The other day, we went to visit Henriette Lersch, a violin maker in Vienna. She is pretty awesome. She is actually a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For all my friends who are LDS, you may have seen her video profile on mormon.org. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. It's pretty cool. Anyway, she basically taught us everything we need to know about violin, viola and cello making, so I'll give you the run down and you can make your own.
Here is a of picture that has four steps all in one shot.
Step 1 :: Get a piece of wood (slab of wood on far left).
Step 2 :: Shape the wood so it's kind of a rooftop (second from left).
Step 3 :: Cut out violin shape and shave away excess wood (far right piece).
Step 4 :: Glue a very thin strip of wood around the outside of perfectly shaped piece (second from right).
Step 5 :: Carve a neck and scroll out of some piece of wood (there is a small example on the far, far left).
Step 6 :: Make a top piece just like the bottom piece, except cut some f-holes in it. One or two or three. Whatever you feel like. Most have two, so I suggest two.
Step 7 :: Glue together, slap a finger board and bridge on and you should end up with something like this.
Finally, you can lacquer it or something so it looks pretty. Then after you are satisfied with that, slap some strings on there and give it a try.
How does it sound? Amazing? Probably not. It sounds horrendous. While my step by step guide was pretty amazing, it doesn't even scratch the surface of everything that she does to make a violin. She says that it takes anywhere from 160-200 hours to finish a violin. Sometimes even longer, depending on how the musician likes it and what adjustments need to be made.
The wood that she uses has to be at least 7 years old. If you take it from the forest or your backyard or neighbor's yard, the wood will still be living and will change over time as it dries. She does something cool to get her wood. Sometimes, buildings in Vienna will need renovation and she hits these sites up to see if she can get some cheap, or sometimes free wood. Many of the support columns are huge wooden pillars that are perfect for making violins. Who knew?
The instruments are made entirely by hand and she only uses mechanical tools for two parts of the building process, to cut the shape of the body and to drill the holes for the tuning pegs. She doesn't even use sandpaper to make the surface smooth. She uses a series of planers that get smaller and smaller. She prefers to have the wood with a little bit of texture than baby smooth. I agree with her on this.
There are tons of fine tuning things she has to do in order for the body of the violin to properly vibrate and project sound: position of the bridge, tension of the strings, thickness of the wood, etc. People will ask for a certain sound and it is her job to make an instrument that can do that. Crazy!
Henriette also does a lot of instrument repairs. She'll fix anything. She has a lot of horse hair just in case you were looking to have a bow restrung.
Here is a of picture that has four steps all in one shot.
Step 1 :: Get a piece of wood (slab of wood on far left).
Step 2 :: Shape the wood so it's kind of a rooftop (second from left).
Step 3 :: Cut out violin shape and shave away excess wood (far right piece).
Step 4 :: Glue a very thin strip of wood around the outside of perfectly shaped piece (second from right).
Step 5 :: Carve a neck and scroll out of some piece of wood (there is a small example on the far, far left).
Step 6 :: Make a top piece just like the bottom piece, except cut some f-holes in it. One or two or three. Whatever you feel like. Most have two, so I suggest two.
Step 7 :: Glue together, slap a finger board and bridge on and you should end up with something like this.
If yours doesn't look like this, you did something wrong. It's rather easy, you know.
Step 8 :: Hang it upside down with the others you have completed.
Finally, you can lacquer it or something so it looks pretty. Then after you are satisfied with that, slap some strings on there and give it a try.
How does it sound? Amazing? Probably not. It sounds horrendous. While my step by step guide was pretty amazing, it doesn't even scratch the surface of everything that she does to make a violin. She says that it takes anywhere from 160-200 hours to finish a violin. Sometimes even longer, depending on how the musician likes it and what adjustments need to be made.
The wood that she uses has to be at least 7 years old. If you take it from the forest or your backyard or neighbor's yard, the wood will still be living and will change over time as it dries. She does something cool to get her wood. Sometimes, buildings in Vienna will need renovation and she hits these sites up to see if she can get some cheap, or sometimes free wood. Many of the support columns are huge wooden pillars that are perfect for making violins. Who knew?
The instruments are made entirely by hand and she only uses mechanical tools for two parts of the building process, to cut the shape of the body and to drill the holes for the tuning pegs. She doesn't even use sandpaper to make the surface smooth. She uses a series of planers that get smaller and smaller. She prefers to have the wood with a little bit of texture than baby smooth. I agree with her on this.
There are tons of fine tuning things she has to do in order for the body of the violin to properly vibrate and project sound: position of the bridge, tension of the strings, thickness of the wood, etc. People will ask for a certain sound and it is her job to make an instrument that can do that. Crazy!
Henriette also does a lot of instrument repairs. She'll fix anything. She has a lot of horse hair just in case you were looking to have a bow restrung.
(Catching a paparazzi shot with the mormon.org star)
Pretty neat experience to see a stringed instrument in the process of being built. Watch out Strativari. Henriette Lersch is taking your place!
1 comment:
Zach,
How well does Henriete know English? I know my dad would probably love to meet another violin maker who is a member of the church, especially in Europe.
Anyway, from watching my dad over the years I know that making a violin is painstaking and takes a lot of talent. I thought it very interesting that she doesn't use sandpaper, I wonder if that changes the timbre of the instrument. I guess we'll never know.
I've really enjoyed your blogs and I'm impressed with your compositions. It looks like you have spent a lot of time with your camera. All the things you're seeing and experiencing in Vienna are amazing! Isn't Europe awesome?
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