Slow Progress on a New Five String Fiddle

Sadly, these have been a difficult couple of years. For one thing, Health issues within the extended family and increasing responsibilities in other areas of life have made it difficult to actively work on new Five String builds. Consequently, I hardly get started, and something else is needed

However, currently, I have one new Five-string Fiddle that should be done in the near future.

Originally, I bought the figured maple for this five string instrument as a billet, years ago, from Bruce Harvie of “Orcas Island Tonewoods.” However, the European Spruce, the purfling, and the fittings are from “International Violin Company” in Baltimore. Serendipitously, I secured the linings and blocks from a local source. They are weeping willow, (And it came from a large downed limb in someone’s yard after a windstorm).

This is my original design from the first five-string fiddle I built. For some reason, it has proved my most popular build, both for tone and playability.

Scroll Graft

Obviously, (If you look closely, you can see it) I was forced to perform a scroll graft on this instrument. The cause was that there was a series of small knots that penetrated all the way through the neck, right at the nut line. As a result, they would have produced a fatal weakness in the neck. I had already carved most of the scroll when I realized it wasn’t going to work.

Also, obviously, (fortunately,) I had a block of curly maple at hand that could be shaped into a new neck-block and grafted into the scroll.

Five String Progress Photos:

Back Plate for Five String Fiddle by Chet Bishop Artisanal Luthier in Oregon — Completed Back Plate

Garland and Front plate for five String Fiddle by Chet Bishop, Artisanal Luthier — Completed Garland and Front Plate

Front of Unfinished five string fiddle by Chet Bishop, Artisanal Luthier — Front Plate

Neck for five string fiddle by Chet Bishop, artisanal Luthier — Treble Side of Five String Neck with Fingerboard

Front View of five String Fiddle Neck by Chet Bishop, artisanal Luthier in Oregon — Front View of Neck with Fingerboard

Bass side Neck of five-string Fiddle by Chet Bishop, artisanal Luthier in Oregon — Bass side view of Five String Neck with Fingerboard

5-String Fiddle nearing completion

Custom Made Five-string fiddle Choices

Back in December, I received a commission for a new 5-string “Bluegrass” fiddle. It was to be made on the same form as one of my earlier instruments but have a two-piece, straight-grained Sitka spruce top and a very wild-grained Oregon Big Leaf maple back, sides and neck. The customer specifically requested Ipe for the Fingerboard, saddle and nut. Ipe is extremely hard, dense wood, but not threatened or scarce, as ebony is becoming. It has an odd color when under the knife, and leaves a bright yellow dust when it is scraped or sawn, but it finishes to a nice dark brown and darkens further with age.

Wild Grain Makes for Tough Carving

The last time I posted, I was just beginning the back plate arching. It was tough carving, as it is extremely “wild” flame, and the Big Leaf Maple grain is anything but straight. The result, of course, is some very beautiful wood. But it is hard work, regardless. The blades must be kept razor-sharp, and cuts must be kept shallow in depth.

The purfling requested was not only double purfling (favored by a few of the early masters, especially those of Brescia) but was to include a purfling weave, as well, in the form of a modified “fleur-de-lis.” This is a design I came up with on my first five-string fiddle, and have continued to use, in a variety of forms, ever since.

Five-string fiddle Back Purfling begun — Working on the back purfling slots.

I like the look of the double-purfling and the weave, but it is pretty hard on my hands, as I still do all my purfling inlays by hand. I know a lot of makers use a Dremel-tool, or something similar. Perhaps I eventually will succumb to that “new-fangled” tool as well.

At any rate, here is the back plate, with the purfling complete:

Completed Five-string fiddle back plate — Back plate complete, ready for final scraping and graduation.

Closing up the “Corpus”

I closed up the corpus a few nights ago: all that is left to do before varnishing is to complete the final carving of the neck heel, and all the final edgework, so that the wood is “varnish-ready.”