Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Private messaging is working again.
Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
(0 votes) 
Regulars
Offline
How about that?! 
Not too sure about value for money though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech.....y-34230253
"A French engineer says he has created the first ever 3D printed electric violin........"
Offline
"Based loosely on a Stradivarius violin..."
*chuckle*
Regulars
Offline
That's pretty neat... but $11,000 for a 3D print? But I guess if you had the money, and talent to design it, why not.
And, yeah, I guess just verrrrry loosely based, lol. It looks like he was making it look like a fish? Which is a unique design, and cool, but doesn't make me think of a Stradivarius.
☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
Regulars
Offline
Interesting concept. I'm wondering how he tunes it though, I don't see any pegs. I kind of like the opaque material, but as a tradionalist and someone who doesn't have $11,000 up her sleeve I'll stick to wood, lol
It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. Johann S.Bach
Regulars
Offline
I found a better picture of it online, and the pegs are all down by the chin rest, instead of any kind of fine tuners or tail piece.
☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
Members
Offline
"Loosely based on a Stradivarius" may mean a lot of different things. Obviously it wasn't based on the look of a Stradivarius. But he may have engineered it to have the same lengths and shape at spots it touches the player's body or to have a similar weight and balance to some particular Strad that he could get the specs on.
With the machinehead (gear) style tuning machines back behind the bridge, the design wouldn't need fine tuners. Those typically have a ratio of 15:1 to 20:1 or so (meaning you turn the key 15 to 20 times to get the peg to turn once) and they are mechanically stable, so it's not like they'll slip.
I didn't see or hear anything exceptional enough that I'd blow 11k$ for it.. I'm also not even sure where they got that idea of price. But more than most instrumentalists, violinists do tend to be the sort to feel that quality and price are directly linked. So even if he could sell it for 200$ or something, that would automatically rank it as "crap" to many violin folks. Saying it cost 11k$, probably more violinists will actually look at it, at least. LOL
Assuming he is actually selling it.
The interesting point with the 3d printing is that it could be replicated very consistently, making it more certain that if you wanted a second one for backup or to replace when one got damaged, the new one would sound very very much like the old one.
I thought it looked cool and had some nice design ideas. Sounded ok at least through his rig, which would have probably cost at least a few grand, and might have been part of that 11k price, depending on how the question was phrased.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
Advanced member
Offline
First 3D printed violin? Nah. It's neat, but saying it's based the work of Stradivarius is just an attempt to link it with the name. Beyond some basic specs, as Daniel said, it really couldn't have much in common with them. It is cool though and I actually really like the idea of 3D printed violins(or 3D printed anything. I love seeing what those things can do.). It could cut costs and make them consistent, which is great because it would help a lot of students out. I will say this, though, the uniqueness of every individual handmade instruments is part of what makes them so special.
Edit: first *electric* violin. Didn't see that. Still kinda doubt it, though.
Regulars
Offline
Here is another 3d printed violin ; but i am still somewhat skeptical. gws
"Make every note beautiful", Ivan Galamian
“To play a wrong note is INSIGNIFICANT; To play without PASSION is INEXCUSABLE!” , Ludvig Van Beethovan
"It ain't rocket surgery"
Members
Offline
Regarding the violin in the article gws gave a link to, I can at least see some useful potentials.
As a functional violin that could be made on standard consumer 3d printers for about 70$ worth of materials, I think that is reasonably believable.
Perfect? Nah, Good? Well, that would no doubt depend on what one calls good.
But thinking of it as a beginner instrument that will have all the parts and have them in the right places, have reasonable playing action and not fall apart under normal usage, it could be the beginning of the end for a lot of the very inexpensive instruments sold online. It would almost certainly be better than some of the acoustic violins that some folks on this forum started on.
70$ in materials, figure another 15-30 for a set of ok strings, maybe around 50 for an entry level but dependable carbon fiber bow, and it could be a very reasonable cost for a beginner to have an instrument where nothing is seriously wrong with it and they can start learning.
For small children where they need fractional sizes that they may outgrow in a year or less, it could be pretty good. If it gets badly damaged or broken, another 70$ and you can have another one that is at least almost identical to replace it quickly.
It could be a practical and affordable beginner option. It may at least not fall apart soon, be hideously set up, or have terrible workmanship. So it could be consistently "ok" for students and classrooms.
Maybe after a few years of people who play and like to tinker and adjust doing some "magic" on it, the original design might even be tweaked to sound better. Maybe it could even look nicer, I don't know.
I think it at least has some potential as a concept. It could be a definite "good enough" starting point that would be affordable and readily accessible to a lot of people, who could then save their money for something a bit nicer out of more traditional materials that they like better down the road.
As an acoustic instrument, I may be old-fashioned on this point, but I have a hard time believing it would ever be an excellent instrument. But I would love to be proven wrong on that point.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
1 Guest(s)
ELCBK
Mouse
Fiddlerman
Jols
