Видео

Well... To each their own, right? I agree, a pristine instrument aged naturally or sometimes not all is the most beautiful. But there is the matter of taste, and I won't waste my time trying to explain it to you. How I waste yours making my instruments how I like them I don't understand, but I hope it helped to get that off your chest 🍀 Cheers!

Well first of all, let me say that I have changed the process quite a bit. I have said a million times that I'll finish some videos, but you know... Time... My main point, however, is that I think leaving the patches is a shame. If you varnish the whole thing and remove varnish, you get colour in the pores, it's way more interesting. Also, very few things wear instruments like sandpaper, I think pumice, chipping and maybe some ethanol are the way to go. I think by transparent oxide I meant transparent brown oxide by W&N. It's one of my favourite tube colours.

@@tobiasradmer4276 thanks for replying. I figured it must be a brown. I’m a painter and love colouring in layers with glazes, so look forward to using what I know in varnishing. I also want a very old antiqued look. Anyway do you know if I can use watercolour pigments to colour spirit varnish? I’m going to make my own with shellac benzoin etc.. These pigments can be very transparent. I have a lot of WN watercolour pigments.

Hi, thank you 🙂 I don't use this method anymore, but if you do a thin glaze of pigment, that is really easy to sand through. You can probably get a more even colour without signs of dust etc. if you VERY lightly sand the previous coat before adding the glaze. I imagine that would be preferable if you intend to sand the finish in the end, as those dust spots would be very obvious. Personally I enjoy a textured varnish, so even though I now use pigment evenly throughout the varnish and could sand it to get a more even finish, I don't. It's all about taste in the end.

Hmm, but sometimes an actual old cellos has a lizard skin - alike Varnish surface

Relaxing and anxiety inducing is pretty much how I feel about antiquing, well put 😂

Haha, thanks! I had honestly forgotten about this one, it's fun to be reminded of old recordings :-D

Hi! Yes, I completely agree. More is available today, but still not as much as I'd like. This is a new cello, I think I also attempted to film a few bits during the making. The thought behind leaving areas was to 1) save myself the work of wearing it down and 2) save varnish. I don't believe in that anymore, I like the details of varnish in the dents and nicks inside the worn areas. Personally I have come a long way since this one of course, and I have planned many times to make an updated video. I am even working on a cello right now, and I hope I can get myself to film some of the varnishing. It will not be as detailed of a video as this one, as I think managing the camera takes a little bit away from the actual varnishing, but I think it would be nice to show more realistic antiquing of a cello as well. It's quite a task with all that surface area 😂

Glad you like it! This cello was coloured with Winsor&Newton pigments, the specific ones are in the description. I added them straight from the tube, and I am quite surprised at how well they are holding up to this day. However, I have later on started mixing pigments with some of the varnish I am using and thinning it with oil varnish thinner so I can add a very thin coat, almost just wetting the surface. It makes the layer more transparent. I now prefer madder lakes for pigmenting and mostly use il pigments for antiquing, but if you are going to use them, make sure you only use the very transparent ones they offer like the brown oxide (my favourite) so you don't lose the refraction of the wood underneath :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 Thanks Tobias

The varnish is definitely thicker than what I would do today, but the tone is quite good. I wouldn't recommend thick varnish though, and I also find the Hammerl one a little too soft for my taste

"Full varnished" (new, clean looking) varnished instruments also have many layers to build up colour and protect from wear tho. Antiqued doesn't necessarily have to be thicker. The one in the video sure appears to be on the thicker side, but also cause it's very transparent and shiny, doesn't help with the effect. Also store bought varnish, lots of siccative, can be tricky to apply in thin coats

No, It's all about art. Yes It's technically unperfect at the physical condition, but an Antique looking is the most desirable model of an instrument for a soloists. It's better than just a flat, one coloured CSO (Cello shaped Object)

Thanks 🙂 It's still my own main cello to this day, and yeah, it does have its own personality. It can be a bit tricky to work with at times, but I really like its tonal character

