Nick Allen

If I were making a copy of a certain instrument, I'd have to make the distortions as close to my interpretation of the original shape as possible. Hopefully, the instrument will warp into something similar in time. But I suppose the templates provide some kind of reference for working that out.

Probably either bad touch up that's turned black or poor antiquing.

Calling these tool marks is quite a stretch.

I used this technique just the other day on a top block that had the same problem. Idiots thinking that gorilla glue and a cut nail are the only things that will hold the top to the block.

Looks nice overall. But your corner blocks are too long.

Agreed. The arching shape should take precedence over this aesthetic quirk, IMO. So the f holes should end up how they look from the side purely incidentally.

I think perhaps, to me, the only satisfying reason for tool marks existing in some capacity or another is, just make the violin. Pretty simple. Good looking tool marks on old (and new) violins looks good because people were just making a violin and the process wasn't a whole thing. These folks had to make instruments for a living, and wanted to fuss as little as possible and move on to the next. A lot of us guys/gals seem to go about instrument making differently, overthinking things because we have the luxury of time, be it from retirement, independent wealth, etc. If we all had to make violins simply as a product to make ends meet, those tool marks will probably appear and look great by virtue of not thinking about them. Just my 2¢.

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that if you went back in time and asked all of the makers throughout history about their varnish, you'd probably get similar answers that you do today. "I don't know... Just some stuff from this jar I've had for years..." "I got if from a guy down the street..." "I think it's like three ingredients... But I don't remember the recipe. Never wrote it down..." "You see, you'll never make a successful varnish unless you precipitate the polynucleotide salts with an ion ray pulse-a-tron at EXACTLY---EXACTLY- I cannot stress this enoughEXACTLY 220 KELVIN... Or else you'll have drying issues... In that case you can incorporate the carboferric rosinates earlier in the cook in order to..."

What makes you say that this is revarnished? Revarnished violins only stick out if it's done poorly, in my experience.

Just do what DG did and leave it ragged and rounded under the scroll there lol.

What do you think the reasoning behind the Romberg going the way of the dodo these days is? Almost never seen on viola anymore, and about only half of the cellos I see these days have one.

I was never attacking your opinion. Just stating what I like to do. There's really no right or wrong in this matter. Just taste.

I don't think it's as nonsensical as you think. Aubert is down bad these days. I'm not claiming that their practices are dubious by any means. Just that their wood selection and sorting leaves something to be desired. I select blanks on a case-by-case basis. I don't need the logo to be there for my workmanship and customer relationship matters. But every luthier-customer relationship and market is different.

Well. Anything goes these days. The Aubert #5 that I use for cheap stuff is leagues better than the Luxes and and DeLuxes. At least with Aubert, the quality isn't really in the stamp.

For this very reason, I always plane away the manufacturers stamp. I've found that they are generally inconsistent with which side they choose to stamp when taking the tilt of the grain on the side of the bridge. There seems to be two camps with this, though. On one hand, you have the people who like the grain to be parallel with the plane of the ribs. And on the other hand, you have people who like the grain to be perpendicular to the bisected string break angle. For these reasons I always choose to just remove the logo. I find that the bridge looks more classy without it anyways. As for the luthier's stamp. They seem to usually be on the side facing towards the fingerboard, away from the player.