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BUY MY NEW 50,000 WORD AUTOBIOGRAPHY COMPLETE
WITH 34 PHOTOS FOR $16.00 POSTPAID. IT SPANS THE YEARS 1890 TO THE PRESENT AND CONTAINS MANY UNIQUE EVENTS AND FUNNY
STORIES. FOR MORE DETAILS EMAIL ME AT jarms2@earthlink.net
(C)
Copyright 2011 by John R. Schneider. All rights reserved
PLEASE
USE ONLY INTERNET EXPLORER TO VIEW THIS SITE. For some reason the other services drop out important background color making
it hard to read the text
Our bridges are a combination of mostly the same wood and glue materials utilized by the
old masters. We use wood on the outside but among other materials we include pure silver and gold inside. Our silver only
bridge is $50.00 - our gold and silver bridge is $90.00. These bridges actually do contain significant quantities of really
pure gold and silver among other things which makes your playing bell like in its quality. Please see our ordering page
listed on the left which is titled "Ordering Instructions" for complete details.
Please, when ordering a Schneider Bridge, give me the proper measurement of the height of the top surface of
your fingerboard above the belly of your violin where the fingerboard ends. Take this measurement by placing a common foot
long ruler between the A and D strings at the center of your fingerboard. Touch the ruler's end to the top of your violin
and read the measurement indicated at the place where the ruler touches the top surface of your fingerboard. It is normally
3/4 inch on most violins. If your measurement is different check the end of your ruler to make sure that the measurement markings
on the ruler go all the way out to its end that you are placing against the top of your violin's belly wood. If you want
a more detailed explanation just look at on my ordering instruction page. If your measurement is the normal 3/4
inch then I can cut the feet of your bridge so that it fits your violin Just swap your old bridge for my new one by loosening
the strings, changing bridges and retuning your violin. That takes about 5 minutes. Sometimes my bridge needs some minor fitting
to conform to the curvature of your violin's belly curves. If so, you can give the fitting adjustments to a qualified
luthier or take a file and do it yourself.
I offer a money back GUARANTEE. If you buy my
bridge and don't like it you send it back and I will refund your purchase price! I am completely confident that most
of you will want to try this wonderful new technology. It could mean a promotion that would move you up a few chairs in the
orchestra and make your pay check fatter!
The violin bridge is not just the main conduit of sound
from the strings to the violin's body - it is the ONLY conduit of sound from the strings to the violin's body. As
such it makes all the difference in how your violin sounds. Let me ask you - does wood carry sound better than silver?
Of course not! If it did a wooden bell would sound just as resonant as a silver bell and as we all know,
it doesn't! Knowing this fact you can now understand just one of the reasons my new bridge can carry so much more sound
and in addition to that so many more of the beautiful yet subtle harmonic overtones when compared to the old style block
of wood bridge we have all been using for these last 300+ years!
SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS 2009 My violin playing is first on their program so click on "Prelude" to hear me play my ordinary violin
which sounds like a Strad using my newest bridge. Even this recording however does not do justice to the glorious sound
my violin produces with my Schneider Bridge on it. Merry Christmas 2009.
Click Here
NEWS FLASH : Feb. 14, 2011 I cannot say it enough - my newest, latest
bridge I perfected just two weeks ago - the beginning of Feburary 2011 - is a REVOLUTION in violin playing. IT IS
PRESSURELESS PLAYING!!! I kid you not. The finger pressure you regularly use to play a harmonic note is - with
my newest bridge - all the finger pressure you need to play a regular, pure and beautiful note anywhere on any string
and in any position - all the way up to the highest notes!! Of course, you play harmonic notes just as you always do.
DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS DOES FOR YOUR PLAYING??? IT MAKES YOU AN INSTANT VIRTUOSO !!! I really mean that you
can play twice as fast and even more accurately then you did before. You can play double stops like you were shooting them
out of a machine gun and IN TUNE!!! Buy
one - you won't believe how great it really is!!! A personal note to my older visitors
--- If your fingers have seen better days --- if they are gnarled and bent --- don't think that your violin playing days
are over!! -- It takes almost no finger pressure at all to play using my newest bridge!! You can still play well
even though your hands hardly fit around the neck of your violin any longer !!! We honor
all US credit cards. The Schneider Bridge
concept is NOT electrical or electronic. There are no circuits or batteries, just wood, glue plus some other secret
parts. Our bridge is made from traditional materials but, if one of the old masters had had access to the more modern resin
glues instead of the old animal glues used back then he might have built a bridge just like ours! PLAY FASTER , PLAY SWEETER , PLAY LOUDER PLAY FASTER, SWEETER, LOUDER !!!!!!! 1-Faster - Your fingers dance across the strings because my bridge is
so sensitive that it takes almost no finger pressure on the strings to get a pure, clear note so you can finger
faster. WITH MY BRIDGE YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET THE STRING TO TOUCH THE FINGERBOARD TO GET A GOOD, CLEAR, SWEET NOTE TO PLAY!
