To begin with, last year, a professional violist in Switzerland contacted me, asking about commissioning a 15-3/4″ 5-string viola. With this in mind, we discussed the project at length. We ascertained her specific requirements. Obviously, that is her privilege, since she was ordering a commissioned instrument.
Meanwhile, I had undergone surgery on both eyes. As a result, I could not do anydetailed work until my eyes healed. The client was very patient: I chose the wood for her instrument, to her approval (European Spruce and Maple,) and ordered the special material for her fittings.
Choosing Materials
European Spruce front plate materialOne-Piece European Maple Back PlateSonowood for fittings, as the billets arrived
Out of concern for endangered tropical woods, the request specified that I use a Swiss product, “Sonowood” for the fingerboard and other fittings. In this case, the Sonowood is Spruce. They heated it enough to liquefy the internal lignin. Next, they compressed it to three times its natural density. The resulting product is as hard and wear-resistant as ebony. But Sonowood is not endangered: it is Spruce!
Carving The Fittings
On the other hand, Sonowood is expensive and difficult to work with. It was good that I ordered it early. It took a long time to arrive, and I learned its working properties by carving the fingerboard. Then I made the chinrest, the tailpiece, and the end button. I saved the nut and saddle for last, as I had to fit them to the fingerboard and front plate.
Fingerboard footprint copied from Ebony fingerboard billet.Carving the fingerboardHandmade Chinrest and TailpieceEnd Button, with Paua Shell dot
Beginning the Rib Garland
While I was waiting to receive the Sonowood billets, I had prepared the ribstock, bent the ribs, and installed them into the mold.
Ribs installed in GarlandRib Garland with linings installed
Beginning the Plates
Next, I installed the linings, traced the plates and began carving.
Footprint of front and back plates, ready to carve. Dark streak on back plate is heartwood.
Neck and Scroll
Simultaneously, I also laid out and began carving the neck and scroll.
Beginning the Scroll
Once I had completed all the parts, I assembled them and began finishing.
Beginning Varnishing
To “Cut to the Chase,” as people often say, here is how viola looks, today. I have applied the base coats of yellow varnish , and I will soon begin applying the darker layers of varnish.
Front side with Yellow Base CoatsSide View with Yellow Base CoatsBack View with Yellow Base Coats
I will post more, as things progress toward completion.
Last time, I gave a preview of some of the varnish procedure.
But, to be more specific, let’s walk through the varnishing process:
Bare wood, front viewBare wood, back view
Peparing for Varnish
First, I removed the fingerboard to give me access to every square milimeter of the outside of the instrument. Next, I used low-angle light, to cast dark shadows so that I could see all the discontinuities, humps and hollows. Then, I gently scraped all the surfaces to remove all of those discontinuities.
Finally, I was ready for the varnish procedure:
Bare wood, scraped and ready for finish
Mineral Ground to Close the Pores
To begin with, I used a suspension of fine particles of gypsum in either water or coffee, to form a mineral ground. First, I brushed the mixture onto all the outside surface except the handle area of the neck, Then, using my fingers, I rubbed the mixture into the wood, so as to fill the natural pores wtih “nano-particles” of the gypsum.
After the mixture dries, the instrument looks chalk-white, and the mineral ground obscures the wood grain.
Dry Gypsum, Front ViewSide View, Dry Gypsum ground.Back view, Dry Gypsum groundScroll with Dry Gypsum ground
Then, I used 400-grit sandpaper to very lightly rub off any excess dry gypsum, which still left the violin looking stark-white, as the gypsum had filled the pores of the wood.
Obviously, that (mineral ground) stage of the process looks pretty awful. but the next step (sealer application) always feels like “magic” to me. The sealer makes the mineral ground permanently “disappear!”
Sealer
For the last ten years, or so. I have used a sealer which is simply a thin solution of rosin in alcohol. Sometimes, I use turpentine instead of (or in addition to) the alcohol. Either way, the solvent carries the rosin into the pores, surrounding the particles of gypsum, and thereby rendering the particles tranparent. (However, on this fiddle, I chose to use alcohol as the solvent.)