This is true in some ways. And thank you btw :-) But who is to say if it's "worth" antiquing? It really depends on who you ask. Some would be just as happy, maybe more, with a pristine instrument, and in that case it really isn't worth it, no. It takes ages and therefore increases the price significantly. When you say it's not worth doing in this way, however, I assume you think antiquing is good, but you have a faster way? To that I have to say... I think the method I used in this video is already way too fast. I have since made the process much slower by adding many small steps. It's a case of diminishing returns, you have to put in way more effort to see a small difference. But I have to say, I can't think of a fast way to antique that I like the look of. For instance, I see many factory instruments where the varnish is simply graduated, probably by spraying a burst, to give the colour difference of wear. That is not attractive to me, even a little bit. I think if you are going to antique your handmade instrument, put in all the effort you can and go for realism. That is the main thing I learned by doing this one where I didn't actually try to be realistic. The point is not to fool anyone like some people believe (which was the reason I didn't do it here), even the most skilled makers can't really make antiquing that looks genuine to a trained eye, at least not straight off the bench. The point is simply to achieve that feeling of playing an instrument that has lived a life, it makes some people feel differently about their instruments and play differently too. And in my case, I think the finish becomes a work of art in itself, and I think really geeking out in the varnish shows that you care and in turn makes people care about the artificial story you printet on to the instrument. I have since done a few more in a style that I like much better, but I haven't finished the videos yet. I also haven't finished tweaking my antiquing, there is a long way to go! But now that I've talked a lot... What is the faster way? I'm curious :-)

Please describe your 'simpler' way to antique a cello - a video would be helpful.

@@richardwebb2348 you can buy an old violin and re-varnished it. That will be a true antique violin.

Hi :-) I agree. I've left the video up because I think the evolution is interesting, but I don't think this was a very good varnish. I don't mind having white wood on a new instrument, actually, since it adds a lot of life to the colour, but using the colour extracts like I did was a mistake. The varnish hardened into a weird yellowish orange after some time. I'm actually putting on some more varnish right now and antiquing it, and I'm very nervous about the white wood becoming an issue. I do have one more varnish video on my channel, but actually I've recorded two more that I just haven't finished editing. My style has changed a lot since I did the two cellos. What I do right now is tan the wood like you say, and then I use madder lake. Colophony varnish looks great, but I'm not sure if it's for me. If you go to my IG @TobiasRadmer, you can see what I've done since this one. But the next one will of course be different yet again

Thanks! I actually haven't thought of these old compositions of mine for a while. I should probably record some more of them, and hopefully my playing has come a bit further since. But either way, I'm glad to hear you like them :-)

Thank you! Glad you like it :-)

Haha, thank you! I personally can't wait to do another cello to do a better job, but I'm currently working on my fourth violin since this one instead :-P But I will take the compliment, it's very nice of you ;-)

Haha, I know right? :-P

This is Joha/Hammerl 1a oil varnish. Nice to work with, especially if you're new to varnishing, it levels itself and is very transparent, but it sets too quickly for me, especially with the colour extracts. I have recorded two more of these where I try to do more of a realistic antiquing on a violin, one with Hammerl and one with Old Wood. Stick around if you're interested in those, I will try to edit them. I really just need to find some music for the first one. I love this piece, but I can't use it twice in a row... :-P

Thank you, I'm glad you like it :-)

Nope, I didn't sand this one apart from knocking down the raised grain after sealing with spirit varnish as I think I showed in the video. Not between coats, and definitely not before. I like the texture you get with a scraped finish

Always tempting to leave it as is when you have it all clean and pristine. I don't think I'll ever do it, but I have actually seen a few instruments that were either left in the white or just varnished with clear. There are a few issues though, before you do it: 1) The varnish protects the wood, obviously, but it will ikely lose it's brilliance without varnish and become dull 2) I would be very afraid that the smallest amount of dirt would stick to it. Just handling the pieces while making gets them very dirty, and scraping them clean at the end is like power washing an old pavement 3) The wood will oxidize over time, so it won't stay bright white but will rather go somewhat yellow. If you did just do a clear varnish, that would make no difference to the sound, but we honestly do consider the appearence, and you would probably experience the sound differently. And just as a last note... Actually the best thing I know is "blonde" cellos from the 1700's Italy in the sense that they were once varnished, but now it has all been worn down, leaving just the golden colour of the ground under clear touch up varnish. It's not often that you see them, and you probably wouldn't consider them blonde, but... Yeah, that's a thing I like a lot. If you stick around, I'll have another varnishing video up in maybe a month or two where I will try to get at least some golden blonde areas on a violin. Maybe you'll find that interesting :-)

Let me just first of all say I'm absolutely no expert. With that out of the way, depends on your coat thickness, type, brand and age of varnish, and in case of UV, the strength of it. I believe all information is in the video or description, but I applied Joha Ia oil varnish, undiluted and therefore rather heavy coats in my opinion, so it can flow and level before setting. It has accelerator in it, and the colour extracts speed up the reaction further. I put it in the UV tent overnight. It has three 36W Philips UV tubes, which for humidity control during winter was running for about 14 hours a day. So I think the coats got a total of12 hours, with some coats getting extra since I also left every glaze and dirt coating for that amount of time. I found this was enough, but if you're at all in doubt, leave it for longer. It will most certainly improve the quality of the finish

And oh.... I'm so sorry, I thought your comment was on my other varnishing video. I'll leave my comment though, as it is the same varnish. This one I honestly don't remember, but I think I left it for a minimum of 20 hours without UV. These coats were all much thinner though and had more colour extract, and so they cured faster. I would not leave a heavier coat of varnish just overight. I did that on a violin, and it didn't turn out great. So to be on the safe side, I would say a coat of normal thickness should be left for a week without UV, overnight with UV.

