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So back on the violin/fiddle This is most probably the most delicate and difficult thing I´ve made untill now.
There are so many parameters that have to be correct. Strobels book says:
1) the fingerboard is centered over the front centerline.
2)The neck and scroll is vertical and not twisted sideways
3) The nut is 130mm from the upper front edge
4)The depth of the mortise lets the lower end of the neck extend to the inner edge of the purfling groove or a little past it.
5) the height of the fingerboard over the upper edge of the front is 6 - 6,5mm.
6)The projection of the fingerboard at the bridge line is 27 mm
7) The heel of the neck meets the back button tightly all around and is sufficient for the back button height of 13 mm.
That sounds easy. Just dont forget that all this has to be a very tight fit because its going to be glued with Hot hide glue.
So I sharpened the chisel and started sawing and cutting and I´m pretty sure its all correct. This can of course be done with jigs and routers, but there´s something about sawing and chiseling within tent of a milimeter early in the morning, so thats what I did. Just like the old masters.
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Anders, I have to add you to my list of folks that I truly have admiration for, not only for your skills, but for your philosophy of life which is always, beyond a doubt, pristine. I hope you'll keep contributing to this forum, as I really look forward to your presentations.
Hopefully we'll be hearing an Irish jig from violin #1 soon...I can't wait. Cheers, Dave
Thanks for your kind comments. I can only say that I really enjoyed building this instrument.
So here´s the violin with the neck shaped and finished. The violin is basically finished now. I need to fit a bridge and string it up and then give it a test before varnishing.
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I had the luck to handle this instrument when I visited Anders recently. It is a lovely item and a testament to his working with wood. I never realised violins are more sculpted than constructed.
Question , , what about the Bow , are you making that as well to match ?? thats got to be real tricky ...you need a frog and button , as you wiil know ....
Two weeks ago I was in Essen, Germany, and saw in a park behind the Aalto music theater, a very big sculpture from the headstock of a violin.......so, a sculpture it is....
string it up and then give it a test before varnishing.
Nice one - you are going to have an interesting time. You'll know all this but have someone else play it too so you can stand back and soak some of the sound in. The other thing I used to do with violins etc was put a coat of clear on and play for about two or three months - actually longer sometimes. Then do the full varnish. Somehow this seemed to let everything settle down. You will have your own way though. I got into cooking my own varnishes. A bit smelly and you have to do outside, but the stuff will last for ever one you have it - relatively cheap too. Good luck with the final completion.
The varnish is going to be truoil. An oilbased very simple varnish. I wont varnish until I have finished the guitars I´m building now, so the violin will be hanging in a window where the soft winter sun will mature it and give it a bit of color.
'Tis truly beautiful, Anders. I am envious. I would like to make a violin, but I fear that I cannot because I don't know how to play one at all. (Despite a 7-year marriage to a cellist in my past.) Did you study violin playing?
I hope Truoil is a varnish and not a penetrating oil.
I did so, yes. But its many years (+ 2 decades) ago. I played classical some folk and a heavily electrified violin in rock and other kind of groups. I also plyed in some string orchestras, chamber misic and the youth symphonic orchestra of Copenhagen. Funny enough, just like Estebanana, I played Bethovens symphony first in a concert.
Officially, no. Unofficially, yes. I have two instruments that need finishing. One, a viola without any corners and scimitar type sound holes and the other a copy of a french maker George Mougenot. The original instrument had such a lovely tone that it was really worth copying. I try to put a little decorative inlay in the corners, just to make it a little different and a double purfling, which the original maker sometimes did. I may pick up the baton with regards to violin type instruments again - but in the interim, I discovered flamenco or flamenco discovered me..... I'm also trying to finish another flamenco guitar.....short scale 640mm using some old English Sycamore (60yrs old) and making it a orange finish with my own blend of French polish. So, between them all, I have enough to keep me busy.
You glue the fingerboard on with a drop of glue for the purpose of setting the geometry, then break it off gently when you're ready to varnish. Then reglue it later.
On the first photo you see a little home made tool for fitting the bridge. Its so easy to fit a bridge to a new instrument compared to an old one. The bridges always leave the soundboard a bit wobbly over the years/decades/centuries.
Next 2 photos is with strings on... Almost ready for the requested jig. The setup ended up being spot on with a bridge height of 34mm (standard setup) which I will lower 1 - 1,5mm because I use steel strings.
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It is a spectacular violin, it looks very nice finished. I was wondering how the top nut is left out....cannot see it clear on the picture, did you lower the fingerboard to leave a "nut" in the original wood of the fingerboard?
And you made it with planetary peggs or regular ones?
The violín has standard wood pegs. I'm using steel strings and so I need fine tuners on the end piece. The nut is there, but its made out of ebony, so you can hardly see it.