Front view with sealerSide View With SealerBack View With SealerScroll With Sealer
Obviously, the mineral ground has done its work, plugging the pores against penetration by varnish. However, it has also become permanently invisible.
NOW we Varnish!
When I began making violins, I was using oil varnishes. Later, I switched to spirit varnishes. Today, I am still using a spirit varnish.
The main chemical difference between the two is that an oil varnish is composed of a mixture of a drying oil and a resin of some kind. The varnish-maker cooked the oil and resins together at a high heat, thereby forming a polymer, which is no longer either oil or resin. It does not dry by evaporation so much as by a continuation of the poymerization process, and by “off-gassing” the volatile portions left in the mix.
Varnish makers prepare the spirit varnishes, on the other hand, by dissolving one or more resins in a solvent. Incidentally, the solvent is usually, (but not always) alcohol. When the solvent evarporates, the resin (or resins) remain(s) in and on the wood, to finish hardening. (The mineral ground helps to prevent deep penetration of the varnish into the wood. This is desireable because the varnish-saturated wood does not vibrate the same in comparison to the unsaturated wood, and it can thereby dampen the sound.)
I always begin with a yellow varnish, so that the yellow base coats will “shine through” any thin areas of the darker vanish, providing a reflective “glow” from within.
Yellow Varnish Base Coats
Here is the fiddle with two coats of yellow varnish:
Front View, two coats YellowSide View, Two Coats YellowBack view with two coats yellow varnishScroll with two coats yellow
The grain begins to become more visible with thje addition of the varnish. There is a temptation to stop early, because the grain becomes highly visible after about three or four coats of varnish. But it will look better with more.
Building the Color
I began deepenind the color by simply adding a thin coat of brown varnish, over the yellow base coats.
Deepening the color: one coat brown varnish.
I loved this look…it seemed as though the Quilted Maple wood was in flames, or perhaps as if I was seeing an incredibly dramatic sunset in progress. But I knew it needed more.
Two coats brown over yellow. BackBrown (two coats) over yellow, front viewScroll with Brown varnish over Yellow
Shading
Obviously, (as you can see) I am applying more color in certain areas. I am attempting, thereby, to give the impression of truly aged varnish (where the colored varnish has ben worn away in certain areas through much use.) Some people don’t like that look, but many do. Most importantly, Ilike it. Charles Beare was famously quoted as having said, “There is absolutely no reason to ‘antique’ or ‘shade’ a new instrument...unless you actually hope to sellit!” (Apparently I’m in good company!)
So, I apply more varnish in the areas where hands would be least likely to touch, and where the surface is least likely to be abraded by any means. But, I try to be gentle about this, not heavy-handed. Some (few) makers deliberately damage the wood, in an effort to imitate advanced age. Their instruments sell to people who like that look, but I don’t want to do that. Therefore. I simply brush on deeper color in the areas of least wear.
Usually, I prefer instruments to be at least a little leaning toward a red-brown color, so, I needed to add some red.
More Color
I brushed on a thin coat of red-brown varnish all over:
Back view, leaning toward redFront view, leaning toward redScroll, leaning toward Red
But it still needed more! Consequently, I added more brown in the corners, and allowed it to dry. Then I added more red.
Shading begun, with more redBack with more redScroll with more red
Finally, the varnish reached a depth of color about which I felt pretty good!
Final Color FrontFinal Color Back Scroll in its Final color
Then, I french-polished the instrument, to flatten any brush-marks. Now I will allow it to dry and harden for a couple of weeks before I set it up for playing. Otherwise, it will acquire deep fingerprints as I work on it.
Originally, I laid out the “kits” for six new five-string fiddles, two years ago. However, I had taken on other responsibilities, so I was pretty busy. But I did manage to complete two of the fiddles a year ago. As a result of numerous interruptions, I had barely begun this particular instrument.
