Okay, this project isn't the one that is the nearest... but it is the one that requires a bit more preparation in the lead up. Biber's Mystery Sonatas require different tunings of the violin for all 15 sonatas... and at some point at the end of last year, I thought it would be a good idea to do the 5 Sorrowful sonatas for Easter... alongside the Guardian Angel sonata. And that means that I will need six different violins tuned to completely different tunings. Sure, you can probably do it with fewer... but then you need a dedicated person to tuning the instruments... and probably on a revolving conveyor belt of at least three violins.

So, I opted for a single violin for each tuning... hence, six violins so that I could start training their tunings in the month beforehand. Three of the violins are mine, and three are graciously loaned from local musicians and luthiers. All are quite different in feel and response! Well... I know my ones, but the other three are a learning experience alongiide learning the actual pieces!

The first thing that needed to be done was a restringing of the guest violins... I tend to use a heavier gauge than what people use in Australia, and so I feel more comfortable with the strings that I'm used to as it really affects the way that your bow interacts with the instrument... and juggling different violins in a concert is already a challenge without extra challenges!

Sadly... it is really quite heavily depleting my string stock, and I will have to replenish the stock again afterwards... a pretty expensive affair that I suspect will be on the order of about 500-750 AUD at a minimum... on the other hand, this is definitely a bill that will be forwarded to our ensemble instead of being a personal cost.

I had planned to have one of the heaviest scordatura tunings for my own instrument... the G comes up a fifth to a D, which places the string, the bridge, and the violin under quite a bit of stress. But as I was bringing it up... it made a fourth to a C, and it started to creak and pull the bridge quite heavily... I probably should have properly lubricated the contact point between string and bridge... but I forgot... and I decided that I would use a different instrument for the tuning instead...

I ended up using one of the guest violins that I hadn't yet moved to heavier thicker strings so that there would be less weight and tension on the bridge as it came up in pitch. The lighter strings have less initial weight on the bridge, so there would be less total when it was brought up, reducing the friction that was pulling at the bridge... a bit of a cop out, but I didn't want to break a bridge!

So, the instruments are now strung, and pulled up to pitch... and the next week will be spent on maintaining the pitch so that the violins will be settled (they will want to relax back to their original tunings..)... and also, replacing all the strings that I am expecting to break...

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