Different building
techniques:
THE
SOUNDBOARD
Carved soundboard
Bent soundboard
BENDING
THE
RIBS
On
a mould
Without
mould
SETTING
THE NECK
Neck through
Neck
attached to a block
THE SOUNDBOARD
On musical instruments the
soundboard is
of vital
importance at the time of creating the sound generated by the string.
According to the building method used, we will create an
instrument
with a distinct sound.
On viols the soundboard can be made using different methods.
Carved soundboard
This building technique works well for solo playing
instruments, to play thorough bass or to play along with other kind of
instruments.
It usually
gives quite a "character" to the
instrument and this kind of instrument is not advised for playing in a
viol consort.
Two
adjacent pieces of spruce are glued together.
Then the
outline of
the instrument is drawn up and the shape of the soundboard cut.
Then,
this piece is carved.The arching is shaped on
the outside and
afterwards in
the inside, as we can see on this image.
Already
in
the Ordinances for the craft of violeros of of Lisbon of 1572,
mention
is made to this way
of making the soundboards:
Item
faraa huma
viola darco tipre ou contrabaxa qual quiserem laurada
de fogo e do
tampaõ cauado de muito
boa
grossura toda igoal e da regra
que venha
conforme ao caualete que naõ seia
muito alto nem muito
baixo. (1)
...of digged soundboard of very good thickness all equal... (underlining
and
translation are mine)
Bent
soundboard
This type of instrument is recommended
for those who want to play in the most varied ways. They work well for
solo playing,
to play
thorough bass or in a viol consort.
The soundboard can be made of five or seven pieces
like English (Jaye, Rose, Meares...) and French instruments
(Collichon).
Soundboard is built bending and glueing
wood
strips, the same way a
lute back is built.
First the central strip is bent and then
the rest are bent following the arching and joined at
the sides .
The strips are cut so that they follow as
closelly
as possible the
fiber of the wood.
Having the fibers of the wood all along the
strip gives strength to it so the soundboard can be made fairly thin,
therefore
light, without
loosing the strength .
It also can be built in three pieces, like
in the
English, French and German instruments. In the same way as above, first
the
central piece is
bent and afterwards the two lateral pieces, previously
bent, are glued.
It is well known how in the examinations to become master
instrument maker in
Spain one was requested to make an instrument using only
a paper
template, designed "in situ",in the home of the examiner, using for
that,
compass, ruler, square and a knife.
Lo primero tres
ynstrumentos que son una biguela llana de seis ordenes con sus tamaños reglas y conpases y se entiende
que
para açer la a de hacer primero el
molde
de papel y lo ha de açer en presencia de los vehedores y exsaminadores y para averio de
açer no a de tener sino un cuchillo *delante* y conpas y regla y un cartabon y
no a de usar
de patrón sino
por lo que supiere y entendiere del dicho arte.[...]
Yten que a de açer un biolin
tiple de los que
se usan y a de dar traçados los demas que faltan para el juego entero que
son
tiple tenor conttraalto y conttravaxo.
Yten que para azer los tres
ynstrumeníos se
le a de dar de termino seis meses y los a de açer en casa del exsaminador y
no
de otra manera. (2)
The first [of the] three instruments is a plain,
six-course vihuela with its [due] proportions, rules and [due musical]
range and it is understood
that first of all [he]
must make a paper témplate, which must be done in the presence
of the overseers
and examiners so that [they] can see it being made and it must be done
only
using a knife, *in
front of him* a pair of compasses, a ruler and a set-square without
recourse to any other
pattern, but only drawing
on his experience and understanding
of the said craft [...]
ítem: that [he] has to make a violin like
those
in use, and to give the plans already drawn for the others that are
required to make up the complete set,
which are:
a viola,
a cello and a double bass.
ítem:
that for the making of the three instruments [he] must be given period
of six months and that
[he] has to make them in the home of the examiner and not in
any other
way.
