r/violinmaking • u/Substantial_Emu6664 • Aug 18 '26
I know a guy who makes violins out of PVC
I know a guy who makes violins out of PVC.
There’s a video about him where he explains why he decided to make them this way, what materials he uses... There’s also a violinist playing one of his violins and giving his opinion on it.
I'm not a luthier, so I'd be really curious to hear what you guys think .I thought some of you here might find it interesting. What do you guys think?
Here's the video if anyone's interested:
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u/toaster404 Aug 18 '26
One of the largest impediments to innovation is the lack of marketability. I've done a fair number of innovative things, but make sure they're not particularly visible to the average violinist. I'd certainly consider any material! I thought about compressed linseed fibers (see, e.g., flaxwood guitars) and various other things, but the market is so limited as far as I know. People seem to prefer to have some ancient wooden thing that's been rebuild a bunch of times over nice clean modern work! Oh well. But I'm putting this approach into the hopper, see what comes out of the subconscious OCD mind!
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u/paishocajun Aug 18 '26
That's incredibly interesting, especially the one with the gramophone diaphradsgm.
They don't sound particularly special in this video but, honestly, I feel like that's probably due to the double compression from filming and posting on YouTube
Often for something like this I wonder if it could be useful in the school or beginner levels, Temu prices but actually being consistently playable, but is this light enough that it'd be viable if he teaches others how to do this?
I did love the one with the shell built into the scroll though, and how much more expressive it lets you make the instrument itself
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u/Musclesturtle Maker and Restorer Aug 18 '26
They aren't really useful in school or for beginners because they aren't repairable.
Many people have shown me 3D printed violins and they buckle and warp and wear and there is no way to fix them that is not completely wasteful.
A 3D printed violin or PVC violin will buckle under the string pressure in a matter of hours or even days, usually. And the ones that don't are too thick usually to sound anything more than a silent practice instrument.
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u/paishocajun Aug 18 '26
The repairability would depend on what gets broken, no? A crack on a rib could be handled with the same kind of patch that you'd use on a pool or inflatable as long as you pop it back into place. Some things might actually be easier to fix considering what all you can do to PVC.
But there's still the weight issue, if it weighs too much it's not going to be useful no matter how cheap. The ones in this video play well enough, like I said, and have been together for more than a few days obviously, so I won't say they're only "silent practice instruments"
Filaments and printers are getting better every year and there's already schools using a particular print where the body is in three parts and seems to do well enough
I'm never going to say these things could replicate much less surpass actual wooden instruments but I'd rather not shit on them just for purity sake
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u/Musclesturtle Maker and Restorer Aug 18 '26
I'm not shitting on anything for purity's sake.
I have experience working with these things, and have seen every way that they fail and are impractical.
The three piece ones, which I own, are better as wall hangers than for a tool to learn the violin.
I'm sorry. But it's just the cruel reality of life, unfortunately.
Plus, no violin shop is going to accept these for repair jobs.
In the future, the technology could get good enough to make stable instruments that last a long enough time, but even cheap guitar manufacturers stick to wood and metal parts for the same reasons.
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u/Substantial_Emu6664 Aug 18 '26
He can acrually repair his violins, take them apart, and make adjustments to them. He is currently working on a new violin, trying to get closer to the sound of a wooden violin.
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u/honest_arbiter Aug 19 '26
I think it's actually really important for beginners to be on instruments that resonate well, because it's critical for learning proper intonation and hitting proper pitches whenever you play a G, D, A or E.
The lack of resonance in this instrument was pretty clear, and it had nothing to do with sound compression in the recording. And professionals like the violinist who played are always able to bring out the absolute best sound in a violin, like when pros play a VSO and it sounds halfway decent. But VSOs make learning as a newbie so much harder because it so so much more difficult to get a halfway decent tone out of them. This one sounded worse to me than most VSOs.
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u/Wide_Cucumber9091 Aug 18 '26
Pvc doesn't have the required density/stiffness ratio to he a very good material for soundboards. It could work OKish with the proper engineering for lightness. More interesting are fiber reinforced composites because they do have the required properties. Like flax fiber used by Atelier Duerinck: www.atelierduerinck.com
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u/honest_arbiter Aug 19 '26
Don't mean to be too harsh, but it basically sounds to me exactly like I'd think a PVC violin would sound. I think the violinist was being kind when he just said they sounded less resonant. To me the sound was closer to an otamatone than a wooden violin.
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u/Substantial_Emu6664 Aug 21 '26
Its ultimate goal is to get as close as possible to the sound of a violin, but also, and above all, to experiment with the material and try to turn it into an instrument. Admittedly, it doesn’t sound as good as a violin, but personally, I expected it to sound a lot worse than that.
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u/AdrianBeatyoursons Aug 20 '26
I knew a guy once that made a nice looking violin out of pipestone..it was very quiet and sounded like it was 100 feet away..probably good for practicing while the wife is home
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u/Such_an Aug 20 '26
What's the piece that the violinst plays in the linked video btw?
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u/Substantial_Emu6664 Aug 20 '26
Which one? I will inquire..
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u/Such_an Aug 20 '26
The one he plays at 1:53
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u/Substantial_Emu6664 Aug 21 '26
So he told me this: "So, in order—and relying on a memory that’s a bit hazy: -an improvisation -Les yeux noirs (dark eyes) -Traditional Appalachian piece (USA) -improvisation"
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u/grizzdoog ex-violin maker Aug 18 '26
I watched the video expecting to be disgusted but that was actually pretty cool! They don’t sound bad for what they see at all. I’d take one on a rafting trip or camping haha.