with different people, we' could do likewise with a tree.... BUT he'd have to thank it for giving up it's life....
Of course there is a bus line in this particular forest - it's the ancient "linea del timbre". Of course in Strads times the busses were pulled by four horses called "quarto", which made for a rather rythmic ride. So much has been lost since then, but at least the busses are still going. SCNR.
Summer and winter make trees age wise in years to produce wood violin makers can adore! 🎶 The forest looks adventurous if not also holds mystery. So grand! It looks fun Olaf! ^_^
Hi, Olaf, this video is very interesting and inspiring. I am a violin maker from Taiwan. I have prepared cc traditional Chinese subtitles for this video, but it is not authorized for cc subtitle cooperation. Can you give me permisssion for adding cc subtitle? Or I can give to the Chinese subtitles srt file so you can add it.
Gosh.... food for thought, Olaf.... Never thought about the aspect of the wood that was used from trees that grew [little] during the mini ice age.... I learn SO much from your channel. Nice to see it growing... 3K the last month!
Fascinating content Mr. Olaf. When I was a child I saw a HUGE half-cross section of tree in a forestry center, in the USA. The tree had died and was blown down. It had hundreds of hand written date markers on the 1000's of rings, counted and placed by the forestry agents. The rings dated back to the time of Christ. I don't remember where that was located, or where the tree was from, I was school age. Serendipity seems to always play a part in amazing feats of nature, and man. Thank you for making the video for us while you were in Italy.
I had an inkling that the Little Ice Age had something to do with the quality of the wood. Thank you. So how arduous is it to ship wood to another continent?
Typically spruce for the top plate and maple for the back. As I understand it, the top plate is mainly involved in producing low tones. It moves as a single piece, and needs to be stiff and light, like a speaker cone. The back is more responsible for the high tones. It moves in more complex ways, and needs to be hard but elastic.
I spent a lot of years reading, studying and learning about the "Stradivari Violins." I've read story after story about people, scientists, woodworkers and luthiers alike, trying to figure out the mystery to why the Stradivari Violin sounds so good. It has occurred to me that through all the analyses done on those venerable old musical instruments, that everyone throughout the annals of time, research and study of those old instruments, that one key ingredient was completely overlooked. through it all, I heard musician after musician, violinist after violinist, one after another, who picked up, played and touched the instruments, who gave and shared their thoughts. There are many who dispute the claims as "The Strad," as being the best or, the best sounding. It also occurred to me that every analysis and study ever done are all correct and are right. But they are also absolutely wrong. Why? Because... all they do in their studies is analyze the technical aspect of the violins that Antonio Stradivari created, made and produced. That is all that they did. They did in-depth studies and analyzed every aspect of the physical properties of how the instruments were made and what they were constructed from. I am not disputing that these aspects are important. Of course they are... they are the embodiment of any violin, whether good or poor. Violins would not exist without the wood or chosen materials that are the makeup of a violin. But what those studies are severely and are completely lacking, are the soul and the spirit of the violin. The soul and spirit of any violin exists in its creation. It is comprised of the different varieties of wood. Each and every single piece of wood used in making a violin was at one time or another, a part of a living, breathing plant... a tree. Each different piece of wood has its own soul still contained in the fibers and construction of that species of wood. Each piece of wood are as unique as our fingerprints and no two violins are exactly alike. They are alike in appearances only. But the likeness is purely superficial at best and at most. I mentioned that the Stradivari Violin Analyses that were done was lacking one key ingredient about the mysteries of why they sound so good. A huge part of the overlooked ingredients that no one has ever considered are the musicians who own and plays them. You yourself have overlooked this. However, the musician playing the instrument is only half of the missing equation about why a Stradivari Violin sounds so beautiful. The most important ingredient that is missing that everyone completely overlooked and negated... is the love that is held for those beautiful old masterpieces. No other instrument in existence commands the kind of love and respect than a Stradivari made violin. Any musician lucky enough to own one of those instruments, touches, treats and handles his or her instrument with such love, tenderness and respect. When they play the instrument, they do so with the same love, tenderness and respect because they so love their instrument. The key ingredient to why a Stradivari Violin sounds so beautiful, is because they are played beautifully with love, tenderness and respect. Antonio Stradivari himself, loved making and creating these instruments. He created them with a fierce dedication and devotion because he absolutely loved making them. He poured his soul and love into creating them and it showed in the beauty of how they were made. When people touch and handle a Stradivari Violin, they can't help but feel the intense love that went into making it. It's often misnamed a "Stradivarius," But the creator's true name is "Antonio Stradivari." The addition of "us," is an addition included out of ignorance. In my personal opinion only, I find the name "Stradivarius" a little insulting and demeaning to the creator of the Stradivari Violin line of instruments. I emailed you twice about a PDF or some kind of printed copy of a violin mold because I love violins and remain ever curious about their construction. I am an artist/woodcarver/blacksmith. I understand wood intimately. You chose to ignore my emails. So, I canceled my subscription to your youtube web account. I posted this to you Mr. Olaf Grawert, because my thoughts about the mystery of a Stradivari Violin has long been on my mind and I thought that perhaps you would like to know this too. Peace to you and please, be well.
Yes, you are so right about this. Someone once told me the story of a tree having a conversation with another, when observing their bretheren being chopped down. "I want to live forever" bemoaned one tree and the other said "You have to desire to be made into a beautiful instrument then your spirit will live on." I wish I knew the source of this story but it resonated with me and captures what you are saying.... Trees are living beings and have souls... We come in many guises; the 'coat' we wear can be skin, fur, feathers..... or bark. Thank you for this.
I learnt from Brett & Eddy (TwoSet Violin) that you truly have to love your instrument and it will respond accordingly. How many of you tell your violin/viola/cello/bass that you love them? I whisper 'Saranghae' into the F hole of my (albeit rented) violin.... So beautiful. It's Korean for 'I love you'.
