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Someone must have a Janos Starker violin/viola/cello bridge on a shelf some where. I would like to obtain one and I have been unsuccessful in my attempts.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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From a Maestronet.com post:
Starker bridges were first made for Cellos...some were made for violin, but didn't survive the fad stage. The bridge was invented by Janos Starker. The regular French cut bridge and the Starker are close in appearance, but the Starker has an "S" where the heart is normally. The bridge feet also have little conical holes drilled up from the bottom..."to focus sound" to the top of the instrument. In my experience, these bridges may make a cheap instrument sound better, but I have never used them on a quality instrument.
SO after reading all that — I’m thinking why not just drill the holes up from the bottom yourself (or have a luthier do that) if you’re trying to increase the sound volume?
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Of course, @Irv, I had to see what you were talking about so I came up with this comparison of two cello bridge images:
The Starker, on the right, seems to be leaning slightly backwards so it looks shorter than it really is. The Aubert hasn't yet been fitted so it looks taller. And, of course, we can't see the little, conical holes drilled into the bottom of the Starker's feet.
I'm guessing you want to try this out on one of your eBay special violins 
The "S" in the place of the heart would be trickier to imitate. I'd also be interested in hearing what effect you think the "S" has on the distribution of loudness across the 4 strings (as opposed to the symmetrically placed heart.) I recently gave my sound post a 1/2mm nudge towards the G-string and I think it quieted down my A and E strings so I am realizing that tiny changes can make significant differences.
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Hi bocaholly and others. I basically want an example of the bridge as a form of hero worship. He was an exceptional player. I have drilled holes going up through the bridge feet before, but was not impressed with the performance. It is easy and quick to reduce the thickness of a bridge using double sided tape and a belt sander (previously described elsewhere on the forum).
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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Well, one mystery solved. The conical holes in the bridge feet appear in an earlier Jones Patent violin bridge (which was also made for the cello).
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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Wonder what those holes do for the sound? Maybe the rest of the feet form better with less mass vs downward pressure.
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