It's called a Trapezoid Violin, and a hundred years ago one built by a professional Luthier was favourably compared to a Stradivarius in a blind test... The validity of the test may be debatable, my reference: Violin-making as it was and is, by Heron-Allen, Edward Published 1885 Was for many years, including my time as a student Luthier, considered the Violin Maker's Bible; but, it's author's reputation has diminished somewhat, more recently, he was, in truth, a collector, rather than a technician 😉
@@iandeare1 If it stood the test of time and was considered the 'Violin Makers Bible' for so long, then surely it would mean any recent revelations about the authors 'credentials' are purely academic at this point? ;-) If the books information was deemed important (pious even, lol) for almost 150 yrs, then I would assume to dismiss it now is a form of (the all too common) music snobbery, don't you think? Just a thought, peace and best wishes to you all from Ireland, keep making music x
I think the "feedback" sound you're expecting is actually a resonance. I can't tell how it's occurring exactly but maybe has to do with the shape of the chamber
There's a good chance that the amount of movement is simply more than would normally happen for a spring reverb which causes a bit of issues, best I can think of since it sounds a bit like when you hit one. Sadly I don't have one of these so I can't test that theory, and in fact it could just be that it's inside something designed specifically to resonate
@@JGHFunRun I was thinking maybe it was the vibration of the note being played beating on the vibration of the sound held by the springs. It kinda had the beating interference sound to it of 2 close frequencies constructing and destructing with each other.
That strange “feedback” effect is definitely you hitting the resonant frequency of a spring. Sounds exactly like a wolf note on a cello (which is happens when you hit the resonant frequency of the body of the instrument.)
Having a sort of "Dampening" mechanism to mute the springs when you want less or no reverb would be awesome. Bassically like a cloth pad on a lever you can move with your chin to mess with the reverb. Just a thought. :)
That would sound very cool for mandolin, because the unfreted strings are supposed to resonate for certain styles it would be like having continual ringing strings which would be great
I had a home made Valve amp from the 70's years ago. I played around with putting thin bands of ShrinkWrap on reverb springs, also tried adhesive foam. The shrink wrap was cool.
Very cool! You probably won't be able to do this through the sound holes, but I figure adding a bit of damping (like cotton or some thin pieces of fabric) would help control the reverb without reducing it too much.
@@DavidHilowitzMusic Ah, neat! And your crazy sound post tool might work to get things into place. Seems worth a shot to me; it sounds fantastic IMHO, just needs to be reigned in a bit.
Not really - spring reverb is independent of air volume (unless you're intending to pack the spring enclosure itself with fabric... which would have some effect, mainly in reducing the upper frequencies 👍)
I'm not a professional luthier but I did read up a design document that the soundpost-bridge combo is meant to act as a lever system to convert the horizontal movement of the strings into a vertical movement on the sound board, and the soundpost acts as the stiffness required for one side of the lever to work.
This is a rabbit hole that needs deeper diving. One could probably make an amazing-sounding acoustic instrument (or several - what about dulcimers, for instance? erhu? even wind instruments?) by purpose-building a good spring array for this use case.
That sense of danger of everything getting too crazy makes it even more poignant to listen to. It can be understated and yet still sound dangerous. The Brown Sound of violins!
Nice job you got a fine tune for a play wood box. In Mexico the armadillos and turtles shields are used as reverb box. The tuning goes depending the layers of epoxy or resins.. not to hard not to soft Thanks for sharing your masterpiece
That's really neat. Really like the sound. I also like your experimentation. I was wondering if you could could dampen the springs? Cotton balls? Felted wood? With some sort of adjustment. Thanks.
Love the haunting sound you've achieved with this reverb violin. really hope that you continue to experiment and fine tune it until it's a dependable/useful instrument and... fingers crossed... share the results with us. Good luck!
I have never played a violin but I have to give this spring reverb thing a try with a diy build, a cigar box guitar maybe? Thanks for all the great vids and inspiration David, peace from Ireland to you and yours mo chara.
How David accidentally created a superb sounding violin. I mean you could record it for movie soundtracks and I doubt anyone would think "hmm this violin doesn't sound pro enough". And when it falls apart, just glue it back together! Don't forget to use the same glue for the signature sound %) Let's make a library out of it too!
Great work! I can't wait to try out the Decent Sample library you posted too. Also, I don't know if this was intentional, but the lighting and colors in your workbench shots (from roughly 0:25 to 5:15 ) are extremely soothing and meditative. Those shots (or similar), possibly at slower speeds, would make a great, ambient "music video" for a track or two of the big, swelling reverbs you're getting out of that great super cool box violin.
What a lovely experiment! The finished sound kind of reminds me of a twisted landscape in an RPG style game. Like you've just been teleported to another realm and you have to navigate the strange environment to return home and continue your journey. It reminds me most of the Silent realms in Skyward sword and the Dark realm from a Link to the Past.
You kind of remind me of the children's shows I used to watch when I was younger. Like it's strange how your videos all seem to make me feel a little younger
Yeah. In cigar box guitars, some makers use box mattress springs with hooks on them and then attach them to screw-in hooks attached at an angle inside the body. You can then turn the screw-in hooks to tighten the springs, or even adjust the height so you can control whether the spring is touching the soundboard or not. Dell Puckett has an excellent video on that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lJDCjoZJY60.html
After watching many videos, I had no idea you played violin like that...nor that you build them. Love finding what other vices each musician I encounter also likes to mess with. Like it's always visable whatever someone is headfirst into...(Like a guitarist for example.) But then, you later find out they play the keys and then the drums and then even wild synths at home, after work, lol. I guess I don't know what I'm really getting at, but it seems we never ever want to stop making music, somehow.
I love your videos, they have such a wonderful aesthetic and I love your filming style and colouring. Also, it goes without saying that your projects and creativity are always a pleasure to watch. thank you for what you do. Take care
When it falls apart, you could maybe rebuild it and make the soundpost go onto the reverb tank where the transducer would go so it vibrates the springs more directly
I've done the same thing decades ago on my 1970's Conn home keyboard organ with that resonation & noise from the spring reverb tank, as when you push or bump around the organ which makes the springs go wack.
Try using different rubber washers with varying softness and rigidity between the chassis and the wood like shock absorbers. I’m going to try this! Thanks for the video!
Wow, this is my first visit to your channel, and I absolutely love this!! I recently bought a cheap violin neck and hardware to put on a cigar box, also recently set up a cheap violin with octave strings (one fifth above the tuning of a cello!), and have yet another cheap violin I will be setting up with flourocarbon ukulele strings just to see what it sounds like (make sure you get a non-reentrant set, so the low string is the fattest). I have also in the past made a teardrop violin completely from scratch- carved the neck, fingerboasrd, tailpiece, and scratch made bridge. I also have a few reverb tanks sitting in my garage, a couple new old stock and a couple used ones..... I think I might have to give this a try! Thanks for the inspiration 😍😍
That‘s a really cool video and I‘m only a few minutes in… The introduction was very good. I like the fact, that you explain, what a reverb spring does.
This sounds absolutely amazing. Once you get the hang of it, or find a way to slightly dampen it to control it the way you’d like I really hope you start posting some full length songs with this. I’m genuinely excited about this
