Southern Violin Association
association of violin makers in the Western Hemisphere

Bulletins

BULLETIN - JANUARY 2021

ANNOUNCING THE 3RD BIENNIAL

VIOLIN MAKERS' COMPETITION

SPRING 2021


****WITH LIVE STREAMING****


PREPARE YOUR ENTRIES FOR OUR THIRD BIENNIAL

OPEN INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN MAKERS COMPETITION

OUR TARGET DATE IS FIRST OF MAY, 2021, IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A.

THE SOUTHERN VIOLIN ASSOCIATION IS PREPARING TO HOST ITS THIRD COMPETITION AROUND THE FIRST OF MAY 2021. IT WILL BE HELD IN THE CITY OF ATLANTA.


WE ARE CURRENTLY PLANNING TO LIVE STREAM MOST OF THE COMPETITION WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO DISCUSS THE PROCESS WITH MEMBERS AS THE JUDGES GO THROUGH THEIR ROUTINES.



ALL ENTRIES WILL NEED TO BE DELIVERED NOT LATER THAN FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFERENCE. THIS COMPLIES WITH RECOMMENDED COVID-19 GUIDELINES FOR THE LIFESPAN OF THE VIRUS ON WOOD AND MOST RELATED OBJECTS. THIS ALLOWS THE JUDGES TO HANDLE THE INSTRUMENTS.


  1. THIS WILL BE VIOLINS AND VIOLAS ONLY

  2. INSTRUMENTS MUST BE LESS THAN 2 YEARS OLD

  3. A MAXIMUM OF TWO INSTRUMENTS MAY BE ENTERED IN THE COMPETITION. THEY MAY BE IN THE SAME CATEGORY (I.E. TWO VIOLINS OR TWO VIOLA) OR SPLIT - ONE VIOLIN AND ONE VIOLA.

  4. OTHERWISE RULES FROM LAST COMPETITION REMAIN THE SAME,

  5. INSTRUMENTS MUST BE OWNER-INSURED. WE WILL HANDLE THEM WITH THE SAME CARE WE WOULD DEVOTE TO OUR OWN INSTRUMENTS, HOWEVER THE ASSOCIATION TAKES NO LIABILITY FOR INSTRUMENTS LOST, DAMAGED, OR DESTROYED.


IN ADDITION TO FIRST, SECOND, THIRD PLACE AWARDS IN BOTH WORKMANSHIP AND TONE, WE WILL ALSO AWARD A NOVICE AWARD TO THE HIGHEST RATED VIOLIN AND VIOLA SUBMITTED BY A "NOVICE" MAKER (HAVING COMPLETED NO MORE THAN TEN INSTRUMENTS AT THE TIME OF THE COMPETITION.)


THERE WILL BE A SOUTHERN MAKER AWARD GIVEN TO THE HIGHEST RATED VIOLIN AND VIOLA SUBMITTED BY A SOUTHERN MAKER (SEE RULES).


SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE IN THE COMING WEEKS, BUT YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO HAVE YOUR ENTRIES COMPLETED BY EARLY APRIL.


JUDGES FOR WORKMANSHIP WILL INCLUDE JAIME GONZALES OF MEXICO, FIRST PLACE WINNER IN OUR 2019 COMPETITION. TONE JUDGES WILL COME FROM THE ATLANTA SYMPHONY, AND WILL LIKELY INCLUDE OUR OLD FRIEND, JUAN RAMIREZ, TONE JUDGE FOR OUR PREVIOUS TWO COMPETITIONS. WE ARE STILL WORKING ON VENUE AND JUDGING STAFF.


LET US KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO SUBMIT ENTRIES BY NUMBER AND TYPE -- PLEASE EMAIL THE COMPETITION COMMITTEE. THIS WILL HELP US WITH OUR PLANNING.


We will post updates and more information over the coming months on our webpage. Click here for Website

BULLETIN #17

General Membership Meeting

I’m pleased to announce that our 4th Annual Meeting was a great success. We planned for 25-30 attendees, and ended up with standing room only. Although some left a bit early, and a few came a bit late, we had a total of 37 participants.

First off, I’d like to thank Beau Vinci Violins for being such wonderful hosts, giving us the entire building (less one office) to hold our meeting. The venue was perfect in every regard.