We had lots of interruptions: some good, (a commissioned five-string fiddle) some bad (Health issues for family members.) But, now I’m almost “on the homestretch” to complete my #17 Five-string fiddle.
Where it began
Initially, I bought some very pretty quilted Big Leaf Maple, and some Englemann Spruce, from Bruce Harvie, of Orcas Island Tonewoods. Fortunately, I got the ribs, back and neck out of the same billet of maple. It was nice that the Quilted Maple billet was large enough for that. I cut the top plate and bass bar out of the Englemann Spruce. However, I obtained the willow for the blocks and linings elsewhere.
But then, I laid the instrument aside for a year, partialy completed, while, as I said, other things (commissioned intstruments, family needs, etc,) took precedence.
Eventually, I “drifted back” to complete this instrument in June, and still there were a lot of sidetracks. (“Life is what actually occurs while we are planning something else.“) But this is the final work:
Wild quilted maple back inside carving
Carving the back plate
First, I completed the carving, of the back plate, inside and out. Then I installed the purfling on the back plate. (I had already completed the front plate, a year ago.)
Outside of quilted maple back with purfling complete
Carving the Neck
Meanwhile, I began carving the scroll and neck.
Beginning the scroll, using a saw
Scroll and neck ready for Fingerboard
After I installed the back plate on the corpus, it was time to install the neck.
The Neck-Set
Carving the neck mortise
First I laid out the mortise with a straightedge and pencil. Then I carved the mortise out, using chisels and scrapers. Afterward, once the neck joint was perfectly fitted, I glued and clamped the neck into the mortise and allowed it to dry.
However, I still needed to finish carving the neck heel and back button, together, as one piece. In that way, all the dimensions and curves will be correct. In addition, I continued to work on the final smoothing and details on the scroll itself.
Final Shaping of Neck, Heel and Scroll
Final carving of the neck and heelBack nearly completeCarving is complete, and it is time to remove the fingerboard!
Finally, I removed the fingerboard. As a result, I could easily access all of the bare wood for the final varnish preparation and varnishing. (Originally, I had only temporarily attached the fingerboard, by means of three dots of hide glue.)
Front view, Ready for varnishBack view, Ready for VarnishScroll, ready for varnish
Varnish Process
In reality, the varnishing process is fairly involved.
First, I apply a mineral ground. Next, I apply a coat of sealer. Then, I begin varnishing. Furthermore, the varnish must be built up, coat by coat. To begin with, I apply two base coats of yellow. Afterward, I work through whatever colors I have chosen to achieve the final result. (Usually, it requires about eight coats of varnish.)
But, here are some pictures taken after the first two coats of yellow varnish:
Two coats yellow varnish, front viewSide view.: two coats yellow varnishTwo coats yellow varnish, back view.Scroll, with two coats yellow varnish
Next time, I will describe the finishing process in more detail. And, as I near completion, I will post again, showing the set-up procedure.
Last time I posted, I had just completed the commissioned five-string fiddle, up to and including the sealer.
Sealed instrument, Front ViewSealed instrument, Back View.
Varnish:
The “magic” of the sealer was that it caused the mineral ground to disappear forever. The instrument instantly went from stark chalk-white to a natural wood color. As a result, the mineral will never be visible again. I always enjoy that transformation.
The varnish, on the other hand, is a series of relatively small changes, wherein the violin achieves the color we want. Furthermore, the increasing clarity and depth of the varnish gives the impression of being able to “see into the wood.”
I always begin with a couple of coats of deepyellow or amber varnish, as an undercoat which will shine through the later color coats.
Yellow First
Here is the violin after the two coats of yellow varnish:
Front View, with Yellow base coat.Yellow base coat, Treble Side View.Back View with Yellow base coat.
Color Coats
Next, I bagan layering the color coats, building to the look I planned. (Each “coat,” in reality, is usually two coats, applied in quick succession. There were about eighttotal color coats, but I will call them “first through fourth.”)
First Color Coat, FrontTreble Side, with First Color Coat.First Color Coat, BackBass Side, with First Color Coat.
