An alto violin by Robert J. Spear With a body length of 495 mm (about 19 1/2 inches), this instrument gives you the sound of the alto voice as you have always wanted to hear it-- rich, resonant, and powerful enough to hold its own in any orchestral setting. |
What's New? |
October 20, 2008 I've fixed a few errors on the site and added a FAQ under the "what's new" menu. I'm expecting sopranos and tenors in the next month, plus more mezzos and altos. I have a baritone to finish. The body's done but not the neck. I also have the small chamber bass underway at last. Even a small bass is a lot of work! The last of my violin geometry articles has just been published in American Lutherie #95 (Fall 2008). There are now audio clips of all the violas listed under the "for sale" menu. The links are in the left sidebar. Give 'em a listen! September 10, 2008 It's been a long and busy summer, and a lot that's gone on hasn't made it on site yet. My old scanner failed, which kept me from including many new graphics on pages under development. In the interim, I worked on text in the background. Now that my new scanner is functioning, I can start completing pages and posting them. Keep checking back because there's going to be a lot of interesting stuff coming on line over the next few months. September 9, 2008 September 8, 2008 On my workbench lies the beginnings of a project that really gets my juices flowing. It is a small chamber bass tuned in fifths, something I've been designing for quite some time. The geometric design produces a string length that is not much longer than that of a cello, which means that above first position this bass can be fingered like a cello with all cello techniques possible. It's an instrument that should appeal to jazz players and to chamber ensembles where an extended lower register is desired but not the massive tonal weight of a large orchestral bass. The bassist will get an instrument that I think will be as agile as a cello, yet play down to G an octave below the tenor (two octaves below the violin)-- that's a fourth below the lowest note of a cello. Stay tuned! September 7, 2008 The last of my articles on the geometric design of the violin is off to the printers. It will appear at the end of September in American Lutherie magazine, issue #95. I've now begun applying what I've learned about violin design to the larger instruments such as violas and cellos. It turns out that the process is not exactly the same. June 22, 2008 I finally received a couple of photos of me at the exhibition table at the New Directions Cello Festival. Take a look at them "In the News" under the "What's New" menu header. I have additional pictures of two standard violas that are for sale, but I haven't had the time to post them yet. I've also recorded some audio clips of violas #114, 115, and 116. They will need some editing and have to be downsampled to mp3 format. I'll get to this any day now :-). June 13, 2008 Chinese mezzo and alto violins will be ready for shipment and sale begining the week of August 11, 2008. June 8, 2008 I've just finished exhibiting instruments at the New Directions Cello Festival and there is some information about that and of treble violinist Grigory Sedukh's Japanese tour in the news section. Sedukh has joined our gowing list of teachers, and his information can be found under the links menu. There are additions to the items for sale this week. Look for a new heading for violins under conventional instruments. May 29, 2008 I added a violin to the "Conventional" menu choice under "For Sale" in the main menu. I also cruised around and added a few touches to various pages, plus a bunch of spelling and grammar corrections, all of which becomes necessary as a site gets bigger. May 19, 2008 Photos of the alto violin for sale are up in a submenu heading under "for sale" in the main menu. I had two altos originally, but one sold right away. A terrible problem, isn't it? :-) I won't have any additional mezzos and altos until late summer or early fall, but at that time I hope to add sopranos and tenors to my inventory. Web activity continues to pick up nicely. We had almost 4,000 hits in April. May 16, 2008 I've added a new item under "parts" and I will be adding some violas under "for sale." One addition is already up. Information about the treble, soprano, mezzo, and alto violins has been updated under the "octet" heading. Individuals local to Ithaca, NY should check out the "public performances" page under the "what's new" menu for an opportunity to hear some of the new family violins on June 25. Hits on the site this month are double those of the previous month. May 10, 2008 A massive update today, including stubs for pages awaiting content, stamping out bugs, and adding photographs in the "for sale" and "octet" areas. More to come over the next few days! May 8, 2008 I'm still filling in some of the gaps on the site. I've added a news menu choice under the "What's New" menu head. This will be a place for news from the outside world that concerns all aspects of octet violins and the new family, and also for anything else I think might be interesting. While some pages on this site, such as octet history, will remain fairly static once completed, the news menu will be updated with new information frequently. Hits on the site continue to climb steadily. Thank you all for checking in. May 2, 2008 Lots of new stuff this time around. There's a blog under the "What's New" menu, and the first picture of the Chinese mezzo under the new "For