Michael_Molnar

Nik, You need to do the experiments for yourself. It can be fun. Just make sure you make lots of notes, so you can repeat your successes.

Indeed, a good eye is key.

Very dramatic improvement. Was anything changed: Soundpost, strings, etc.?

That’s what I use and it works for me.

This morning I ran a spruce top plate with a new contour and a 1/4” bull nosed (0.090” radius) end mill. I like the results. Scraping this to a finish will be a pleasure. And here it is hollowed out.

Interesting that this topic should pop up just when I am in the midst of CNCing an old ~20 year old one piece back. I find not much difference with a younger piece, say 7 years old. I am convinced that whatever wood you have, it must sit in your shop for over a year to acclimate. Even longer is better. If I buy young wood, say 3 years old, it goes to the back of the stack with its date. I like to work with 7+ year old wood. Time flies and before I know it, the wood has aged just like me. BTW, I do have a dozen processed spruce sets from @Don Noon I bought the Engelman from @kevin Prestwich. Kevin sent me three different samples of great wood to test. I selected the best tree using Don’s acoustical testing methods. Then Kevin shipped me a dozen split wedges (billets). I re-sawed them and got some beautiful wedge pairs along with splinters in my fingers . I then sent the lot to Don for processing. I will soon try one set.

I agree with David. I do not clean up the excess with water. I scrape it away. I squeeze the glue out from the corner mitres like Michael Darnton does. No buzzing purfling issues for me.

I tried this and got a weak bond that came loose later. So be careful.

I am interested in the motivation behind choosing a glue for luthier work other than hide glue. I have both commercial products above and use them, say, for fixtures. The Original Titebond is widely accepted glue in wood shops. Good stuff. The Ponal came to my attention from JoeThrift who said at his workshop that Roger Hargrave used it to avoid center seams detaching due to wet treatments. I think it’s similar to Titebond but I have not evaluated its wasserfest qualities. Anyhow, I make small batches of Bjorn hide glue 350 in a small dish placed at the bottom of my electric glue pot. It takes just a few minutes to prepare.

Yes. Gregg Alf (masterful production IMO) suggests that the Messiah was a shop reject because it did not meet Stradivari standards of quality with that crack. I speculate that the strong orange color also did not meet Stradivari’s varnish standards of that time. During that period there was a strong visible red glaze that Messiah does not have. My theory does stand on sand because I have not examined the Messiah and its contemporary siblings in person. Nevertheless, thumb through lots of quality photos and you will see my point.

Ask the VSA. Hope you can.

Get the I think you need Whova to watch. I could not copy a link.

The type of ground edge depends upon its use. This topic is tantamount to religion. Here is a great website discussing the variations.

I enjoyed Gregg Alf’s talk on The Messiah. Very good production, done professionally. I too have suspected the The Messiah was a shop reject as Alf suggests, but I thought it was due to the varnish that differs dramatically from contemporaries.

Davide offers good explanations.