This maple is really beautiful wood. I wish I had a lot more of it, but, sadly, I only was able to salvage a little of the tree from which it originated. The “donor tree” was removed from the property where my wife and her siblings grew up. It had finally rotted and was becoming dangerous, so they removed it. But the wood is gorgeous. You can see the stump in this article….
Continuing color coats
As you can see, the yellow base coat is still showing through pretty strongly. That is good, but I still wanted to move the color toward a deep reddish brown, with the golden yellow shining through. Therefore… I needed more color coats!
Second Color Coat, FrontBack, with Second Color Coat.
The color is headed in the right direction, but still needs to be deeper. I will add extra color in any areas that should be darker.
Third Color Coat, Front.Oregon Big Leaf Maple Back, withThird Color Coat.
I was getting pretty close to correct, so I began taking the instrument out into natural light, to check the color there.
Fourth Color Coat, Front.Treble Side with Fourth Color Coat.Back, with Fourth Color Coat.Bass side, Fourth Color Coat.
The color was pretty close to what I had hoped to produce. Therefore, I felt that I was ready to reinstall the fingerboard, Afterward, I would hand-rub the varnish to a good polish. Finally, I allowed it to hang in my dining room and cure a little more fully. The varnish was still quite soft, though dry to the touch.
Fingerboard
First I carved the underside of the fingerboard to remove extra mass. This affects the sound, as well as the feel of the instrument. (Extra, unnecessary mass tends to absorb vibration rather than resonate.)
Underside of fingerboard beginning. It was fully carved and smoothed before installation.
Then I carved a tiny notch, dead center on the upper end of the backside of the fingerboard, where it would contact the neck. After carving the notch in the fingerboard, I drilled a shallow 1/16″ hole in the neck, to accomodate a tiny nail.
That nail is temporarily installed, at an angle, to serve as a guide and an anchor while installing the fingerboard. (The hide glue is very slippery while it is still hot, and liquid. There is a tendency for the fingerboard to “drift” under the clamps, before the glue can gel.)
The notch in the fingerboard fits on the nail. The nail, then, serves as a temporary stop, so the fingerboard stays put. (I remove the nail after the glue has set.)
Fingerboard installed. Notice the tiny nail used to temporarily position the fingerboard.
Beginning Set-up
After a few more days, I began set-up. First, I installed the soundpost, saddle, nut, and end button. Next, I fit the pegs, and was ready for the bridge and the strings.
Nut installed: it will be filed lower before installing strings.Saddle installed, still requiring final smoothing and retouch.
You can see in the above photo that the varnish was still very soft. Everywhere I touched it, it also resulted in my leaving fingerprints. I had to “French-polish” the whole instrument afterward, and let it hang until the varnish was harder. Then it would be easier to handle. (But it was good to have the set-up nearing completion, too.)
Completed five-string fiddle ready for varnish retouch.
Pegs
After the varnish had hardened a little more, I then installed the pegs.
Pegs installed, Front view.Bass side view with Pegs.Back Side View with Pegs.
Final Set-up
I installed the Bridge and Strings and Tailpiece, and then the fiddle was complete. I still let it hang in my dining room for a week or so, too, so that the varnish would continue to harden without damage.
Hanging up to cure.
Final photos
Final look at the Front before delivery.Close-up of the f-hole on the Oregon Douglas Fir Front.Bass side: final look before delivery.Close up of the Scroll.Final look at the back of the fiddle before delivery.
I prepared the instrument’s documents (Bill of Sale and Provenance Document) and afterward, when the varnish had cured for another two weeks, the customer took delivery at the end of July, 2023.
He was delighted, and played the instrument for a long time at my house. Further (which is a joy to me,) he has contacted me since then, expressing his continued joy in the new fiddle. That is the kind of thing that makes this work a great pleasure.
Front, with rib garland, back, neck and fingerboard, nearly ready for assembly.
I failed to take photos of the actual neck-setting procedure on this violin. (Sorry.) I will link to a series of photos from a previous instrument. That one had a major “flesh-wound” mishap. (I accidentally thrust a gouge through my left thumb…but it does include the neck-setting process. And the wound healed!)
