My Bio

..My name is David Langsather. I am the first son of the first son born in America of Norwegian immigrants who came to the USA around 1909 AD.
..My grand parents eventually settled in the center of the state Montana, and I was born in Helena, MT. in 1948. My parents moved to Salem, Oregon when I was ready for the 8th grade.
...During the summers my brothers and I worked on local farms picking strawberries and pole beans. We earned money for school clothes and supplies and enough for the Oregon State Fair, which occured just before the new school year began. Toward the end of my high school education I worked the summer for the State of Oregon washing and parking cars at their motor garage and during the year I was the youngest motor route dealer for the local newspaper, delivering about 1,200 papers daily in my 1955 Oldsmobile to newstands, paper boys and my own 20 mile long rural highway paper route in the country out side of town. Since it was the afternoon newpaper, I did this after school each day.

..I was the first in my family to go to college (my parents made it through 8th grade and dad went on to become a journeyman carpenter) entering into the Mechanical Engineering program at Oregon State University. I had saved enough money by working to put myself completely through the first year and then finished the next three years on work study, grants, and loans, graduating with a four year BS in the Mechanical Engineering Technology in 1971.
..As jobs were scarse on graduation due to an economic turndown, I took a job as a property appraiser. There I learned a lot about human behavior and government office politics! During this time I decided that what I really wanted to do is start my own car company, building a light weight, high performance sports car (think early Lotus). So for four years, I spent every evening and all day both days of the weekend, building my prototype car out of aluminum and steel tubing, a total of 6,000 hours of labor and $10,000 in parts and materials. When at last the car was completed, my wife and I towed it to Long Beach, CA for display at the Long Beach, CA Formula One car race (which was run on the city streets), in one of the convention arenas near the F1 team arena. {We were ready to take orders, and hoped to build one or two cars per year.} The highlight of the trip was when the Lotus F1 team mechanics asked if they could look the car over and came together (about 7 or them, in their oily team Lotus mechanis outfits) and spent about 15 minutes looking over the chassis details.
..The car company was short lived when the federal government told me I needed to provide them with three cars to crash test and that I would have to meet all the safely and emission standards as the big car companies!
..I quit my day job and began rebuilding several engine parts for the Chevrolet Corvair as a home based business, which I did full time for the next 27 years.
..That eventually became our current mail order business of rebuilding engine harmonic balancers, splitting the work load with my wife. We serve customers from all over America and the world, and have a good reputation.
..This is the business that supports us and has freed me to do violin acoustical research without any pressure to sell violins that I have made (although I did start out with that idea.), both the financial relief and giving me several hours each day for research, reading and violin playing. At work I regularly listen to the finest violin featured music for five hours per day, five days per week. Which has been a great way to develope a discerning musical ear, as related to violin tone.
..I have had a violin lesson weekly for the past 15 years, and Ron Kilde, has been a very helpful and critical guide to my progress.
..I have made 25 new violins and rebuilt some of those numerous times (about half of the number sold some time ago). My test group of this last phase of tap tone research consisted of 8 of my violins (made during different time periods).
..In years past, I have also spent time learning about small boat sailing and oil painting, and available light black and white photography; devoting many hours and much effort to each in turn.
..I hope my practical acoustical research of violins (and similar stringed instruments) will be helpful to some and encourage others to continue the development of Violin Tap Tone Technology, Wood Tone and Rub Tone research [wood selection tools], Varnish Ground technology, and in some small way, remove some of the current mysteries of excellent violin tone production.

(c) David Langsather at Salem, Oregon, USA 1/2018 AD