THIS IS A TRUE REVOLUTION IN VIOLIN PERFORMANCE!!! 2-Sweeter - because my bridge recognizes the full range of resonance in each note. It continues transmitting
even the softest tones and smallest vibrations. Harmonic sounds coming from the strings that have never been heard before
using the old style bridge are faithfully transmitted to the body of the violin by my Schneider Bridge and now they can
be heard! 3-Louder - because my bridge transmits
more of the string's vibrations to the body of the violin and doesn't mute, dull, dampen or distort those vibrations.
STOP - You now have
all the information you need to order! Reading further on any of these pages gives you more information on me, happy customers,
angry luthiers, user instructions, violin playing tips, I sing some hymns I wrote for you and give you the music, then I show
you some frequency charts comparing the old bridge's performance to my new bridge. This is all good reading but not
essential to your ability to order my bridge to find out how good it is for yourself !!!!! So - Please order now by calling
607-222-0653 with your credit card information OR email me for check mailing information. God bless
A PERSONAL NOTE: Seventy years ago, at the age of
6 my first big achievment was to start to learn to play the violin. In all the 12 years I took lessons from several different
teachers they never taught me anything about finger pressure on the strings except that you had to press hard to get a good
clear note. Instead, they should have had me practice getting a good clear note with as little finger pressure as possible.
My training in Industrial Engineering later in my life during my work career finally taught me that! The more muscular force
you apply the longer it takes to develop that force. That is a fact of life my teachers didn't know! My playing, even
today, has great tone but I play very slowly since each note takes so long. That is thanks to my pressing my fingers so hard
on each note. Another thing I learned is that a good bow can improve a person's playing remarkably. Try it. My playing is
what you can hear on this web site as the computer transmissions stutter through it. After over 70 years of playing I know
what a good violin sounds like. You can pay a lot more money for a good violin and not get one that sounds as good as my student
violins with my Schneider Bridge on them. I have been in person to concerts where Heifetz, Kreisler, Stern, Perlman and Zukerman
all performed their magic. Sometimes I sat within just a few feet of them. So, I know what a good violin and an expert violinist
sound like! Also, in my career I have invented and patented many different things. A horse saddle that keeps riders from being thrown off and injured or killed, and
it did - magnetic shirt and pants buttons so disabled people can more easily close their garments around them - a chain saw
that needs no steel guide plate inside the chain so cutting is faster - a high speed train that can run hundreds of miles
per hour and even run on existing tracks - a computer model that simulates the dynamics of human or other waiting lines
through time - a violin bridge that makes a standard violin sound like a Strad and many other patents - I hold 10 patents
and just as many copyrights. The businesses I have set up to sell some of these ideas have taught me
a valuable insight into human nature. People in general don't want to be the first person to try out a new idea no matter
how good it looks or sounds. Everybody wants some well known "expert" to say they like the idea first and then "regular"
people are willing to spend their money to try it. So far the "experts" have forbidden me to use their
names so I don't! They compare its sound to their old master's violins however! There
are some brave folks who have sent for my bridge and loved what it did for their violin. Some of their letters are printed
below and on my "Testimonials" page. Please read them.
If you want me to return an email to you please provide the information listed above
and I will reply to legitimate requests.
Mr. John Pospichal of Grafton, Wisconsin writes on July 29th. 2010: "I
installed your bridge on my violin. I think your name must really be Merlin. You performed magic on my violin !!! I have never
known any bridge to enhance the sound in so many wonderful ways. Thank you so much for the bridge." Mr.
