Violin Forum/Message Board

[Dave Chandler]

On a violin I'm just finishing I tried a method for fitting the soundpost before closing the violin up. Don't know the "school solution" but here's what I did.

Before closing the top, I set the back and ribs level and flat, marked the stop line, and set a bridge blank centered over the line and drew a small almost invisible circle where the expected post position should be (don't use pencil - leaves slick spot). I cut a post a little long, marked the ends A and B so I wouldn't get confused, and trimmed one end until it would stand straight up in the circle without support, giving me a perfect fit flush with the back. I then took a steel ruler and suspended it across the ribs, and marked the post where it hit the ruler.

Then I took the top, laid it out nice and level, again using a bridge blank, estimated where the correct location of the post should be, draw a small and light (almost invisible) circle, and trimmed that end of the post till it would stand up on its own in the circle. I laid the steel ruler across the edges, just barely clearing the bass bar, checking where the mark I made previously on the post to see where it met the ruler. Trimmed until I left it about .5mm long according to the mark on the post.

When I installed the soundpost after closing the violin up, I had a perfect fit where I had marked the front and back with a small circle. Of course, once I get fitted up, I may have to move it out of the circle, but at least I started out with a really nicely trimmed soundpost.
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[M.Lange]

Sounds like a good idea to me. I will try that on my next one.

[joejoe]

i just found a german copy of a strat in bad shape the thing is that it has strings on the top and bottum of the sound post almost like thats how it was set any ideas?

[joejoe]

i just found a german copy of a strat in bad shape the thing is that it has strings on the top and bottum of the sound post almost like thats how it was set any ideas?

[joejoe]

i just found a german copy of a strat in bad shape the thing is that it has strings on the top and bottum of the sound post almost like thats how it was set any ideas?

[joejoe]

has anyone found this? one on top and on the bottom.
it looks like thats how the sound post was set.
?

[joejoe]

has anyone found this? one on top and on the bottom.
it looks like thats how the sound post was set.
?

[joejoe]

sorry for the 3 posts

[Mat Roop]

not the way to set a sound post, but certainly is a method used by many amateurs and the uninformed!... But it does work in an emerency! cheers, Mat

[Dave Chandler]

Mat:
You were referring to the "strings" method, I hope.
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Andres Sender]

Dave--I think so. Otherwise, if someone used your method in 'an emergency‘ the emergency would immediately get much worse!

[Mat Roop]

Dave... sorry I should have been clear....I was indeed responding to the string method question... Cheers, mat