This one went very smoothly: I think it took less than an hour to achieve a perfect fit. Then I removed the interior mold, and installed the back linings, so that the corpus was complete and ready to receive the back plate.
Back linings, installed on an earlier instrument. Once again, I forgot to take pictures.
Completing the Back Plate
I also had to complete the back plate. I had already completed the outside arching, and most of the interior carving, as well. Still had to finish scraping the interior dead-smooth, then install the purfling, and the label.
Completing the interior of the back plate.
Beginning the purfling weave on the back plate.
Partway done with back plate purfling.
Completing the purfling weave inlay.
Once the plate was truly complete, I added the label, and installed the back plate on the corpus.
The spool clamps hold the entire perimeter while the glue sets. the spring clamp holds the neck heel and button tightly in place.Back plate installed: notice that the button is far oversized. (See next photo.)The back button is deliberately left oversize, to be carved to final shape as a unit with the neck heel.Neck heel and button carved to match.
Preparing for the Varnish
I removed the fingerboard, to give me easy access to all parts of the front of the fiddle. Notice that the fingerboard had only been held by three “dots” of hide glue. even so, the glue took off a microscopically thin layer of ebony when I removed the fingerboard. (That is what the “black stuff” is.)
Fiddle “completed in the white.” Ready for all varnish-prep work.
All final shaping has to be completed at this point: any bumps, humps and hollows have to be carefully addressed, using a sharp scraper, before the mineral ground is applied. The mineral ground is a suspension of extremely fine particles that “plug” the pores in the wood, so that the varnish does not penetrate deeply and deaden the sound.
I apply it wet, with a brush, and vigorously rub it into the wood with my bare fingers, then rub off as much of the excess material left on the surface as I can. It is not supposed to be “on” the surface, so much as “in” the surface of the wood.
Front side, with wet mineral ground.
The wet mineral ground temporarily darkens the wood, but, as it dries, it turns stark white.
Dry mineral ground.
The next step is always pretty amazing: when I brush on the sealer, it surrounds all the “white” particles in the wood, and they become transparent. Look at the “before and after” photos of the back plate, as the sealer is applied:
Back plate with dry mineral ground.Same plate with sealer applied.
From this point forward, it is just a matter of applying numerous coats of varnish, and adjusting the color as the process progresses. Furthermore, I want all the parts to “fit together” in terms of color. (You can see that there is a difference between the front and back color, for example.)
Next time, we will talk about color varnish coats.
So, moving forward, the next thing was to complete the front plate,
Douglas Fir Front plate outer arching nearly completed
Once the arching was nearing correct values, I carved most of the interior and then began laying out f-holes and purfling lines. The Douglas Fir is extremely difficult to work with, because the winter reeds are incredibly hard, while the summer reeds are nearly as soft as spruce… so the knife tends to follow the winter reed, instead of your intended path, making it very difficult to cut a smooth line.
Beginning to carve the interior of the Front Plate. This part was not too hard.Checking the depth of the hollow. There is still work to do on the outside, so I have to be careful.
Purfling Procedure
Rough beginning for purfling and sound-holes.
It was discouraging seeing how rough my beginning looked. But, as things progressed, I was able to clean up my lines a little and they began to look more acceptable:
Inner line of purfling completed.
And then, The outer purfling. I was being careful to not inlay the purfling too deeply, for fear of causing problems, but that meant the purfling did not want to stay in the slots by itself, while the glue set. So I had to clamp it down until the hot hide glue gelled and set up.
Clamping purfling while glue sets.
But it looked pretty good after I planed it all flush with the Douglas Fir.
Outer line of purfling copmpleted. Notice the pilot holes for the f-holes have been drilled.
When the interior and exterior were correct, I could finish cutting out the f-holes.
Beginning to cut out f-holes.F-holes completed but rough. as the next few days went by, I kept returning to the f-holes with small files and perfecting the shapes.
