Davide Sora

If you are brave enough to use it, a possible strategy would be to make an arching shape that gives a lot of stiffness by itself, so that you can thin the thicknesses as much as possible to reduce the weight as much as possible, which is the main concern when the density is high. Probably the safest advice would be to make firewood out of it, but if the piece is very beautiful and without other defects (besides the high density) I think it's worth a try. You can always back off and replace the plate if you are not satisfied with the result, especially if you are not a professional with a client waiting for the violin...

http://www.makingtheviolin.com/Specific gravity calculator#

Thanks David Aside from the kind mention of my name, I can only agree with what you say. Given the current globalization of violin making, good violins can be found almost everywhere in the world, and the same goes for bad ones.

Yep, it is undoubtedly a sly promotional video from the Cremona violin makers consortium (a private association), the Colombian who appears at minute 2:30 is the president, the Frenchwoman at minute 2:00 is on the board of directors, the old Maestro Istvan Conia is now a simple member but in past years he was also a member of the board of directors . I have never liked their way of approaching the market and their pricing policy (very different from what is indicated in the video) , which is why I have never joined this association, in fact I am quite against it, just to be clear.

Next time you do the tests on the glass, try to spread the drop of varnish more in some area, so that you can evaluate any differences between a thin and a thicker thickness, because the thickness greatly influences the drying.

You're welcome I use it for varnish, I have never tried it for wood finishing but I know some colleagues use it also for wood. If you like to try a finer grain Shinex works well too, a bit less aggressive than Mirlon : https://www.cremonatools.com/shinex-sanding-sheets.html It is difficult to make comparisons because the behavior is a little different, and these "wool pads" tend to become less aggressive after a short use, while Micromesh type sandpaper retains the nominal grit longer. Anyway, the Mirlon 2500 in my opinion is similar to the 2400 Micromesh while the Shinex 3000 is comparable to the Micromesh 3200. I have no experience with coarser grains, although for wood finishes they could be interesting, but I fear that if you overdone the sanding you will get a result too similar to that of traditional sandpaper (loss of straightness and sharpness of medullary rays) which I would like to avoid, for this reason I've never tried it directly on wood. https://www.cremonatools.com/mirlonr.html

Watching the video, I felt like smiling when I heard that the price of contemporary Italian violins starts at $ 28,000 and that it takes 2 or 3 months to make one. Of course the statement can certainly be true for a small number of makers, but If this were really the case for everyone, the problem would not exist, totally different target market, no need to "worry". Alas many makers insist on "competing" with the Chinese by keeping prices much lower (and inevitably the quality) when it is evident that it is a losing battle from the start, I think the hopes of beating the Chinese in low-end market production are rather slim... This phrase should be hung in the workshops of certain Cremonese luthiers, as a daily warning on which is the right path.

Have you seen these? They are all the original form drawings made by Addie, who did a really great job. http://www.thestradsound.com/maestronet/stradivari-forma-by-addie

The violin in my right hand is the same as you see in the other two photos, the color differences are due to the different lighting and exposure. The real color is neither one nor the other, probably halfway between the two, but still variable depending on the light. The violin in my left hand is the one in this video :

http://www.darntonviolins.com/violinmagazine/book/1varnishing.pdf

Both can be fine, if the quality of the oil is good, but if you want to be aware of the processes that the oil has undergone and the additives that have been added (drying metals) the only way is to start with the raw oil and do all the necessary steps yourself. It can also have an influence on the final viscosity of the varnish, as the boiled oil will become more viscous for the same cooking time (because it will be re-cooked to combine with resins). So the cooking times will have to be set up differently depending on the oil you use and the result you want to obtain, especially if you don't like using large amounts of solvent / thinner.

Once the Zecchi fine arts shop in Florence had excellent linseed oil, but my information dates back several years. More recently I used Kremer linseed oil #73020, works well.

if linseed oil alone (cooked but also raw) does not dry out and remains sticky in a test on glass, I think you have a problem. In fact, the drying property of the oil is the first thing to check to make sure that your varnish will works

In my experience with violin, the Wittner non-adjustable center mount chin rest is very light (about 36 g) but it is not the same for the pegs, which weigh much more than traditional ones due to the mechanism. So if weight is your main concern I would recommend the chinrest (if you like it, it's plastic) but not the geared pegs, or at least I would try to add a temporary equivalent weight on the scroll to see if it bothers you or if it is negligible for you. I think that the chin rest does not affect much the perceived weight because it is on the shoulder, while the pegs are at a distant point from the body, and the perceived weight could be greater.

Thanks!