Henry Linderman of Buc, France writes on July 21st. 2010: "I want to thank you for the violin bridge. It is all
you said it was. I only now got it back to try it. Most Luthiers are very particular and mine didn't even want to install
it. The luthier that did it is also very particular too and said there was no improvement in power, but that the sound was
for jazz, like a mute. Not at all true! It is more powerful and I love the sound which is very classical, but will be
good for gospel. Not at all muted! Thank you again. I want to thank both men for their kind emails and also all the
many others who's emails I have included on my "Testimonials" page below. They all have actually
played using my Schneider bridge and love it. This is contrary to the people I describe on my page below. They are
critics who don't know what they are talking about on their web sites since they have never played on my bridge or even
seen my bridge except in pictures! There are many secrets hidden inside the Schneider Bridge which we call simply the Golden
Harp construction. The large, harp shaped holes give this strong construction shape its name and some of its ability to sound
like you never heard before. I haven't stopped playing daily for hours at a time since I invented and perfected it a
year ago. Before that I had been very lax in my practice, spending only a few hours a month with my violins. I have been a
violinist for over 70 years and have never heard any violin sound this good! As noted elsewhere on this web site, these recordings
you are hearing as you reference the different pages of this web site do not contain the amazing rainbow of harmonic
sounds this bridge produces in person. My recording equipment could not capture those wonderful sounds. You have to hear it
to believe it!
SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS 2009 - Click here - www.clareshore.com/CUMC/Lessons_and_Carols/CUMC_12_20_09.htm My violin playing is first on their program so click on "Prelude"
to hear me play my ordinary violin which sounds like a Strad using my newest bridge. Even this recording however
does not do justice to the glorious sound my violin produces with my Schneider Bridge on it. Merry Christmas 2009.
For over a year now, since I invented the Schneider Bridge,
I have been taking up my fiddle and playing every day for hours at a time. I haven't played this much since before I went
to college. That was 60 years ago when I still felt I had a chance to become a famous virtuoso. So in the 1950's, during
the last five years of the twelve years I constantly studied the violin, I practiced six hours a day seven days a week! Now
I have a different reason for all my playing. I can't stop playing now because of how good it sounds! The glorious
power, resonance, sonority and sweetness of tone my new bridge gives to me comforts me and reassures me that I have made a
major contribution to the violin. History will confirm my conviction. - John R. Schneider, inventor 9/11/09 By the way, it takes me 2 hours each to hand make these Schneider
violin bridges here in the great USA so $50 each is quite a bargain! I think if you were making them you would expect more!
I'm not getting any government stimulus money for my work either! - On 8/31/09 I received this kind message from Mr.
John Woodfield of Cornwall, England. He has won a national prize in England as a luthier due to the great tone
of the violin he so expertly made.
Dear John, Your package arrived this morning in record time......It is most kind of
you to let me see for myself your new creation for I had listened to the recording on your
web page and as you well recognise it does not really do justice to the sound. Fitting it to my violin this morning
I was once more astonished at the improvement. To my ear there is a slightly different quality to the sound, even sweeter
and more ringing, and if anything with even more volume. It is , however, still lovely when played pianissimo.
I can only begin to imagine what it is you have enclosed within the body of the bridge to make this improvement, but there
is no doubt in my mind that it has worked. - The Schneider Violin Bridge is now known and used
on all six civilized continents of the world !!!! You should join us and stay current with the latest. Here's a thought.
If any of you scientists staying the winter on Antarctica with your violin want a Schneider violin bridge I will send you
one for free. Just let me know with an email. That would make the Schneider bridge in use worldwide!
- Two golden harp
constructions are imbedded inside each Schneider Bridge. They can't be seen but what a difference in sound they make!
The two harp shaped openings in each Schneider Bridge improve the tonal qualities of the bridge far in excess of the
heart shaped holes found in all regular bridges made that way for at least the last 300 years. It's time modern
materials and sound science played a part in how these instruments sound.
Gold Harp Bridge Demonstration.
Gold Harp Bridge Demonstration #2.
Please click here for violin #1 demo - after demo, to return to this web site, please click the "back" button which shows
up as an arrow at the top left of your computer screen. If that doesn't work press your computer's "escape" key and then try
the back arrow again. -- Please realize that the sound on this demo may seem shrill to some listeners, but blame the sound
equipment and not the bridge. Listen instead for the "echos" that you can hear still resounding after each note. These "echos"
so well show the extra resonance and sonority my bridge gives a common, ordinary violin! Listen also for the "bell" like tones
my bridge gives, especially on the E string. Also, please forgive my less than expert playing skills.