Originally, when I first began making instruments, I laid out the scrolls with a pencil and simply started carving. However, that was extremely labor intensive and not very accurate, either. As a result, it was very easy for me to lose track of where I was going, and ruin a scroll by carving away wood I really needed. (Obviously, that is a “bitter pill to swallow,” having to scrap a scroll and start over.)
Learning from a Better Maker
So, then, what has changed? Fortunately, I watched how a viola maker in Brazil (Luis Manfio, of Sao Paulo) carves his scrolls, on a photo-essay he once posted. To begin with, he used a fine-toothed saw to cut “tangents” to the scroll pattern. Then, he used the same saw to follow the side surfaces of the scroll and remove the scrap wood. Understandably, this was a much better way than I had been attempting, so, ever since then, I have followed that path.
Step one: Five String Scroll blank, laid out for carving.Also, the Volute and pegbox layout.Step two: Cutting tangents to the scroll curves.Step three: Cutting the volute lines, to remove the scrap wood.The resulting scroll blank still needs more tangents cutThis is how the final tangents look. (Notice, too, an “error” pilot hole. It will be plugged befor the real peg holes are drilled.)
Then I carefully cut away the waste wood from the center area of the scroll, using small gouges.
Using a small gouige to remove the rough wood from around the scroll “eye”Undercutting the turns of the scroll, using a small curved gougeRough carved pegbox and scroll, front viewRough-carved scroll and pegbox from side and backCloser view of rough-carved back of scrollTreble-side view of rough-carved scroll. (Additionally, notice that the “error” hole has been plugged.)Bass side of rough-carved scroll.
Installing the Fingerboard
After the scroll is close enough to correct that it will not be changing much, I will trim off the excess wood from the sides of the “handle-portion” of the neck. Then, I will temporarily install the fingerboard, using three “dots” of hot hide glue.
Fingerboard temporarily installed and being shaped along with the neckShaping the fingerboard and neck, and perfecting the scroll
Subsequently, the next step is to install the neck into the neck-block on the instrument.
A customer ordered a new, custom-made Five String Fiddle, and it is on the way! He chose heavily spalted, heavily-flamed, Oregon Big Leaf Maple for the back plate, the sides, the neck and scroll. My wife’s parents gave me the wood from this maple tree.
Ann used to play under and climb on this tree as a child, and we hated to see the tree cut down. Her parents still live there, less than four miles from our house. However, they had to remove the tree because it was dying. I have salvaged wood for a few instruments from that tree and they all look and sound wonderful!
Given a choice between Spruce and Douglas Fir, the customer chose the Douglas Fir, for his front plate. This tree also grew just a few miles from my home. (A famous violin and viola maker, Otto Erdescz (1917-2000) used to make violins and violas with Douglas Fir soundboards. Professional musicians still play some of them, today. But very few luthiers use Douglas Fir. I didn’t either, until a few years ago!)
Not my usuaI Choice in times past
For many years, I refused to try such a thing. But a friend gave me a load of very straight grained Douglas Fir firewood, a few years ago. I was splitting some of the firewood, and the split-off piece hit the ground: it rang like a bell! I had never seen such straight-grained, clear Douglas Fir, with zero runout!
Unfortunately, that particular piece was too short for a fiddle. I had to search through the pile for a piece that was long enouigh for a violin plate.
Since then, I have made several such instruments, and they all sound great. (I find that the Spruce is definitely easier to work with, though, and, for classical, orchestral instruments, I still use only European maple and spruce.)
Customer Preferences:
This man showed up at my shop and he played all the five string instruments I had. (He really had not played 5-string instruments before. He laughed for joy, hearing the rich deep C-string on each one. After a short while, he declared, “OK, I’m addicted!”)
He played the full range of all of them. He finally settled on my earliest unsold 5-string (#3 on the “Chronology” page) as being exactly what he wanted.
But not to buy that instrument. No! He wanted a commissioned instrument “just like that one!” (He wanted one especially built for him! Sure! We can do that!)
