Violin Forum/Message Board

[violinbridges]

International Violin Bridge Competition 2021 is now open for registrations.

The purpose of the International Violin Bridge Competition is to compare aesthetically the standards of violin family bridges, and to celebrate and award the best entries.

for more information and please share

www.violinbridges.co.uk

facebook group here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2821590261390062

[John Cadd]

The features of a violin bridge ,visually , seem (to me ) to focus on the spaces cut out . But the bridge needs the wooden bits between the spaces to work properly . That`s just a personal idea to keep me (myself , personally ) wandering too far from reality . Don`t take that as any kind of criticism about anything . The competition sounds very interesting .

[violinbridges]

That is a lovely observation, but very is the glass half full or empty

but I like it.

Just under a month to Closing Date, with entries from

Hong Kong, China, USA, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, UK, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Israel

violinbridges.co.uk
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[violinbridges]

We have had a fantastic response so far with entries from Greece, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Mexico, Hong Kong, Israel, and Singapore

NOW is the time to send your entries.

violinbridges.co.uk

#violinmaker #violinrestorer #violin #viola #cello #bridgecutting

Please Share amongst your networks.

https://violinbridges.gerardkilbride.com/search/...

[John Cadd]

How did the modern bridge design become so universal (or is it ubiquitous ?) ? Who gets the credit for that ?

[Michael Darnton]

There is some tracing it to the original Cremonese makers, with no certainty that the supposed example bridges are authentic. At any rate, the basic design goes back nearly to the beginning.

I suspect that the details have changed over time depending on the desired results of the moment, and various fads. It's interesting to me that in spite of that, the models of the best shops of more than 100 years ago are essentially the ones used by current shops, in spite of many efforts at "improvement", including various patent designs. It appears to me that the various "improvements" mainly resulted from ideas, not rigorous testing.

I've seen some modern trends that seem to be contrary to good sound and longevity, one common one being to make the bridge unusually thin. Other ideas often appear to be tailored at correcting some bad characteristics of bad violins, but can't be brought into use on good ones. In that category I see excessively thinned thighs or waists.

The forms I use have been tested repeatedly over years. I'm fortunate (or maybe not) to have business partners who think nothing of having me make successive bridges for the same instrument to test out various ideas of what might work. It's a miserable lot of work, but very educational, and we've done that with bass bars, too.
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[John Cadd]

For a competition you need to have some ways to disqualify a contestant . So how about bridges made inside a Nitrogen filled chamber and cut with a laser beam . There must be some there already . Or bridges with the makers face lasered on . The height of conceit . Looking through string history there could be delicate tracery in the holes similar to soundholes in lutes .
Since we have so many technical tools available we could depart from clinical squared edges and have all rounded edges . Violin making competitions always produce a few scrolls that wind around just a bit too far . Or even a lot too far . Do they get less points or more for that ? More for technical difficulty which are cancelled by lack of taste . A grubby old bridge shows the players have made sure the bridge is kept straight so no negative marks for that . But in a competition it would not photograph well in a coffee table book . Maybe in a Box Brownie edition .

[Michael Darnton]

" . . .technical difficulty . . . cancelled by lack of taste . "

Excellent statement!
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[John Cadd]

Now I come to think of it , rounding off edges may be useful .If you look at a bass bar it will not have squared off edges .Also guitar braces will not have square edges. There is some formula that shows the relation between height and shape . The rounded smoothed off (and tapered ) tops will give better strength to weight ratios . That might deter excessive thinning . Squared off designs applied inside and out could open the floodgates to square sound posts . The last sentence is a quirky bit of humour .Don`t try to analyse that .

[Henrik Stromberg]

[Michael Darnton]

The front page of https://violinbridges.co.uk/ has the winners, and there's a link at the top of the page to follow to see all the bridges-- "Entries 2021".
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[John Cadd]

It`s like a competition to design a Chess Knight . The winners and second place bridges look the same as before on first sight . Then you notice clear differences but it`s hard to pin down why the holes look larger but can`t see how it`s done . Spot the difference . The pointy ends in the winner`s bits can be noticed . Do all those details have proper names ? See poem "Naming of Parts ". Kidney Wings . I Found a complete diagram.
Each cello bridge has a distinct personality .
Are these visual prizes or do they sound better ? What were the worst losers like.
The Eurovision Song Contest has a special place for losers with Nil Points . Usually UK these days .

[Michael Darnton]

A couple of things:
-If you go to the 2021 entries you can see all that were entered.
-The overall level was quite high, for the most part.
-Though the judging was visual, if you cut bridge for a living and are good at it, what does and does not work is basically visual, and the changes made for different situations are basically visual.
-Yes, it's certainly possible to cut a good-sounding bridge that looks like it was cut by a dog.
-The stated objective of the contest was essentially to weed out the dogs in favor of technical and artistic skill.
-The more you know about the subject, the more obvious the differences.

People have different preferences in what they like to see, certainly. The thing that bothered me the most about many of the entrants was that the various bits of single bridges often looked like they were carved by different people with different ideas, or appeared to be eccentric without appropriate surrounding context. If you're going to depart far from the usual norm, you had better do it *extremely* well. The Moyal cello bridge accomplishes that, I think.
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my work sites: http://darntonviolins.com and http://darntonhersh.com

[John Cadd]

Waking up today I had the image in my mind of the kidney shape of the violin winner . That curve is certainly beautiful .
Delving into the bridge site is a fascinating selection of bridges by many makers . If a player wanted to buy one is there enough information to make contact with a maker ? What sort of prices would they expect ? Some have the bonus of cut back edges if you want to clean the top of a violin without snagging the bridge .
Even fleck patterns must play an important role in the sound .
Has an experiment been done to fit a violin for sound and then steadily cut away parts to see how that affects the tone ? A paragraph from a James Bond novel has Bond ,during torture , wondering how much of his body can be removed before he dies.

[Michael Darnton]