To make a professional-quality violin requires the combination of centuries of old-world technique and craftsmanship with modern, cutting-edge technology. George Yu has actively sought out access to study, and play, rare instruments by classic masters such as Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Amati, and others, through individuals and institutions throughout North America. Over the years, he has built up an extensive collection of photographs, tracings, measurements, CT scans, and plaster casts of these instruments, all of which are invaluable in his work of creating fine instruments that emulate the sound of these masters.
Mr. Yu uses only the finest of materials in the creation of his instruments, meticulously selecting only the highest quality of woods with the truest grain for optimum performance and aesthetic. He has done painstaking research into old-world varnishes, and working in conjunction with chemist S.H. Yu, PhD, a varnish was developed utilizing only historical ingredients, which result in instruments of stunning beauty. Further, unlike most luthiers, Mr. Yu also makes all of his own fittings - extending his great care to making all of the pegs, tailpieces, end buttons, and chin rests, crafted from European Boxwood, African Blackwood, Bloodwood, and other exotic woods and materials.
Here is a sampling of videos generated from CT scans that Mr. Yu has studied in preparation for the making of his instruments.
The first grouping are three videos that traverse the corpus of the "Brookings" Amati of 1654, housed at the Library of Congress. Each of these has a different orientation - Axial (end-to-end), Coronal (top-to-bottom), and Sagittal (side-to-side).
The first grouping are three videos that traverse the corpus of the "Brookings" Amati of 1654, housed at the Library of Congress. Each of these has a different orientation - Axial (end-to-end), Coronal (top-to-bottom), and Sagittal (side-to-side).
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The next grouping are 3-D videos of some scrolls. They are of the "Brookings" Amati and "Kreisler" Guarneri del Gesù of ca. 1730 (both housed at the Library of Congress), and the "Hellier" Stradivari of 1679 (at one point on loan to the Smithsonian Institute).
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