And, as it turned out, that was a good thing. A week later, thenext customer who came to try out all my instruments also loved that fiddle, but she bought it that day, and drove away! So, it is gone, now!
Which Mold?
I knew which of my molds was the source of that fiddle: I have made at least four off of that specific mold. All of them have sold, now, so, for the moment, there are none available. (This instrument will “solve that problem,” for a moment, but it will disappear immediately after completion.)
The commissioning customer also wanted localwood. so that he could say, “My violin came from a tree on that hill!” So…choosing the wood was the first step.
Choosing the Wood
The model I would use had already been chosen, so that was not an issue. I also knew what the wood source would be: I still have a little of the maple my wife’s parents had given me. And, with the customer’s approval, I chose a clear piece of Douglas Fir, salvaged from the firtewood I mentioned earlier. He loved both pieces.
“Fiddle in the rough!”
Here is a closer picture of the maple:
Heavily Spalted and Heavily Flamed Maple
I book-matched the spruce, by cutting a single billet in two equal halves and gluing them together to make the front plate.
Douglas Fir, cut and ready to joint and glue the Center seam
I laid out the neck outline on the billet I had chosen for the neck, and I drilled the pilot holes for the tuning pegs. Then I cut out the side profile on a bandsaw.
Scroll profile cut out, and pilot holes drilled.
Mold Preparation
Meanwhile, I got the blocks glued into the mold. Then I traced their shapes from my template, so the whole job could begin. I also planed away the rough surfaces of the maple to ascertain that it actually would serve well as the back plate of a new five-string fiddle. And, I found that it was just a little too narrow in the lower bouts.
So, I “transplanted” a small piece of wood from the area above the upper bout on each side and grafted them in on the lower bouts. (This practice is not at all uncommon: It will be every bit as strong as the center seams on two-piece backs. And, once the double purfling is installed, the joints will be nearly invisible, under the varnish.)
Back plate in progress, blocks in the mold, and the shapes traced from the template.
Preparing the Ribs
I had chosen wood for the ribs, as well, and I sawed them to a thickness of a little over 2 mm. I thinned them, using a wooden fixture I made, clamped to my oscillating spindle-sander. The fixture allows me to gradually reduce the thickness to 1 mm.
Here are the ribs:
Rib-stock, sawn and thinned: ready to be cut to size and bent.
Installing the Ribs
Next, I cut the ribs to the correct length and width. I carefully considered which grain from one side would “mirror” which grain on the otherside. I had already been tinkering on the neck, as you can see in this photo, but I will explain that process later. (It isn’t always possible to do everything in a precise order. While I am waiting for glue to dry on one section, for example, I may jump ahead on another piece.) You can see the bookmatched front plate, too.
Bookmatched top plate, neck and back billets in progress, and rib samples, cut to size.
I cut all six ribs, and marked them as to inside, outside, upper and lower ends, etc, as well as which side of the fiddle they would call their home…treble or bass side.
Then I bent the ribs using a hot “bending iron” (actually made of aluminum, but, in the old days, they wereiron.)
(I forgot to take photos of the shaped blocks: Sorry.)
I had cut and shaped the corner and end blocks, already, so I applied a generous coat of hot hide glue to one block at a time. then, I clamped the rib into the block surfaces, making certain that everything fit correctly before tightening the clamps.
First, I installed the center bout ribs, and when the glue had dried, I used the spindle-sander to trim the ends of those ribs to match the curvature of the outer faces of the corner block, so I could install the upper and lower ribs. Here are the upper ribs, glued and clamped:
Center and Upper bout ribs installed, using hot hide glue and clamps.
The lower end of the bass-side center bout rib was not fully tight, so I reglued it and reclamped it. (left lower side of photo.)
Then, when that glue was dry, I installed the lower ribs, by turning the mold upside down in the vise, so I could see clearly. It also meant that both hands were free to adjust the rib position, and apply clamps.
All the ribs are installed, but still need to be trimmed, before installing the linings.
Linings bent and installed
I also did not take photos of bending and installing the linings. (Sorry.) Here are two photos of the result, still in clamps.
