Darren Molnar

Thanks for reminding me of the Stauffer Ed, and also the Cozio data base. That is relatively early in the history.

47 cm, I can't even imagine!

I thought the Amati workshop produced two sizes of violins, a large viola and a large ( by todays standards) cello. Did the Amati family make smaller violas too?Are there any small ones that have survived?

Thanks David for the number, I'll call

Hey cousin , can you put in a good word for me with Susan, I've tried to register with her at Taylor with no luck. My money worked at their booth in Cleavland, but since then,,,,, Edit, ah sorry all, I didn't read the thread past Mikes first post. Didn't realise it was getting on to serious subject matters.

this is used in the autobody repair industry to repair plastic parts, a huge selection, you'll only need one or two of these to repair your cases. It's very strong and durable stuff, stronger than what you're repairing in most cases. http://www.autobodys...tegory-s/79.htm

The first bit of this doc. shows some goat hybrids invented to produce spider silk in their milk. Mind blowing stuff for when, or if, we need a larger supply of spidey strings. http://topdocumentar...om/playing-god/

Maestronet got Trololo'd! Har Har! I'll count my blessings we weren't rick rolled instead

Thanks Ethan!

How do you prevent blotch on the spruce with your method? Also, when antiquing, how much can you manipulate, rub, wash off, strip off varnish layers and still have the wood colour remain?

Well said CT, and I think could be said of all aspects of violin making. I wish I could have back all the YEARS I personaly wasted not concentrating on the BASICS. It took me way to long to realize that workmanship and style and tradition are paramount, the rest,,,,,,,

And I'll also add that I was much happier with my stuff until I saw Jeff Phillips' wood colour in person, and a few other contemperary makers together at 2010 vsa-palluza.

Fun,I'll bite. I want the wood to have a darker value, to look "old" and I can't seem to get spruce darker with other methods (stains) and not have the top turn out blotchy. What do you have when you are done? Fair to so-so results as to lowering its value.It's much better than bright white wood. I can achieve non-blotchy tops this way at least. How well do you like the visual effects? It's not as great as I'd like, I loose a lot of clarity,"sparkle" ...as compared to what? To having my cake and eating it. Darker, older looking wood and no loss of depth or sparkle. Have you achieved lasting effects? If so, what? The wet chemistry does fade a bit over time, but I haven't experienced the wood ever reverting to its original bright white. For me, I'm putting up with the negatives solely because I can do this and not have a blotched top. Any ideas Joe?

Very late one night, after a long long day, I picked out some spruce from the pile that looked about sized for bass bars. It took me an hour to figure out the piece was slab cut. And only after I planed it to thickness, cut to length, and rough fit it. Once I got into the fine fitting things just seemed impossible to get working right. It finally dawned that My knife work,scraping, file work was creating a wash board surface. The wash board coming from the soft growth/hard growth differences. Doh! A good lesson to learn, though. Slab cut is harder to fit accurately, and so (for me) not worth worrying about.

Dude, you're already here . Start a thread asking about the differences between a few different makers on one paricular element, then keep creating different threads about other particular elements you'd like to know about. There are some world class restorers here who are wonderfully generous with their photos and first hand experience.