Brad Dorsey

According to Wenberg, Stephen Hrinka was born in Hungary, played violin in the Hungarian Orchestra and moved to the United States around 1915. He worked in steel mills and repaired violins semi-professionally in Struthers, Ohio. He made 24 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and 1 double bass. His early labels were handwritten on the wood. He died in 1974.

Has anyone here seen one like this? The maple has the streaks that are usually indicative of American wood. But the varnish and the quality of the work look European to me.

Would you follow this with tempering? The blade of a Pfeil bow-making chisel is about two inches long. I fear that holding the tip at hardening heat for two minutes would allow enough to be conducted to the handle to burn it.

I think that hardening and tempering the cutting edge of a bow-making chisel without incinerating the handle would be complicated, even assuming that you knew how to do it.

I don’t think that the repair and restoration of cheap factory violins raises any ethical concerns. You just do whatever is required to get the instruments playable and attractive looking. Since you are just starting to do restorations, you should use cheap factory violins to practice techniques, make mistakes and learn new skills.

but not for bass.

That looks good.

I wonder this, also. I have some Pfeil gouges that don't hold edges as well as I wish they would, which, I guess, means they are too soft. But I don't have much experience with other brands, and maybe the problem is that my expectations are unrealistically high.

I do it the same as David.

Because the pegs tend to move farther in with use, I drill the holes a little off the center of the peg box interior towards the peg head side, dividing the space by a ratio of about 60/40. So, judged by the way I do it, your pencil marks are too far from the center and on the wrong sides of the center.

My Pfeil bowmakers’ chisels look very much like those.

I have some that I bought over 30 years ago. (They’re getting pretty short.) They have angled sides. Although I can’t guarantee it, I think it’s likely that their present chisels still have angled sides, because Pfeil has a long history of making chisels and gouges. So they know that proper bowmakers’ chisels have angled sides.

Neither can I. This thread would be more properly titled "The effects of string tension on shape of violin body." Yes. Most people think that "stress" and "strain" mean the same thing.

No. The areas most stressed might be stronger, so they might be more resistant to deformation than other areas under less stress.