Javier Rivera on Violinist.com

Life is...complicated but good.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:11:18 GMT

So far there's been no significant progress since the varnishing. Turns out the peg holes need to be bushed and I don't have the tools nessasary to do this. I might need to take off the belly in order to fix the crack on it. The Sound post is pushing the belly making it uneven. Not to mention the crazyness that's been happening in my life. School work. Relationship troubles. Auditioning for Summer Camp at the Kentucky Governor's School of the Arts. And various other teenage problems. And as it turns out, I'm moving to Jacksonville...maybe. My mom want to move to Jacksonville. My dad wants to move to Orlando. I prefer Jacksonville seeing as it's not too far from both Orlando and Savannah, Georgia. And it has The Violin Shop which seems like a pretty amazing place for instruments from the website. Do modern violin shops take apprentances still? I would like to apprentice somewhere close rather than having to move to Chicago or Salt Lake City for learning to be a luthier. Mainly because it gets so Cold! As far as the playing goes, I'm getting better than I was on my own. My teacher is Dr. Emily Hanna Crane of Austin Peay University. She really knows what she's doing and that accompanied with my ability to learn quickly has been amazing. So in general, life has been complicated but i consider myself lucky to have made it so far.

What Has Happened so far with Playing and Restoring.

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:34:33 GMT

OK. So here's what's going on so far via playing and violin restoration. My teacher is fixing my bowing technique for the last song of Suzuki Book 1 for my little recital on Friday. I think I've gotten it down pretty well, but now I have to face my most common enemy...Stage fright. Unfortunately, My teacher is moving away. Luckily, she recommended me to Dr. Emily Hanna Crane, coordinator of orchestral strings at Austin Peay University. I have an interview with her on Monday. I'm extremely exited to meet her. Based on her credentials in the APSU page, she seems very well experienced. As for the violin I'm restoring, it has been sitting around taking a breather after stripping and stripping the hard-to-reach places like the scroll and elsewhere. During it's resting, I've still, out of curiosity, been learning about how varnish is actually made. But I came into a couple of lucky hits today. First, I got a fairly nice vintage leather violin case at the Nashville Flea Market. It really intrigues me. It's rustic, looks like from about the same time of the violin, and it looks just downright appropriate. Secondly, I went to Woodcraft afterwards. I was hoping to see something that could be used for varnish. Sure enough I saw something that captured my fancy. Tried & True Varnish Oil. It's made in the traditional 18th century style (as it says on the site) and it's polymerized linseed oil and a natural resin varnish so someone please tell me I bought the right thing. I still need to buy a ground. There are several distinguishing factors. I need a saddle, pegs, and a bridge. the main thing is that Bob Gravlin of Bob's Violins and Bows in Bonsall, CA had informed me that I may have a German violin with a Spanish Style neck. I need to plan out the overstand, neck angle and projection before adding a fingerboard shim. The planning out is what I need help with. I don't know, but I may make this a hobby. :) Any help with planning out would be great. Here are pics of my case. Can anyone identify the maker?

How I got a 90 year old violin for $15

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:37:19 GMT

I had went to the Nashville Flea Market on my constant search for some miracle to pair me with an antique playable violin. I already have a violin from Atlantic Violins in Orlando, Fl that is just fine but it's only $120 because my dad didn't want to spend too much money on instruments. Anyways, I go into a building and the, after seeing numerous battered and beaten, dismembered, small sized violins (and even a $50 cello with big holes in it that shouldn't even be there), I see a painted violin. A PAINTED violin. I have to admit that it did make me smile with the cute antique primitives painting of some plants. Fingerboard and the part where the tail piece cord goes over missing, I still was tempted to investigate. Other than being converted into a decoration piece, it seemed very nice. What really intrigued me was the word Paganini stamped where the Maker's label should be. I know Paganini never made any violins, I had to get it. I talked him down to a whole $15 :O We figured it would be cool to try and restore it.

I was headed to Nashville Violins afterwards to get Carl Flesch's scale system. My dad mentioned the violin for me because I was afraid of insulting their intelligence by bringing in a crappy violin. The man did laugh at the strange way the old strings were tied to the endpin with wire. Other than that, he said it was worth trying to restore. He even estimated it to be 90 years old. That excited me greatly. Now, between violin practices, I'm trying to restore it. My dad doesn't want to go through the trouble of creating a real violin varnish and slap some shellac on it, but i'm trying to convince him it'll be worth our while to actually make the varnish. I was thinking the second link for the recipe. What do you think?

Click here for pictures of the pre and post stripping of the violin

�Click here for the varnish recipe.