Front view of linings clamped in place.Side view of lining clamps and rib garland.
Tracing the plates
Once the linings were installed and the ribs thus strengthened, I could trace the shape of the plates, and begin cutting things out.
Garland and Front plate billet cut to shape.And, that is the progress, so far!
Thanks for looking! I will try to keep everyone posted as to progress.
This is the beginning of my “offerings” to the reading public, regarding the building of Violin-Family instruments. I currently build Violins, Violas, Cellos, and Double Basses, as well as the Five String Variants of each.
The instruments have been making customers happy wherever they go, but I have come to realize that I will only be able to build so many instruments before my body will no longer cooperate. So I am attempting to take some of the things I have learned and experienced, and make them available for others to use and enjoy. (The headings below are links to the Amazon sites where the books are available.)
My first book on lutherie was a compilation of a series of blog posts, chronicling the building of a commissioned five-string fiddle. I offered the compliation for years as a free .pdf download, with its companion, “The Journeys of the Swan,” but it did not work well on smart-phones, or other small screens, as the text was just too small to read. So, I have revised and re-formatted the book as an electronic book, and have released it as a Kindle book.
It is only 21,000 words, (which seems short, to me,) but it is profusely illustrated with color photos of the build.
I hope to offer an online series of lutherie lessons later, in keeping with this style
This one is a different kind of story. Kai Jensen, a NASA engineer who loved violins, began to build a cello. However, his health failed him before he could complete his beloved project. Years later, long after his passing, his daughter brought the instrument to me to complete it for him, so that she would have her father’s cello to play.
This is the story, step-by-step, of how we fulfilled Kai Jensen’s dream and it blossomed into a beautiful cello. It is also the story of how his daughter inherited her father’s joy. She named the completed instrument “The Swan,” because the first music sher heard it play was Saint-Saen’s “The Swan.” These are the Journeys of the Swan.
(Cover Photo)
Booklets
This will probably become a list of articles or short books on resurrecting old fiddles. Only two for now, but more will come. These will appear on Kindle for their minimum price
The Bread Bag Fiddle is a short work (3,800 words, 30 photos) chronicling the transformation of a “junk-store special”…a sadly neglected and abused violin, into the daily player of a gigging fiddler.
“Resurrection of Another Dead Fiddle” is a little shorter, still, but it includes details of internal structural repairs, as well as replacement of missing rib wood and a full neck-set. The customer had sadly set this one aside and bought a cheap violin on which to practice, but after the repairs shown here, this violin returned to being her daily player. She has become a Happy Customer!
I shipped it to him and it arrived just after his birthday. He has been playing it ever since.
Happy Player
The young man truly has been pleased with it: He loved the tone, loved the balance, etc. But he was reluctant to allow me to publish a video of him playing it. He wanted more time to practice.
He just had a hard time getting used to having five strings. Quite a few classically trained players have told me that this was a problem. They felt that strings just seemed to appear in the wrong places. (I can understand that: there is a string right down the middle of the fingerboard that wasn’t there before! Besides, the angle in string crossings demands more of the player: it is much flatter, requiring more precision.)
Achievable Goals
He sent me several “progress reports,” over the next few months. All of them sounded good, to me, but he was still working on “getting comfortable” with the new instrument, and did not want them made public. Until today, I did not have his blessing to share any of them.
One of his stated goals was to be able to play Bach’s Cello Suite #6 on the viola. It was originally written for a 5-string cello: A very good cellist can play it on a four-string cello. But, the best violist cannot play Suite #6 on a classical 4-string viola in the original key. The classical cello used “thumb-position” fingering to play it. “Thumb-position” is not usable on a viola.
The young man bought the 5-string viola to overcome that specific hurdle, so he is working on that piece in this video :
I especially appreciate this video. It showcases both ends of the range of the Viola, and it shows that the instrument speaks quickly and easily, in fast attacks.
He hasn’t “spoken up” online yet (and he may not) but the music tells me he is happy with the instrument.
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