Nick Allen

You're right. It only takes a few seconds to get the inlay in. I just like the peace of mind about being able to get the miters back where they were before while I spent to much time getting them nice. But I've taken to dry-fitting the miters, then putting glue in about a centimeter further down, the rest of the way. The actor of putting the rest of the strip in will squeeze glue into the miter. But perhaps a thicker hide glue, plus just enough room in the channel as to not create tremendous pressure would be the key.

I agree with the "old-timey" thing. I used fish glue because the channel was very close to the thickness of the I lay, so I didn't want things to swell too much while I was putting it in, and the fish glue doesn't seem to really do that for the most part. After it's all in, I'll hold the plate up to a small kettle above the steam to gently steam the surrounding wood to swell. Perhaps that has the effect of pressurizing and heating the channel and forcing the expanding glue into the endgrain? But I guess I have to perfect getting the right width for the channel and using HHG, which hasn't given me such problems. Or could it be the steaming?

Hey y'all, I've just closed the box on my cello here, and I noticed that in the endgrain areas of the purfling channel, the glue has seemed to absorb into it a lot. So much so that it's clearly visible on the surface after scraping. Now, I know it's not residual glue, as I did the purfling in a flat ledge, so that got scooped out. But interestingly I used fish glue for this, with the longer working time. And I only seem to have this problem with fish glue. Any thoughts? Should I size the channel with hide first? Thanks.

It seems to be a French thing to freehand every step.

Eh?

This is a great idea. The casein would also keep the tape from pulling fibers up. Would the casein also pre-size the gluing area?

Hmm. I saw that and thought it was just kind of part of the facet.

Where are you seeing this crack?

The best way to see the chalk is natural oblique lighting. You should be looking for the matte areas and not the white areas once the fitting reaches its final stages.

We have a bow like this in our shop. It's just a bow we use to test instruments during setup. But it's been holding for what seems like a few decades now, and the bow still plays nicely. But a repair like this doesn't really consider the investment value of the piece, seeing as any invasive repair essentially can halve the value of a bow, this type probably wipes it out entirely...

More 'n one way to skin a cat.

My archings are becoming more barrel shaped as I progress, which tracks with the straighter lines in the C bouts. I think often people do a more peanut-shaped arch for their first few fiddles, like myself.

If I'm being honest, she probably doesn't care what you're doing barring actual auditory nuisance. It's like when you go to the gym for the first time. People get self conscious, being beginner's, but in reality no one gives a $hit, but in a good way.

I had to make my last violin, which has an Engelmann top, about .3mm thicker in order to achieve the same sort of stiffness that you'd get form some Sitka billets. But my batch just happens to be a lighter density. Light, fluffy and kind of chippy wood. But I made it work. Just pay attention to the way it feels in your hands as you go.

AH! I forgot about this method! I actually used it once, and have two cork-lined blocks for it! I can't believe that I forgot... The way I'd like to do things is have a caliper in my left hand and a thumb plane in my right hand, kind of just following the gauge as I go.