BEAUTY IS NOT JUST IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER BUT ALSO
IN THE EAR OF THE LISTENER. We, as viewers and listeners, all have different expectations. (see Logic? page below) Recently I visited a very well known Luthier
in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania who tried my violin with my bridge on it. He declared the sound to be terrible and said I should
listen to a violin he made to see what a real violin should really sound like. His violin had a wonderful tone and I congratulated
him on having built such a wonderful violin. But I reminded him that just because he thought it had the "proper"
violin sound didn't mean that the whole world would also agree with him. He had to agree that as I say in other places
on this web site - beauty is in the eye of the beholder or also in the ear of the listener. To my ear, my violin displayed
a much greater resonance of tone than his violin and also more power. I came away from that meeting happy that my violin sounded
so much better even though its sound was different! Your new Schneider Bridge will: 1- give your instrument
25% more volume when you request more volume. 2- make your instrument play soft
and beautiful when you play it soft and beautiful. 3- give it more sonority and
resonance. 4- make neighboring strings give more and stronger sympathetic vibrations
to the primary tone being played. 5- let you play faster with lighter finger
pressure. 6- give it a faster response to your playing. 7- give it a sound like an old master made it. 8- keep the
strings in tune longer. 9- not distort from heat, humidity or age. 10- transmit the beautiful harmonics now blocked by current, heavy, old fashioned bridge design. 11- stay flexible where current bridges are rigid. This flexibility gives the greatest transmission
of sound possible. 12 - play double stops more in tune with less effort. 13- play with 99.8% of the false notes and squeeks and squawks you have been getting when you
bow open E and A notes eliminated - even when playing with no pressure on your bow! Of course, a great bow helps to also
eliminate unwanted squeeks and squawks.
14 - Last but not least it will let you play by just touching the strings
with your finger. DON'T YOU REALLY WANT YOUR PLAYING TO SOUND BETTER? THEN
GET YOURSELF A LEGEND! GET YOURSELF A SCHNEIDER BRIDGE! Did you see the
"New Products" article on the Schneider Bridge in the January 2009 issue of the "Strad" magazine? All of our bridges are
hand made in the USA
Welcome to our web site!
After
300 or more years of performers using the one basic bridge design, it was time to really research the whole question of what
a bridge does. I have done that investigation. I was able to invent my new bridge concept. A short time ago I sent
in for a patent on my new bridge concept that makes violins, violas, cellos and double bass instruments play
with 25% more power. But more importantly they have a much greater resonance and sonority. This provides for a beauty
of tone which can only be compared to a violin made by the most famous makers in Cremona some 300 years ago! You can't appreciate how much better an instrument sounds unless you
try this new bridge on your instrument. You will be amazed and not want to stop playing because the new sound will be so thrilling! My claims about the Schneider Bridge producing a greater sound volume that
a regular bridge are based on many decibel meter (sound meter) readings. All of those readings from this
electronic sound volume measuring device proved the Schneider Bridge produces an average of 25% more sound volume when
the user wants to have a greater sound available from the instrument. Yet, there is complete control of sound allowing the
player to play as softly as they may desire. The Schneider Bridge does not force the violin to play loud but only when the
performer wants a greater volume. The Schneider Bridge can respond with my stated 25% more powerful sound. It is a physical imperitive that this occurs
since the Schneider Bridge is governed by the laws of physics. The laws of physics are carefully considered in both the internal
and external secret designs governing the shapes and structures of my bridge. All these unseen components insure
that the string's vibrations are exactly replicated and communicated perfectly to the body of the violin. So, the new
Schneider Bridge sounds better and more like a violin than the sound the old style bridge could produce because more
of the string's vibrations are reaching the violin's sound chamber and are communicated with much less distortion. It is no surprise that the string's vibrations
I mention above that are not reaching the violin's sound chamber using the old style bridge are the more subtle, more
fragile sound vibrations the strings produce. As is always the case, the more fragile things are the first things lost.
The old style bridge is just a solid block of wood which "eats up" the softer vibrations the strings make. These
softer vibrations never get through the large mass of the old style bridge which is standing in their way. It refuses
to transmit these softer and more fragile vibrations down to the violin's sound chamber where they could be amplified and
heard. Some people have said that my Schneider Bridge makes their violins sound different and I say how wonderful! They are
now finally, after 300 + years, FINALLY hearing how a violin should really sound!!!
Now,
violins and their other stringed instrument cousins, all have a "sweet spot" where the sound post and the bridge
are in perfect alignment. You have heard of "sweet spots" in other things like tennis racquets so, of course, they
do exist. Moving the position of your Schneider bridge around about a quarter of an inch or so in different directions might
provide a noticeable increase in sound and tone. So, a small amount of experimenting with the position of your bridge might
be a good idea in order to gain the greatest improvement from your Schneider bridge. It is totally a matter of experiment
which you can do. Your ear, in other words, is different than anyone else's ear so you can get the results
that please you best by doing it yourself. I explain this in greater detail on my "instructions" page below. On
my two violins I found both of them played the best when the edge of the Schneider Bridge was positioned just above the edge
of the sound post that faces the fingerboard. That places the base of the Schneider Bridge about an eight of
an inch away from the "F" hole center notches toward the tail piece end of the violin.
