JohnCockburn

I don’t know, John, but I have several and they take a good edge. Not as good as your knives, but perfectly serviceable....

Adrian - the Pfeil knives are 2mm thick, not 1mm, so I think your calculations are a factor of 2 out.

Yes, the bevel angle is too high, and will be even higher than you think because of the rounding. This is the crux of the problem, I think.

Indeed. People have been very generous with help and advice. But not a word of thanks or appreciation from the OP. Only intemperate petulance when he feels that he has been slighted. Poor form, really.

All I would add to the excellent advice above (for the sake of your sanity ) is to be prepared to cut yourself some slack. It's always good to aim for the right outcome, but the reality is that this a first instrument that isn't going to be sold and/or played at a high level. You can allow yourself a tolerance of a couple of mm or so on the neck length, fingerboard projection and overstand and the fiddle will still work fine. So don't lose heart if everything fits reasonably well but one or more of these numbers isn't bang on the nose. Glue it in, finish it off and move on to the next one. It's supposed to be fun, not an ordeal.

Crikey. What did your "teacher" actually do for the 300 bucks?

95% the size of a 4/4, so it's not going to weigh a whole lot less. 360 g sounds reasonable to me.

i think that's too tight

A recent study has found a high likelihood that human civilisation will end by 2050. Boris Johnson is on the verge of becoming our next prime minister, with his strings pulled by the far right. It hardly seems worth worrying about Linda's few quid's worth of E strings.

Really? 2 mm difference between upper corners and top block seems to be fairly commonly done

Hi Melvin. What would you say are the main changes you get when going from the extremes of say Kevlar to real gut? (being sceptical doesn't mean I'm not open minded!)

Seem to remember some photos on Facebook where a fella had done away with the tailpiece altogether. Can't remember the details...

I'm on board with that. But I'm also sceptical that tailgut material matters as much as some people would like to think.

yes, I'd already worked that out, but thanks anyway for your insight

i don't recall seeing these tests. Is the conclusion that saddle height doesn't matter?