Sale" menu. Taking good photos of a violin is harder than you'd think. It was sure harder than I thought! I'm finishing a bunch of instruments now, including another Chinese mezzo and alto, an interesting conventional viola, and a tenor violin. These will all be for sale, and I'll have pictures up as quickly as I can. April 27, 2008 There are a few more names on the teacher's list, plus a few more pending. It's still pretty much an east coast/west coast split, but I'm working on it. There's a new page called "Myths" under the octet menu. I hope you find it fun. The first item under the "Parts" menu, an endpin set expressly for alto makers and players, is listed. There should be a lot of new items coming in the next few weeks as I complete four new instruments and figure out how to take decent photos. April 22, 2008 The teacher's list has been updated and the non-working links have been repaired. Pages of parts and instruments for sale are in preparation. The varnish work on the Chinese mezzo and alto is done. They're just hanging up to dry before I start putting fingerboards and pegs on them. April 18, 2008 There are now active menu links for the treble and mezzo violins in the Octet menu drop-down. We're still in low numbers of visitors, but hits on the site have tripled in the last two weeks. Thanks for stopping by! April 15, 2008 Work on the octet history chapter crawls apace, with some corrections and additional graphics. There's been a big addition to the page about me, but you'll have to hunt for it! The last problem with the alto endpin assembly seems to have been solved, and I'll be putting some pictures up real soon now. I may have also found a source for alto violin cases, long an irritating problem for many players who have been stuffing their altos into guitar bags. There's been a lot of work done on the teacher's list, which will be accessible via the links menu. Talk about a project that could go on forever! The first of the Chinese mezzos and altos have been set up and are currently being played in. I don't want to speak prematurely, but the results so far have been even better than I expected. April 5, 2008 I've updated the octet history page, Chapter One. History updates will be going on for a while! My article on violin geometry is now available from the Guild of American Luthiers. It's in the latest edition (#93) of American Lutherie. Pages with pictures of some instruments that I actually have for sale are next on my list of things to do. Under the "What's New?" menu heading, I've added a choice for "Public Events." I hope from time to time to place notice there of events where octet instruments and others that I've made will be played in public performance. Maybe I'll see you there! Also note a list of teachers is in preparation for prospective students. April 3, 2008 A greatly expanded page on octet history is up, with more work still in progress. I've also tweaked the Octet menu structure, which I hope will make it easier to read. The history page is found at the bottom of the "Octet" drop-down menu. March 29, 2008 I've received another mezzo and an alto this week. These are varnished and almost completely set up. There are always a few (or more) things that need to be done to imported instruments, especially altos which need special bridges and endpins. I'm happy to say that my supplier was able to adapt a small cello case to fit the alto exactly. It's not a high-end case by any means, but it's reasonably well made and light as a feather. It'll get the job done. The mezzo also came with a case and a surprisingly nice bow. If all works out, I'll be able to offer octet violins in three ranges-- a starter outfit, an upgraded and shop-adjusted model, and a variety of custom made models by several makers at the top of the line. I have not computed my costs fully, but I can say that the introduction of octet violins under this plan should result in a substantial price drop from what you've seen looking for octet violins elsewhere. March 27, 2008 There are four fiddles hanging on hooks from my workshop ceiling that will be varnished this week and next. One of the two is a 16" viola with a short-scale neck, and another is a modern tenor violin based on the Stradivari model G. The other two are white Chinese imports built to my specifications on the Cremonese model. These are the first of my imported mezzos and altos. If you are interested in purchasing a new-family instrument, but have been put off by their high cost, these instruments should address that problem and will represent an excellent value. Check back often for updates. March 25, 2008 The first of two articles I wrote on violin geometry has been published in American Lutherie, #93, March 2008. It deals with the background of the geometrical design of violins and presents a plausible and highly accurate method for recreating the Stradivari Model G using the golden section. The second article is scheduled for AL #94, June 2008, and will present the design models for f-holes and scrolls. These articles and accompanying diagrams will be available for download from this site at some future point. In the meantime, go visit the good folks at the Guild of American Luthiers. March 23, 2008 I'm still working the site, but slowly. The octet history page is being built, which is turning out to be a lot more work than I had imagined. This will take awhile to get into shape, and I may post it in an unfinished state from time to time. Check it out and let me know what else you'd like to see there. |