Be careful to measure the distance between your lower "nut" down
by your peg box and the bridge as it is placed properly between the inside notches of your two "f" holes. The "nuts"
I refer to are the strips of wood or metal that your strings cross over. The distance from the peg box "nut" to
the bridge when the bridge is placed properly between the inside notches of your "f" holes should be six times the
distance between the bridge and the "nut" on your violin's tail piece. The tail piece is where the strings are
anchored. This should give your violin its maximum sound potential. If that proportion isn't correct then get a different
length tail piece that will give that relationship to those two measurements. Your strings should all anchor at the same spot
on the tail piece. If you have a fine tuner that places the end of its string out away from the ends of the other strings,
then purchase a tuner that does not do that. All strings should be anchored at the same distance from the "nut"
on your tail piece.
Now, I have nothing against "experts". Most experts have been a great help to me in developing this new Schneider bridge
concept. I have however had a few "experts" complain about my Schneider Bridge being "completely different"
from what they had always been taught that a bridge should be. Now all experts I am sure, try to be unbias in their pronouncements.
Some really like my bridge and have been lavish in their praise (please see my Testimonials page). Other "experts" do
not like it and claim that it is no improvement. As my quote at the top of this page states in part, beauty is in
the ear of the listner.
Some
experts say that my bridge is different and so can't be expected to be as good as the bridge Stradivarius came up with.
After all, I am no Stradivarius. I couldn't make a violin as good as his and he couldn't (and didn't) make a bridge
as good as mine. My response is YES, the Schneider Bridge is very different and the "experts", in complaining,
are only performing the role that some (thank goodness, not all)"experts" believe it is their duty to perform. I
suspect that these few "expert" people feel that they are the protectors of all that is right in their
field of expertise and look with suspecision on anything new and different. They are trying to see to it that change doesn't
happen too fast by maintaining the "status quo" which possibly they feel they are supposed to do as "experts".
After 300+ years of using the same bridge I personally think that it is time for a change! Violins are changing so why not
their bridges? My Schneider Bridge is a quantum leap that makes stringed instruments sound much better. You "non-experts"
out there will find it is a wonderful improvement in sound over any old style bridge. I know this next fact will be amazing to you. It was amazing to
me when I realized what was happening. I can say with a great deal of certainty that after instruments with my bridge
on have been tuned for a couple days they need almost no further tuning! This is because the Schneider bridge's structure
is so impervious to temperature and humidity changes that its size remains constant. Also, it does not warp over time like
many solid wood bridges do. This is especially important on the double bass where their current style of bridge not only warps
after some use but requires screw adjustments be built into the feet of their best bridges. These screw adjustments are not
necessary on the Schneider bridge. I understand that one reason for the screw adjustments on bass bridges is to allow in playing
jazz music for "slap playing" of the bass. This is where the performer uses their hand to slap the strings
while playing. By adjusting the screws on the bridge the player can make the strings come closer to the fingerboard which makes slapping them easier. I don't know how many players need to slap their bass's strings while performing,
but try sliding a piece of fingerboard wood over top of your existing bass's fingerboard to shorten the distance between
the strings and the fingerboard. This would be much faster than readjusting the screws on your bridge during a performance.
It would be very much like violin players do when putting a mute on their violins. Our bridges are slightly flexible while regular bridges are rigid and made of a solid
block of wood. Our new, flexible design lets the Schneider Bridge transmit the string's sound faster
and more completely that a regular bridge. Because less sound energy has to be used making the bridge vibrate, more sound
vibrations are transmitted by the Schneider Bridge into the body of the instrument where they are amplified. The Schneider Bridge starts vibrating and transmitting the string's
vibrations to the rest of the violin much sooner that the rigid, old style bridge. This gives your instrument its glorious
new sound and power. It also makes your instrument respond much faster to each note that you play! We are sure that you will never change back to a regular
bridge. The Slogans "Have you ever heard a rainbow?"
and "Ever hear a rainbow?" are the copywritten property of John R. Schneider. (C) Copyright 2011 by John
R. Schneider. All rights reserved.
This total web site is a (C) Copyright 2009 by John R. Schneider All rights reserved
TM "Schneider Bridge" and "Schneider Violin Bridge" are trade marks owned by John R. Schneider
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