The meeting kicked off with a quick business meeting, and here are some of the highlights

  • Interest in a traveling “American Made Violins” show was cool, we’ll discuss it again next year.
  • Strong interest in a “makers competition” for 2017 (so as not to compete with the VSA competition in 2016). This gives us 2 years to prepare.
  • Very strong interest in holding our next meeting in a larger venue, and going for 2 days in order for folks to spend more time together, and not have to hurry through our presentations. We have reserved a large hall at the University of Georgia at Athens, about a hour east of Atlanta for our 2016 meeting, and we’ll have the building pretty much to ourselves, with lots of “spill over” space.
  • Next meeting will require electing several directors, so if interested start thinking about it, and let me know if you want to be part of “the team” well before next April.

Following the business meeting, we had an All-Star lineup of presenters. Jerry Pasewicz did a wonderful presentation on sound post tuning, and gave out some “trade secret” information for those that attended, that included seasonal adjustments and other tips. After a too brief lunch break, Joe Thrift gave us a very detailed presentation on how he antiques violins. Then Christopher Germain gave us varnishing techniques that took us up almost to our scheduled finish time. But, Pablo Alfaro was still able to do his presentation on Repair Tips, concise, but quick, something we hope he’ll consider presenting again next year, but we’ll give him more time for. Thanks you Jerry and Christopher for taking the time to critique violins brought in by various members.

I’d like to apologize for shortcomings in the schedule, including the too-short lunch break. We’ll also look for some venue more unique for an evening dinner location too.

2016 General Membership Meeting

Saturday and Sunday 23-24 April 2016 -- a TWO DAY EXPERIENCE, I’m sure will be second only to Woodstock. Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia, 250 River Rd, Athens GA. On the weekend, we can park right across the street without penalty. Rooms 200 and 201 are reserved exclusively for the SVA. Tentative commitments for presentations by Jerry Pascewicz, Joe Thrift, Pablo Alfaro, and Kelvin Scott, more coming! We’re thinking of having an expert in bow-making as well, but not yet firmed up. A unique dining experience to be determined! (anyone familiar with Athens? Let me know) Critiques, and informal time together. We’ll also try and find a nice hotel close by so we can spend more time together too.

GROUP BUILD - “Messiah Tri-centennial” for a scholarship fund.

This is just a last minute thought, and if too late for this year perhaps we’ll visit this idea at our meeting next April. If you’d be interested in participating in a “group build” let me know. I’d like to propose that since next year is 2016, it is also the tri-centennial anniversary of Stradivari’s “Messiah”. I have the blueprints. I’ll contact some venues to see if they would like to host an auction of the instrument in some major metropolitan like Atlanta or Nashville. I’d like volunteers to step forward to help with this project, if not building, then if someone would like to help with reaching out to the different violin schools and asking for candidates for scholarship. This scholarship would be for folks that originate from the south, that demonstrate a need for help funding their education, and also demonstrate a will to complete the course. Then we’ll form a selection committee to meet during our April 2016 meeting (or whenever it works out). We’ll give the host that auctions the instrument a commission (or they could donate that service and use the opportunity to bring in some of their clients for an evening festivities), and the remainder will go to a student in one of these schools. If I get a good response, I’ll update everyone in the next bulletin later this year. So if you’d like to participate, or have any ideas, contact me at Davidwchandler@outlook.com. I would think we could surely drum up $3000 or more for a scholarship.

Here’s the stages as I see them. I’m sure it’ll require a HUGE label.

Model -- I’ll donate a set of blueprints for “The Messiah”

Donations needed:

Donation of Spruce

Donation of Maple back and ribs

Donation of fingerboard, purfling

Donation of pegs, chinrest, tailpiece, endpin

Donation of strings

Donation of Bridge

Donation of a Case

Construction of a mold, installation of blocks

Bending and installation of ribs, level

Back arching, purfling and graduation

Belly arching, purfling and graduation

Scroll & peg box carving

Neck setting and fingerboard fitting

Ground & varnishing

Setup for play

 

If there’s something there you’d like to participate in, let me know.

Davidwchandler@outlook.com

 

Dave Chandler

President, SVA

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