The dirt on this one is just regular oil paints for painting, yes. The exact paints I used are in the description, but it's really not that important, as long as you don't make it the same colour all over, and not black either. The dirt on this one was too black really. I may film my next varnishing as well, as I have a few ideas to make it all much more realistic. One thing I would say is rather than glazing with dirt, mulling the dirt into varnish and giving it a dirt varnish layer looks way better in my opinion. So if you're gonna try it, I recommend that. Cheers :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 Thank you so much!

​@@sunflowerdewhoney9513 You're welcome :-) Do stick around or check back in a few months for what I believe will be a decent realistic antique finish rather than this cello, which I consider more a painting of an old instrument than a replica. I'm very excited to try my hand at realism :-D If you try something yourself, good luck, and I'd love to see your result!

@@tobiasradmer4276 I will! In my case I'll try with a violin because I'm not ready for a cello but I will! Thank you for everything really!

Cool! Let me know when it's ready :-) My current build is also a violin, actually. Or... two, but I won't antique both

In case translate is correct: Thank you, glad you like the colour :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 yes it is beautiful

Haha, thanks! Not entirely in tune, listening back, but is quite a fun part of the piece :-D

I'm sorry, but this one is not for sale, as I'm currently playing it myself. I do have other cellos, however, if you are by chance located in Denmark?

@@Tostra1997 such a beautiful cello... unfortunately I’m in California haha

@@richard_4675 Whoops, I seem to have replied from the wrong account. But yeah I thought the chances of you being close were pretty small. I'm not quite deep enough in luthiery yet to feel comfortable selling my own instruments, but even if I did I don't think I could ship it all the way there with a healthy heartrate ;-) I'm glad you like it though! If you're ever in the area, you're welcome to come and try it out :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 I love the style you antique the instruments, it’s very unique. If I were to come to Denmark, how much would you be willing to sell the cello for?

@@richard_4675 Well, like I said, I didn't actually intend to sell this one. But if you are really interested, you can contact me on instagram instead, @tobiasradmer, just because I'm not too keen on sharing prices and information in comments. I have another one of the same model, which also plays very nicely. I am willing to sell that one, and can even revarnish and antique it if that's what you like. I have considered doing so myself, so I'm definitely open to it. And in case it's this one in particular you would like... Well, maybe something can be worked out, even if I wasn't planning on it. I'm glad you like the antiquing btw. It was an experiment to try out some ideas I had. I thought of it as a painting of an antique instrument rather than a real one if that makes sense?. For the next build I have developed it further to make a more realistic look, but with the same colours. Needless to say I'm very excited to try it out on a real instrument :-D

Thank you! I'll make a demo of it as soon as I have an opportunity :-)

Haha, hi Edgar! Glad your reaction is positive, but I promise the next one will be much much better, as always ;-)

Thank you! I'm super excited to hear this cello at some point. I have high expectations :-D