(2)
BENDING THE
RIBS
On a mould
The use of a mold to bend the ribs comes
from the
lute making tradition. We can found them in the "Inventory and
valuation of the workshop contents of the violero Mateo de Arratia of
Toledo" from 1575.
Diez y seys moldes tres de zer citolas y
los
otros de guitarras hi viguelas
Sixteen moulds, three to make citoles
and the others
for guitar and vihuelas (3)
On bowed instruments the use of the
mold can be found on many of
the
XVII-XVIII century violin making traditions.
This
method
asures
that all instruments made on the same mold
are identical (at
least
the
soundbox proportions).
Anyway, there
is
no evidence that this way of
building was used
for viols nor have survived
any
mold.
Even in the
Encyclopédie, they show molds for cello
but for viols there
are just "false
soundboards" (?) (perhaps used as "soleras" ?).
Planche XII.
Outils
propes á la facture des instruments à
archet.
Fig. 11.
Moule de violon.
12. Autre
moule de violon.
13. Moule
de violon monté d`´eclisses.
14 &
15. Fausses tables (4)
The sides or ribs of the instrument can be
built without a
mold, as it
was probably done by the instrument makers when making viols. This
building method avoids creating
tensions when glueing the ribs.
Making the
instrument this
way,
it is very difficult to get it totally
symmetrical (as it can be done using a mold) but
gives much more freedom at the time of innovating or making
variations in the design (so much as to improve the
sound or to answer to the needs of the player). This
lack of symmetry and the variations in the models of a same maker has
been studied by Dr. Michael Fleming in his doctoral
thesis (5)
In this case the
corners are not joined on a block but mitred and reinforced on the
inside with cloth strips
SETTING
THE NECK
Neck through
Here we can see the Hanns Ruod Schaffer violone being
built.
It
is an instrument from the Alemanische Schule (6) and shows
the features
of this school.
The top block is
part of the neck and
two grooves are cut for the ribs.
This method was used on many instruments, plucked and bowed. Nowadays
we can see it on classical guitars.
On this case we do not use a
mold, but neither
are the ribs built "in the air".
We first make the back of the
instrument
and cut a groove
to glue the ribs in.
These are inserted in the groove on
the back and in the neck.
It has no corner blocks, and the corners are
very long to have
enough glueing
surface for the ribs.
Strips of linen are used as
reinforcement.
The instrument before being varnished.
We can see the long corners and inlay/purfling
decoration tipical of the Alemanische Schule
Neck
attached to a block
[...]
(1) Livro
dos Regimentos dos offiçiaes mecanicos
da mui excelente e
Sempre
leal
Cidade de lixbona
refromados per ordenança do
Illustrissimo
Senado della pello Licenciado Duarte nunez do
liam Anno MDLxxij
A Viola de
Mão em Portugal (c. 1450-c.1789). Manuel Morais
Nassarre.
Revista Aragonesa de Musicología XXII
(2) Ordenanzas
del ofizio de Bigoleros o Vihueleros
[Toledo] 1617.
The Vihuela de Mano and the Spanish Guitar
A dictionary of the makers of plucked and bowed musical
instruments of Spain (1200-2002)
José Luis Romanillos Vega & Marian Harris Winspear
The Sanguino Press.
Guijosa.2002
P.442
(3)
José Luis Romanillos Vega
& Marian Harris Winspear
Op.cit:
P.481
(4)
L'encyclopédie.
Diderot & D'Alembert
Lutherie
Inter-Livres.2001.
(5)
VIOL-MAKING
IN ENGLAND
C.1580-1660.
Department of Music. Faculty of Arts. The Open
University.
viols@flemingoxford.co.uk
(6)
"Die Alemanische Schule.
Geigenbau im 17.Jahrhundert im südlichen Schwartzwald und in der
Schweitz".
Addelmann and Otterstedt.
Staatliches institut fúr Musikforschung
Preussischer Kulturbestz, Berlin, 1997.
