# 187 - Complete violin build in 4,000 year old timber.

[@ChrisEbbrsen]

Very beautiful tone! Reminds.me of alto viola. Very wonderful tone!

[@ChrisEbbrsen]

And just think! The tone will only mellow with age and playing! Very husky voice. Stradivari would be.proud of you! And now it must be.played in! Way to go!

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thank you for your very kind comments!

[@mndlessdrwer]

It's a violin that says, menacingly, "I'm coming for you, viola!" The depth of the resonance in the lower register is really stunning.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thanks!

[@darringodden7225]

Well that absolutely blew me away. I really was not expecting that sound. And the shape is exquisite as for the green man I love the scale and it really works. It's a work of art

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thanks very much, I made a lot of little choices to help the responsiveness of the body, I think it worked!

[@fasdm]

Great project. Watching you thickness nearly 1 cm thick oak to make ribs reminds me of the Saturday morning cartoons where they make a box of toothpicks by paring down whole trees to make one toothpick.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

hehe, sometimes does feel like that!

[@daveojanen1721]

Very inspiring, your abandonment of conventional materials, and the resulting voice is just wonderful. Art has no license apparently, cheers! Thanks!

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thank you very much!

[@daveojanen1721]

Curious if this bog timber exhibited any tonal qualities initially? It is apparent some of the sound produced is a result of builder finesse. Surprising sound from oak.

[@Subiemal]

You’re on another level as a luthier. Congratulations on another amazing violin my friend.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

That's a very kind thing to say. Thank you.

[@trevorsimpson3452]

Really interesting and beautiful ... so English, somehow and the sound would work so well in Vaughn Williams or similar. Thanks so much

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Glad you liked it!

[@narf123]

That sounds absolutely wonderful! Makes me wonder why people are so stuck on having a spruce top, it sounds great.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

I'm changing some peoples minds. one at a time!!

[@ThumpandtheGroove]

A lot of it has to do with tradition sadly! I've learned that a good top is: light, stiff, and stable. Whatever that shakes out to he wood wise is up to the craftsperson

[@andrewparish437]

Hey buddy. Rocking the Docker caps. Lol I got some a few weeks ago and haven’t had the confidence to try them in public but you know what I may now have to 😀❤️

[@grahamvincentviolins]

@@andrewparish437 yes, questionable sartorial choices are my forte!

[@jcortese3300]

I don't know how you feel about resin; a lot of woodworkers don't care for it. But maybe you might coat the end of the scroll into a layer of resin so that it's a core of wood with an outer layer of green resin. When you carve deeply into it, it'll reveal the wood, but the shallower parts will still be green. That way, you'll get a nice wooden face embedded in a mane of green leaves, and resin can take some very fine detail. And how perfect is a Green Man scroll for a fiddle built of bog oak! This is really beautiful. I love handmade, homebuilt, nontraditional classical instruments, especially violin family ones. Strings can be crippled by a slavish devotion to how things were done centuries ago, and it stifles creativity.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

I do like the idea of colour and I've been thinking about this, but resin is basically plastic, something I'd prefer not to use.

[@athmaid]

What a build! I always wondered why violin making isn't as daring as guitar making for example in the choice of woods, great to see it is possible. Just a heads up, there's a whistle noise on your voice-over track.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

I'll have a look at using a different method for voice over, thanks!

[@scottdiller1893]

Absolutely lovely, thanks for sharing this!

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@markgordon4368]

very nice

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thanks

[@schumacherenator]

I bet it will be excellent for playing JS Bog sonatas and partitas

[@treelore7266]

Sounds great!

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thanks kindly!

[@HL-ci5lr]

Beautiful

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Thanks!

[@mickcarr2744]

Love the look of this and the bog oak sounds lovely! I just watched daisy tempest build a guitar out of the same wood and she sold it for $36000, so i think your prices need to be raised 😁

[@grahamvincentviolins]

I'm happy to charge a price that more people can afford. Not wanting to start an argument, but $36000 was ridiculous imho, but what do I know?.......