Yes, it actually sounds surprisingly good, and that deep, growling C is one of my favourites on any cello. It doesn't come through properly in the video of course. I think it lacks some complexity and "sweetness" though, it's a bit direct. I think it comes from the very low top arch, so I'm building another one at the moment with a much higher arching. You can follow a bit of the process on my instagram @tobiasradmer if you're interested, and I recommend you check out my latest violin as well, which I think is a rather decent amateur build. I think you should go for it, but be prepared for a lot of hard work.I'm self taught and still have a whole lot to learn. I started out doing restoratione, then I built my first violin, which I thought was great, but it's really sloppy when I look back at it now. This cello is number two, and number three, a violin, is when I finally think it is getting decent. Now my second cello/build number four looks like it's going to be beyond decent, but I'm not gonna count my chickens before they hatch. So if you're at all impatient, try making a violin first. It takes at least half the time and really does teach you what you need for cello making. The one thing I can tell you is that there is no "good enough". If you want your edge to be 5,5mm, then 5,4 isn't close enough, it has to be 5,5. I don't always stick to that myself, but keep that kind of precision in mind throughout the whole instrument, and it will give you a great result, but you'll probably sit with details for days. Information... I recommend Maestronet and makingtheviolin.com I think, and then there are a bunch of good resources on youtube. Davide Sora, Mestro Kimon, Peter Westerlund, Lucas Fabro, Edgar Russ are probably my favourites. My templates I made myself. I listened to different cellos to find one which I could buy a poster of and that I liked the tonal character of and chose the 1865 Vuillaume Strad poster. On the back of it there are outlines which I traced using a light board. but it would be much easier to just get some sacrificial copies made. I then took off the rib thickness and the plate overstand from this ouline to get my mould shape and sawed that mould from two plates of wood and an acrylic sheet screwed together temporarily. I can then place the acrylic over the mould and have a perfect match for drawing on the corner shape to the blocks, but there are other ways. Look it up on Maestronet for inspiration :-) Where to get tools is difficult to say. I have some off ebay, some tools from vintagetools.com, some that I "borrowed" from my dad's tool collection, and a lot that I don't remember. It does take a lot of different tools. but if you have access to a good workshop equipped for standard woodwork, you really just need a good, shrap knife, a few gouges, a bending iron and the clamps. I think there's a pretty good tool list on makingtheviolin.com Please do shaare your progress, I'm curious to see what you come up with :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 Thanks alot! I will look into this and share my endeavors as I try my first build. :)

@@lpblewis Looking forward to it then :-)

@@tobiasradmer4276 I find your story and your work very interesting. I have been working with wood for years (furniture/accessories) but just picked up on learning cello a year ago, for the beauty of the sound but also for the interest of the instrument itself. As a middle age adult with busy life, I do not have the option to take a few years break to learn at Cremona school. But I am very impressed at the generosity of several luthiers to share some of their secrets on RUclips. I have been studying, ‘restoring’ / dissecting some instruments (learning from mistakes and failures too😅) I just found your channel and your IG, and you are a great source of inspiration. Your work is getting better instrument after instrument, I really enjoy that you share your process and what worked and did not. Especially documenting the various steps, elaborating on what went wrong or could have been better. I also believe that by sharing and reflecting on these, you grow better and faster as a maker. Keep posting and sharing!😊

@@woodsidestory7604 Thank you so much, I appreciate your kind words 😊 Those are the kinds of comments that receive way too long responses from my side, sorry :-P I agree, the cello is a beautiful, interesting and versatile instrument. Great choice you made! But with comes of course an ocean of techniques, tone, expression, projection etc. etc. which is a wonderful thing, but also quite intimidating at times. I hope you find it mostly intriguing 🙂 I also can't take out the time to study "properly", although I do hope to go build with someone after I finish my degree, but even that seems like a lot of time to take out. But as you can see, I got started much like you, by searching information online and starting out examining and restoring old, sometimes sloppy instruments. Visiting my local luthiers with my work as well as talking to people online has also been very important to me, I try to remain open for inputs from everyone. In that time far more luthiers are starting to share their ideas, and getting the same knowledge taught in several ways is just amazing. Of course nothing beats experience, but having someone guide you through makes the task seem doable. If you plan on making an instrument yourself, be prepared. A cello is a huge task, and even though I'm in fairly good shape, I am not looking forward to hollowing out the back 😂 I definitely recommend starting with a violin, as it's the same, and you learn the process while spending half the time on it. I'm also very happy that you notice the improvement with each instrument. Every time I make one, I see how much better it is than the last, and I don't think they can get much better, and then I go on to get amazed how much better the next is. The downside is, I very quickly consider my earlier work mediocre and don't think it's worth selling, even though I think it's a shame if they are not getting played. There is always a tradeoff 😛 My most important lesson that I knew already but had to learn first hand was that you never know what you don't know. Each time I make the best I currently can, I discover a new parameter that was uncontrolled, and by deciding exactly how I want that parameter and keeping myself to a high standard, I can almost be sure that the next one will be that much better. Of course it is very much a case of diminishing returns, but I find it very rewarding. And thanks again for appreciating what I put out about my little passion projects :-) I haven't updated my YT channel very well, even though I have two full varnishing videos ready, one just waiting for me to find non-copyrighted music. I will try to get that done even though they are of coursesomewhat outdated at this point, as I think they contain some important lessons I learned. Thanks for reminding me!

I can't say I've used it much outside, but I have never experienced any noise when recording inside. It's not the best mic I've ever used, but for its size I think it's very good, and I love that I can record without setting up a mic, stand, audio board, preamp, computer etc. Not sure what you'll use it for, but for recording practice sessions, concerts, improv bits you want to remember and so on I really like it :-)

Thank you :-)