On 23 Feb 2008 at 22:55, Owain Sutton wrote: > And unless a bridge or > soundpost actually needs replacing, I don't have much respect for > somebody who charges money to set things up again. It's NOT that big or > skilled a task.
I would have to disagree with that. You definitely need someone with a good ear and the skill to translate the sound into adjustments to the position of the sound post. It's always a trade-off -- e.g., by opening up the top of the instrument, you may tighten the bottom, and balancing that out takes sensitivity to the instrument and to the particular player. On the other hand, it is a bit of voodoo, but that's mostly because the instruments themselves vary so wildly with humidity and temperature. William Monical once came to an NYU Collegium concert and adjust the posts on all our viols just before we played. I'd love to say that it made a huge difference in our playing, but it didn't! It is always frustrating to make the trek out to Staten Island, and have your instrument sound simply fabulous after his adjustments, and then get home and find that it no longer sounds like it did in Monical's shop. But post adjustments *do* make a huge difference. And perhaps it's more of a different in instruments like viols, which are at much lower tensions so that things can shift more easily. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
