Poetinwood

murder is personal. Assassination is political. Military kills are neither. I suspect he may have been using the wrong kind of bows....those with arrows.

I really enjoyed your talent with the Flicker slideshow using your photography and the new F holes. Much better looking, I think.

Manfio, I would be delighted to do Portuguese as badly as you do English. (meaning of course: as well as you do English)

I'm reminded of the interview with Ivo Pires by American Lutherie. His career began at age 8 when he stole a shingle off his grandmother's house (in The Cape Verde Islands) and fashioned a knife by pounding a 4" nail flat, then sharpening it on concrete. He had seen some musicians playing, and that is all it took. He finished a ukulele he copied by looking at a friend's Martin. At age 9. Sold the third one, and all this done by intuition and hand made tools. "Yeah, right," I said, "not to mention a little genius." Today you can put any instrument on his table, and he will copy it or repair it. Violin, Sitar, ouds, bouzoukis, grand piano, whatever. Anyone shopping for a role model need travel no further.

This is great! Thanks, everyone. I do write in the classical vein, having really loved nothing else for the last 58 years; my first album was Sinbad at age 5 and I can still remember the score quite well. Now I collect copies of it. I agree with the instinctive aspect of writing, I seem to only write the first 6 or 7 notes and the rest write themselves. But I really do need the higher aspects of theory, so thanks to all for the encouragement and advice. If, after 2 1/2 years of violin study 2 hours a day isn't compulsion, I wouldn't know how to go about getting it! Past compulsion is madness I suppose. But that was Paganini, our mentor. BTW- everyone should bookmark that Abebooks site! Talk about cheap textbooks, I ordered all the above so cheap I can just throw out what isn't needed! I thought I was going to be spending like I did in college where you have to take out a loan just to buy the books. But that was the 70's, maybe times have changed.

you could turn that into a cowboy hottub rather easily, take it out in the summer: http://www.cowboyhottubs.com

I play piano and classical guitar fairly well. I started learning the violin two years ago. When my teacher got around to playing duets, I wrote one for us to play and he was very impressed with it, but said I need to go study theory at a local college, but to come back to this piece when I finished. He is a good teacher but I can't seem to talk to him logically, so end of discussion. I have a disability that forced me to retire and keeps me from going back to school; it was all I could do to make it to violin practice once a week, now ended. My experience with college as a young man taught me that all you really need is the book anyway if it is not performance related. I compose in Finale and enjoy it very much. I'm looking for the right book! Any help?

I was noticing that too. I was reading through these postings waiting for someone to mention the "sound", but apparently it's only value that is important. Finally someone suggested taking the teacher along.

I taught myself to play the piano and classical guitar. But when the violin came around, off to the conservatory I went. NO WAY would I try that by myself. I have seen a few self taught violinists and I usually bite my tongue to keep from saying something that would hurt feelings.

I have studied at a conservatory for 2 years as a right handed student as my instructor would not teach me to play left handed. On many occasions I would be studying a bow stroke or set of strokes and having much difficulty with it. I could usually turn the violin around left handed and play it the first time upside down using the left hand on the bow.

What's the rush? Make them square today, in 300 years they will look appropriately worn and rounded. . Or are you worried they are going to put it in a museum all new and unplayed like they did the Messiah? I suppose in another 600 years the Strads will be worn to the ribs and that will be the fashion, so no self respecting violinmaker will make one with more than 1/64" overhang. LOL.

Flatten the inside, carve the outside....THEN you won't need the trig, the back will adjust to perpendicular in relation to the arch as you drill on the inside.

The rhubarb is quite toxic in an uncooked state to all animals.

Thanks John, for the best laugh I've had today. Blind-sighted! I haven't seen an oxymoron that good in years! I'm sure you know, but everyone else might not: it's blind-sided, getting sucker punched on your blind side.

The scissor type setter I received was horribly made. The jaws didn't match each other so I clamped it to a piece of 1" wood with a vise grip and drilled the hole to 1/4". No more teeth marks. I like the shrink tubing idea. I eventually learned the use of the S shaped setter and think there is less all around damage with it. Several head thumps later I quit looking for better ideas. We could have contests to see who could get a fallen sound post from a violin the quickest. I'm quite deft at it now.. But, oh, the hours of practice!