Colleen McTigue

To my untutored eye, it looks like the worm damage might get carved out during the process. Unless it’s much deeper than it appears…

That's very cool. I have composed a piece for string quartet as a response to a call for scores from a group called Untitled Ensemble. It didn't get selected. I could send you a PDF of it if you want to see it. Hope to meet you sometime.

Sounds like you’re ready to make a mold. Have you chosen a violin to base it off of? Since you have a subscription to the Strad, I assume you have at least one of their posters. I based my first violin off of the Stradivari Kruse violin. I made the mold from the poster.

I’m pretty sure that’s “Facibat”. It means “made in”

What got me interested in what Westerlund was saying was a video in which a guy named Philip Greenberg talked about meeting him and trying one of his violins, and being blown away by it. Greenberg mentioned that as a violinist he had owned famous violins, and the Westerlund was equal or better than them. So I just did some brief research on Greenberg, and it seems he may not be everything he claimed. And I went looking for Westerlund, and found one violin that sold at auction for $18,000, but little else aside from his website. I’m not sure if his instruments are well regarded, but he has made over 400 of them, so he’s at least got quite a bit of experience.

I feel like a couple of different questions are being raised here. My perception is that his method isn’t trying to “tune” a plate, so much as answer the question, “Where do I need to remove something?” He’s pursuing a goal of thinning the plate in a particular way, such that when the sound of rubbing or scratching or tapping is the same everywhere, he’s reached the goal. Such a plate would have slightly different thicknesses in various places, because the wood is slightly denser here, slightly less dense there. I think his method is rather elegant. One could, of course, simply measure the thickness with a dial caliper, but what thickness are we looking for? Of course that’s where we look at maps of plate thicknesses and follow them, but that doesn’t take into account variations in the wood. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but this is what it seems like to me.

Where in Ontario are you? I don’t have the wood you’re looking for, but I’m hoping you’re somewhat local. It’d be good to meet another maker. I’m in the Niagara region.

Hi, jithin, and welcome to the forum. I’m also a newbie, although I’ve already made a violin. It’s 17 years old now. Your wood looks great. What tools do you have now? Have you made a mold? Do you have wood for the ribs, and neck? For information, including thicknesses and various other measurements, I would suggest you get the books by Henry Strobel. Lots of good information there. Do you have a bending iron? I spent years just collecting tools before I started making. I’m also AuDHD, with maybe ocd.

My sense from watching (and listening) to his videos is that he’s onto something. Maybe not “the secret”, but something. I can hear the differences he refers to. I think it might be useful in graduating the plates, but also as Evelyn says, maybe also identifying an area that needs more work. I think I’ll experiment with it on my next project.

I took 2 years to make my first violin, which I finished 17 years ago. I still need to refine the bridge and re-set the sound post, or make a new one, so you could put me down for 17 years for those two jobs, lol. I think my speed will drastically improve for my second one, but it’ll be months before I can get started…

I’m just watching a video by Peter Westerlund, where he discusses a method of using “scratch tones” and tap tones in making a violin. He apparently uses it to determine where to remove wood from a plate. His goal, as near as I can tell, is to have the same tones everywhere on the plate. I’d be interested in hearing what folks here think of this. The video:

True that!!

Good idea. That, and the neck.

Ah! A FrankenStrad!