[@mickcarr2744]

@@grahamvincentviolins I'm with you there, I'm amazed at the silly prices people pay. I'd feel like I was ripping them off.

[@VedunianCraft]

Wow! Very interesting choice of wood. Never thought an oak soundboard would work out. Is it much thinner as a spruce top? Or even thicker?

[@grahamvincentviolins]

I don't use thickness calipers, thickness choices are informed by the flexibilty and the response under the fingers. I can tell you that it was considerably thinner than a spruce front would have been.

[@VedunianCraft]

@@grahamvincentviolins Thanks for the info! That's interesting. I always thought to increase the thickness on hardwood to balance out the flexibility compared to the stiffer spruce. But I guess you increased the height and thickness of the bassbar instead? But as I understand it, a higher bar also pronounces the higher frequencies more. Your instrument (from what I can hear) has beautiful darker nuances. I guess that's the character of oak and the construction (?). Going by just the feel would take lots and lots of experience to draw from. I don't trust my feeling about this (yet). Currently I am researching a Chladni-pattern workflow, or tune my soundboards to specific frequencies, in order to achieve some degree of consistency throughout different kinds of timber (not a fan of the ever repeating spruce/maple combo..). I'm not satisfied yet and strongly feel that some infos about that topic are contradicting each other...;). Did you somehow tune your soundboard to the bottom on this instrument? (sry for all the questions. I am self taught and love to soak up information)

[@grahamvincentviolins]

@@VedunianCraft Don't forget violins have the benefit of a compound curved front for strength, a lyre doesn't. You might have to curve the front if you wanted to go down to the thickness I used!

[@VedunianCraft]

@@grahamvincentviolins Yes, most lyres don't ;). My recent ones although have an arched top. Helped me to get a bit thinner. I am planning to carve one out completely, like with a violin. That's why I try to develop a workflow towards that goal ;)!

[@kstella87]

Wow, the sound is absolutely incredible! What an amazing gift, to turn ancient wood into music. Is it strung with viola strings? I didn't hear an E string sound (apologies if you mentioned this and I missed it).

[@grahamvincentviolins]

@@kstella87 it’s set up as an octave violin, one octave below standard. I’m using Helicore octave strings.

[@bluehoo0]

What strings have you fitted? I’m curious about is it the strings or the violin itself that produces the lower tone. I know you can purchase strings to make a violin sound similar to a viola. I like the colour, the green man carving is spectacular.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

There are a couple of different makes of octave strings available now, I used the helicore on this. Most of the sound difference comes from decisions I made in thickness, bassbar etc in order to get the best bottom end. Apart from that it's exactly as per my violin plans for sale on my website.

[@P.B.andJam]

What's the wood smell like?

[@grahamvincentviolins]

@@P.B.andJam surprisingly oak like, considering its great age.

[@Dumasulshi]

@Graham Vincent Violins Am I wrong or has this violin a much warmer and darker tone compared to a "modern Violin"! And is it becuase of the form? Im really not an expert but Im curious to know about it! :)

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Hi @Dumasulshi I have had some good results with octave violins with hardwood fronts, I don't know if you saw the one I made after this one? Here's a link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmilZqqsdruHqdEsi=e5QmMq-8xN7Mjvat

[@rw218]

The heating comment made me think of putting spaghetti in boiling water without breaking it. You're waiting for it to get soft enough to bend and submerge it.

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Yes, just like that!

[@andersoninstruments]

Brilliant video Graham. What do you change about the body design. From a standard violin to an octave violin? Is the body size bigger. More like a viola? Thanks David

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Body is the same as my standard cornerless in size and depth - as per the plans for sale on my website. I made a lot of choices to optimise response for the lower octave.

[@andersoninstruments]

Thats me ordered a set of plans from you😊👍​@@grahamvincentviolins

[@grahamvincentviolins]

@@andersoninstruments I've just posted the set you ordered - but that wasn't cornerless.... message me!

[@bobosk3753]

Одлично😊

[@grahamvincentviolins]

Ви благодариме 😊