YOU did a fantastic job with building the fiddle, your inlay work impeccable. The sound is strong! I hand-crafted a Stew-Mc fiddle in 2001 I've played this violin ever since with pride & pleasure. I hand-restored a "coffin case" to.hold this fiddle. My violin has doubled purfling, ivory dots inside purfling. Diamonds in eyes, bleached cow-bone nut & saddle. Ivory bout tips top-to-back. Garners, opal, star sapphires. A special thanks to Marvin Etherton, Lupton City. Chattanooga, TN. for his skill in guiding me in doing it right. The name of my violin, "NAMATESE" ( INDIAN GREETING, "WE ARE ONE".
Wow, you really blinged your violin up! In hindsight, I might have been better off if I'd waited and done my violin build at a later date, but how does one know? I ended up taking it apart a couple of times to fix various things. I have to say, though, that it does have a good sound. I also restored a coffin case. You can check mine out at www.glenclarson.com. Thanks for watching!
Liked the tone of the violin in white you put together. The earlier. Stained violin sounded Skippy or wheeze. I read some where that the acids in dyes used to tint violins is deleterious to the tone. I don't know how you manage to read all those ants on the paper but am amazed if it helps.I enjoyed looking at your new Stewmack violin and thought it had decent tone. You can probably get even better tone with carbon paper if you take the time to scrape the bridge feet with exact knife. Every part that is black you gently scrape from outer edge to inner feet. You place the strings onto the bridge and apply light tension just enough to hold pressure on bridge while you massage it over the carbon paper. This will leave mark where to scrape next. You repeat this process untill theoretically all the bridge feet are evenly black. I have yet to get mine to turn out completly black but that is the goal. There should be no daylight at belly and bridge feet. My next time I hope to use thin cigarette paper and rub with number six pencil and use that for carbon paper. Hope this helps. Im still learning.
Thanks for your input. Yes, bridge cutting and fitting is an art in itself. I'm still learning. Tried different techniques, similar to your method. Eventually I hope to consider myself 'good' at fitting. Until then, I'll just keep trying!
Thank you for posting your kit building experience. My grandfather was a quite serious violinist. He learned how to play the violin at a young age -- this was back in the 1920s. He played essentially the rest of his life. After his death in 1981, I was allowed to read approximately 25 years worth of his personal diaries. His diary entries for the years 1956 through 1966 (approximately) have extremely brief mentions that he was building violins. However he did not document his construction projects beyond these 1 or 2 sentence mentions. There were no project photos, sketches, notes, lists of woods used that one might expect from a serious instrument builder. I also knew that his "shop" was better suited to automotive repair work (which he did a lot of!) than to fine woodworking or even more specifically, violin building. So I'm guessing that he didn't build violins from scratch. Instead, he may have purchased violin kits similar to your StewMac. Perhaps some day I will learn what he did. I am also trying to remember if he had one bow, or several. I myself am not a violinist. Watching your videos taught me a lot. If you are still building violins, keep up the great work.
Thanks for watching, Robert. I, too have learned soooo much, and continue to do so. Starting with a kit like this was perhaps a bit much to dive right into, and I've had it apart twice to fix things. I've done quite a new of white violins now, and am having a little better success in tuning plates. Having said that, I'm starting to think I might like to buy a better quality of kit, perhaps Hopfner from Germany, and give it another go. Interesting story about your grandfather!
I also built one of those and it took me a year, because I really wanted to take my time.... I was very careful each step along the way, and like you mentioned I did leave marks in the spruce from where I shaved down the purfiling.... I made my own stain using steel wook and red wine vinegar and the results were gorgeous.... I can't play violin at all and don't spend enough time to ever learn how.... I play most other bluegrass instruments, but the fiddle has me bojoed.... I can never tell which string the bow is on.... Anyways, I am very pleased with the fiddle and would never part with it.... If I ever build another one I know I could do it in a month's time at least.... Nice job on your, by the way....
Thanks Bill. Learned a lot on this build. Most of all I learned how little i know and how much there is to learn. Most of all is how hard it is to "tune " the plates. Still struggling.
I finished this violin and also one with birdseye maple back. The dragon has much greater projection. Funny how different they are. They're okay but never going to be master quality. Still tinkering with fitting and strings. I've ordered one from ebay that I hope to try 'tuning' the front and back plates. Also, I finished these two with water based varnish. Might try oil varnish. So much to learn but it's a lotta fun. Thanks for watching!
It was quite challenging to do this on my first build. Had a lot of trouble with installing purfling and getting the neck set right. Sure did learn a lot though. I've since backtracked and have bee just regraduating and finishing cheaper Chinese violins to get more experience. My main player is a Chinese violin. Thanks for watching.
