I recently received a commission for a new violin. This thread will document the process of making “The David”.
The customer requested a new violin made to my Strad pattern. Together, we went through my wood supply and picked out the wood for the instrument. The spruce is ItalianĀ and the maple is Bosnian. Both pieces are over 10 years old. The blocks are some very straight grained Sitka spruce that I found in Canada.
![wood The selected wood](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wood.jpg)
The first step is to trim the blocks to size and spot glue them to the form.
![blocks The Blocks glued to the form](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/blocks.jpg)
The next step is to draw the outline on the blocks.
![outline Tracing the outline on the ribs](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/outline.jpg)
![outline-2 Blocks ready to be trimmed.](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/outline-2.jpg)
Next, we have to plane and scrape the rib material down to a thickness of about 1.2 mm.
![ribs Planning and scraping ribs](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ribs.jpg)
![ribs-1 finished rib material](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ribs-1.jpg)
Finally, we then trim the blocks to accept c-bout ribs, bend the ribs to shape and glue them in place.
![c-1 Finished c-bout ribs](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/c-1.jpg)
Now we trim the other blocks to accept the bent ribs.
![trim-2 Trim the other blocks](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/trim-2.jpg)
Finally, the finished ribs.
![finished-ribs The finished ribs](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/finished-ribs.jpg)