JacksonMaberry

If you plane the scoop into the core of the board before laminating the veneer, you can achieve the scoop easily. Gut strings, especially the thicker ones, will need some scoop in the board to accommodate the helmholz motion of the strings. I've been in the habit of using veneer about 1.6mm thick, but have had it suggested by a more experienced maker to go up to 2mm, and will do so once I run out of the stuff I have.

Beament, page 58 - chapter 4, section 6. Shockingly little is transmitted to the back.

The disco ball motor Fossil Ledges mentions is a godsend. Lining the cabinet with reflective material, such as aluminum foil, is wisely done. My experience with blacklight bulbs has been underwhelming. Solacure has bulbs manufactured in Hungary that are far better suited to the task, but I wouldn't assume that they are readily available everywhere and I apologise if they aren't offered in your neck of the woods. I mention them only because I use them and like them. My cabinet is sized for cello, but I rarely have anything bigger than a viola in there - that would put the narrowest part of the instrument (the neck) about a foot and change from the lights, and I've never had a problem drying a coat in a day. A respected colleague in California uses sanitary grade UV-C bulbs. I have no experience with them, and they are hazardous. But he swears by the results and I trust him.

Let me start by saying this is very clever and super well done. However, instruments change shape a lot, especially the larger ones, over time. That first post may be perfect right off the bat, but before very long it will be too short.

Better still if you could get a quick structured light scan of the interior and use that data to mill a post!

Love the fleck action on those ribs, brother.

Deeply lucky, absolutely.

Dammit now I need an arcade cabinet

Please excuse the trainwreck - at my commercial shop, my work area is visible from the showroom and that helps me keep on top of the mess. Since being displaced to my home basement by Covid19, this is what I'm working with. Most work actually happens at the stamped metal desk bought from an out of business KMart for $50. Lots of storage ready to hand, plenty of real estate including the pull-outs, which I initially thought would be useless but are quite handy. The carving bench is a 2 ¼ maple top from Grizzly, the base of which is made from big box Doug fir, glued, screwed, and bolted. Not pretty, but sturdy, and doubly so when bolted to a wall back at the "real" shop. Veritas tail and front vises, both of which are nice hardware if fussy to install. At least I only had to do it once!

Makes sense to me, Don.

My understanding is that with a higher arch, a lower bridge is needed. I was taught that the correct angle over the bridge is more important than a predefined bridge height.

I am not a scholar and am not able to back this up, but I recall from an art history class that in the Renaissance and into the baroque, paintings were often suffused with symbolism, allusion, and allegory. Its not unreasonable to surmise that something in a work of art that may be peculiar to us, such as a "strangely" positioned bridge, for example, might be representative of a moral or idea that escapes today's audiences.

Understood, thanks for your research. Looking forward to reading your paper.

I think it's somewhat dangerous to rely too heavily on iconography. Artists are under no obligation to represent something exactly as it is or was, after all. Regarding the Pesne portrait, I don't see anything particularly out of the ordinary about the instrument or bow, the latter of which seems entirely appropriate for the time period.

Sorry Michael, I clearly misread your posts in your bench thread. My mistake. This is the post that confused me, where you mention potassium hydroxide and potassium carbonate as being important to the results.