YOU did a fantastic job with building the fiddle, your inlay work impeccable. The sound is strong! I hand-crafted a Stew-Mc fiddle in 2001 I've played this violin ever since with pride & pleasure. I hand-restored a "coffin case" to.hold this fiddle. My violin has doubled purfling, ivory dots inside purfling. Diamonds in eyes, bleached cow-bone nut & saddle. Ivory bout tips top-to-back. Garners, opal, star sapphires. A special thanks to Marvin Etherton, Lupton City. Chattanooga, TN. for his skill in guiding me in doing it right. The name of my violin, "NAMATESE" ( INDIAN GREETING, "WE ARE ONE".
Wow, you really blinged your violin up! In hindsight, I might have been better off if I'd waited and done my violin build at a later date, but how does one know? I ended up taking it apart a couple of times to fix various things. I have to say, though, that it does have a good sound. I also restored a coffin case. You can check mine out at www.glenclarson.com. Thanks for watching!
Liked the tone of the violin in white you put together. The earlier. Stained violin sounded Skippy or wheeze. I read some where that the acids in dyes used to tint violins is deleterious to the tone. I don't know how you manage to read all those ants on the paper but am amazed if it helps.I enjoyed looking at your new Stewmack violin and thought it had decent tone. You can probably get even better tone with carbon paper if you take the time to scrape the bridge feet with exact knife. Every part that is black you gently scrape from outer edge to inner feet. You place the strings onto the bridge and apply light tension just enough to hold pressure on bridge while you massage it over the carbon paper. This will leave mark where to scrape next. You repeat this process untill theoretically all the bridge feet are evenly black. I have yet to get mine to turn out completly black but that is the goal. There should be no daylight at belly and bridge feet. My next time I hope to use thin cigarette paper and rub with number six pencil and use that for carbon paper. Hope this helps. Im still learning.
Thanks for your input. Yes, bridge cutting and fitting is an art in itself. I'm still learning. Tried different techniques, similar to your method. Eventually I hope to consider myself 'good' at fitting. Until then, I'll just keep trying!
Thank you for posting your kit building experience. My grandfather was a quite serious violinist. He learned how to play the violin at a young age -- this was back in the 1920s. He played essentially the rest of his life. After his death in 1981, I was allowed to read approximately 25 years worth of his personal diaries. His diary entries for the years 1956 through 1966 (approximately) have extremely brief mentions that he was building violins. However he did not document his construction projects beyond these 1 or 2 sentence mentions. There were no project photos, sketches, notes, lists of woods used that one might expect from a serious instrument builder. I also knew that his "shop" was better suited to automotive repair work (which he did a lot of!) than to fine woodworking or even more specifically, violin building. So I'm guessing that he didn't build violins from scratch. Instead, he may have purchased violin kits similar to your StewMac. Perhaps some day I will learn what he did. I am also trying to remember if he had one bow, or several. I myself am not a violinist. Watching your videos taught me a lot. If you are still building violins, keep up the great work.
Thanks for watching, Robert. I, too have learned soooo much, and continue to do so. Starting with a kit like this was perhaps a bit much to dive right into, and I've had it apart twice to fix things. I've done quite a new of white violins now, and am having a little better success in tuning plates. Having said that, I'm starting to think I might like to buy a better quality of kit, perhaps Hopfner from Germany, and give it another go. Interesting story about your grandfather!
I also built one of those and it took me a year, because I really wanted to take my time.... I was very careful each step along the way, and like you mentioned I did leave marks in the spruce from where I shaved down the purfiling.... I made my own stain using steel wook and red wine vinegar and the results were gorgeous.... I can't play violin at all and don't spend enough time to ever learn how.... I play most other bluegrass instruments, but the fiddle has me bojoed.... I can never tell which string the bow is on.... Anyways, I am very pleased with the fiddle and would never part with it.... If I ever build another one I know I could do it in a month's time at least....
Nice job on your, by the way....
Thanks Bill. Learned a lot on this build. Most of all I learned how little i know and how much there is to learn. Most of all is how hard it is to "tune " the plates. Still struggling.
Thank you, sir. I build guitars and am considering giving this kit a try.
I finished this violin and also one with birdseye maple back. The dragon has much greater projection. Funny how different they are. They're okay but never going to be master quality. Still tinkering with fitting and strings. I've ordered one from ebay that I hope to try 'tuning' the front and back plates. Also, I finished these two with water based varnish. Might try oil varnish. So much to learn but it's a lotta fun. Thanks for watching!
Very interesting. I've always longed to build my own violin.
It was quite challenging to do this on my first build. Had a lot of trouble with installing purfling and getting the neck set right. Sure did learn a lot though. I've since backtracked and have bee just regraduating and finishing cheaper Chinese violins to get more experience. My main player is a Chinese violin. Thanks for watching.
Man you are doing a good job, and I love your videos.
Thanks Shawn. I'm learning lots. What are you building these days?
Sir im afraid that your violin has no varnish
Dragon is much better