Wood Butcher

I wear an apron, but for woodworking, the ones with pockets are a pointless nuisance. Fills up with shavings, and no matter how much you think you shook out, the rest comes out in the washing machine, and gets onto anything else you washed with the apron. Pockets can also snag on things, like the vice handle, or G clamps holding stuff onto the bench.

Your wife will not be pleased, when she finds out you have torn up one of her tops, and glued it to the ribs! Nice work on your cello, I’m always impressed how people find the time to make these, while working a regular job too. Well done!

While we might chuckle about this, in years to come, humanity will become even more moronated. Then computers will take over, and it will herald the end of many things, classical music amongst them.

Erm…

This thread has taken a hilarious turn! For the collection of bows to make it up to €1550, clearly more than one person felt they were worth buying So I’m really not sure what the issue is here, other than someone not understanding the potential value of the bows once restored, at least the complete ones. Hard to know much about the sticks without frogs, when viewed only from above.

It is a characteristic of almost all violins. There are two types of taper, one is from the upper corners to the neck only. The other is a gradual taper from the bottom block to the neck.

Stradivari models basically break down into a few different moulds, P, PG, G, S etc. But what is best sounding, and best looking is a personal, and subjective judgement.

I doubt we will ever know who was the very first to do so. I expect that the Parisian makers, from the second half of the 18th C, are a reasonable place to start looking.

Only crazy if you can't tell what is there.

A built in string gauge too.

Depends who you buy wood from, and what size of viola you are making (16”?). Otherwise, buy viola billets to be sure.

You really need to have a hobby or something, maybe just go out and walk round a park for a bit? Could do you good to see other things happening in the world.

Although the violin itself is not to my own taste, I would think so, yes. All of the abominations have been done post manufacture, such as the horrid and badly cut pegs, the worst nut in the history of the world, and fingerboard being re-glued by a blind man who owned no clamps. Is the G string really 1/4" high at the nut?

I am sorry, but I cannot let this utter nonsense pass. A lot of Markneukirchen violins are extremely well-made, and finely crafted. Much more so than many individual makers managed to achieve, and far in advance of the majority of amateur makers. They are often made from better materials, too. That many Markneukirchen violins, have at one time or another, endured appalling storage conditions, yet are still going strong, says a lot about their quality. The only things going against them, are the sheer number that were created, and that many people are only familiar with the cheapest productions from there. I'd pick a Markneukirchen violin over a Salustri any day of the week.

I expect the finish is some type of lacquer, sprayed on. It would seem that you should be able to use what you'd clean an acoustic violin with. Test first, of course!