As all of my wood is back in London, I had to order a new set of top wood from Howard Core. They are a very good supplier for all things violin here in the States. They are a good source for players as well as makers. They have a very good supply of Tyrolean spruce all of it aged more than 10 years. I just called them and told them what I wanted. The person who pulled the stock took a picture and emailed it to me to make sure it met my specifications. I wrote back and accepted the item pulled and I had it within 3 days. Great service!
Like before, I traced the outline of the ribs and cut it out. I removed some waste wood (no sign of voids!). Then I established the purfling platform.
The next step is to cut the purfling channel, bend the purfling and mitre the corners. I like to keep my edges about 0.5mm too thick at this stage and then cut the channel about 2.5 mm deep. The purfling is a little less than 2 mm so this leaves room for clean-up and allows for cutting the sgusciatura without removing too much of the purfling.
With the purfling installed, I cut the sgusciatura, and finish the arching shape for the top.
I have to go back to London in a couple of days so I will wait to finish the top when I get back there. I still have time to get the back to this stage however so on we go.
With the disappointment of the first try behind me, I proceeded to try again with the wood Towner provided me. As before, I joined the two pieces, cut the outline and started removing the waste wood. That is when another void appeared!!!
Just when I was at my most frustrated, my friend Joey stopped by the shop for a visit.
He always has a way of putting everything into perspective. On we go.
The next step in the process is to make the top plate for the violin. After the two halves of the top are joined, we use the rib assembly to establish the outline of the violin.
I trace around the rib assembly with a washer that offsets the outline by about 3 mm. I then cut out the top just out side of this line. The next steps are to remove a lot of the excess wood by roughing-in the arching. This is followed by forming the outline by just removing the pencil mark and then forming a purfling platform in which to install the purfling. That was the plan. Sometimes things don’t always go according to plan.
As I was removing waste wood a large sap-filled void revealed itself. It was too deep to be removed. There is nothing left to do but start over. As I have left my wood supply back in London, I was in a real bind. Fortunately, there is another violin maker on the island (Towner McLane) who kindly came to my aid by supplying me with another piece of top wood. Violin makers are really nice people!
I proceeded to join the new top. While that dries, I will go ahead and work on the back.
I am starting a new violin, “The Terry”. This is commission from Terry Chang. Terry is a lovely young violinist for whom I made a bow for some years ago. She recently re-connected with me through my web page and commissioned a Strad model violin. My new studio is complete on Lummi Island so I decided to build this instrument there. Hopefully the beautiful views will inspire me to make an exceptional instrument.
Terry chose a one-piece back of beautiful quilted maple. It should be quite nice when it is done. We also have a nice piece of Italian spruce as well as ribs and a neck of nicely flamed maple that should compliment the back nicely.
We will start with the rib assembly. Willow blocks are cut and glued to the mold. The blocks are then shaped to the outline of the violin. We start with the C-blocks first.
The ribs are planed and scraped to a thickness of about 1.1 mm, bent and glued to the blocks.
We do the same with the other ribs and blocks and inlet the C-blocks to receive the linings.
Linings are the cut and bent and glued to the ribs.
We now have a finished rib assembly. We will use this rib assembly to establish the outline for the top plate in the next step.
August 16, 2011 – 3:45 am
After gluing in the neck, we can finish off shaping the neck, heel and button. We then do the set-up, which involves making and installing the saddle, reaming the holes for the pegs and the button, cutting a sound post and bridge and finally stringing it up.
I never ceased to be amazed at how the tone of a new violin changes over the first few days as the stresses relieve and the instrument “gets used” to being a violin. When I first play it, it never sounds very good. You can tell whether it is going to be good or not but it is very hard to resist fooling around with the set-up to see if you can make it better. After 45 minutes, the tone improves 100%. Everything starts opening up a little bit. After several hours it is like a different instrument. This goes on for several days until the tone finally starts to stabilize.
It has been about a week now and I have to say “The Edward” is amazing! Maybe the best ever. The tone is full and powerful and very even across all of the strings. I can’t stop playing it. I’ll leave it in-the-white for a couple more weeks while I work on a bow commission but then I will take it down and varnish it. Below are some pictures of the completed instrument.
I am very pleased and I’m sure Ed will be as well.
August 12, 2011 – 3:06 am
With all of the pieces made and the body assembled, it is time to make a neck for “The Edward”. The first step it to plane the neck block so that the width is 42 mm and the two sides are perfectly perpendicular to the face.
Then using our template we layout the neck on the block.
Using the bandsaw and the drill press we cut out the outline of the neck and drill the peg holes. Using knives, chisels and files we clean up the cut-out. We are now ready to carve the scroll.
The first step is to remove the waste on the outside of the peg box. We first use a saw and chisel to remove the waste wood.
Then the whole thing is then cleaned up to the line.
The next step is to carve the first turn of the scroll. We do this by using a saw and chisel to remove the waste.
We clean this up to the line and do the same thing for the second turn.
Finally, we under-cut the volute, complete the inside of the peg box and flute the scroll. The scroll is now complete and we are redy to finish off the neck.
The last step is to prepare and attach a fingerboard and nut and remove the waste wood from the neck.
We can’t completely finish the neck until after it is attached to the body but we can shape most of the neck and finish off the chin of the scroll. We are now ready to attach the neck to the body.
The making of the top goes generally along the same lines as the back. We join the two pieces of spruce and trace the outline from the rib assembly. The outline is cut, shaped and a purfling platform is established.
The purfling channel is then cut, the purfling installed and the outside arching shape is carved.
Finally, we turn the plate over and gouge out the inside. Using planes and scrapers, we thin the plate until it has a uniform thickness of about 3.5mm.
The next step is to tune both the top and back plates. Then we will cut the f-holes and install the bass bar in the top.
We are now ready the make the back for “The Edward”. We start off by joining the two pieces.
The rib assembly is clamped to the joined pieces and the outline is traced with a 2.5mm offset. The back is then cut out just proud of this line.
Next, we establish the purfling platform, trim the outline to the line, cut the purfling channel and bend and fit the various pieces of purfling.
Here is a close-up of the purfling channel.
The purfling strips are glued.
For the final step, we use templates to shape the arching, cut the channel and use scrapers to clean-up everything. Notice the beautiful flame in the maple.
Finally we turn the back over and gouge out the inside to nominal dimensions. We set it aside for now and start the top.
I am starting a new violin, “The Edward”. This is commission from Ed Lawrence (former Principal Violist with the Houston Ballet and Opera Orchestra). Ed has chosen a Strad model and picked out the wood to use from my stores (notice the beautiful flame in the maple for the ribs and back).
We will start with the rib assembly. Blocks are cut and glued to the mold. The blocks are then shaped to the outline of the violin. The ribs are planed to a thickness of about 1.2 mm, bent and glued to the blocks. Linings are cut and bent and inlet into the blocks. The picture below shows the rib assembly with linings ready to be glued in place.
The linings being glued in place.
Finally, the points are trimmed to size, the back is flattened and the top of the assembly is brought to proper dimension (32mm at the bottom block and 30mm at the top).
With the rib assembly done, we move on to the back.
A couple of years ago, I made an Andrea Guarneri model viola for Ed Lawrence.
Ed used to be the Principal Violist with the Houston Ballet and Opera Orchestra. He now has a thriving teaching business in Houston. Ed was kind enough to let me record him playing a brief clip. Click below to see the clip.
Ed Lawrence – Playing Andrea Guarneri Model Viola
Beautiful!