Mampara

Nowadays I make my forms from jelutong (Dyera costulata). Its light, very stable and easy to work with hand tools, you can hand plane it down to any thickness you want. This timber is widely used by pattern makers, especially for its ease of work and dimensional stability. For longevity and multiple use I reinforce the glue surfaces for the blocks with thin strips of hardwood which can take the wear much better.

No rather use a Dragunov. I once had a piece of Rhodesian teak with a whole live mortar bomb embedded within, made a helluva bonfire!

You just gotta love this stuff! Maybe the maker left them there to mess with our heads, I certainly leave little hidden clues for future generations. Maybe someone someday will have some mental gymnastics trying to figure out what it all means.....

Jeez buddy, I would be upset if someone sold me stuff like this!

OK so it looks like one can use poplar for this purpose but it may not last as long as something harder like maple. It probably also explains why tonewood dealers rarely sell poplar neck blocks, I can`t recall ever seeing one for sale. I have recently acquired two beautiful Lombardy poplar slabs, there's potentially a couple of violas hiding in each. I will find some plain maple for the neck and scrolls and see how that goes, prefer not to graft stuff if it can be prevented. Thanks to everyone for the input, its much appreciated.

How about using poplar for the neck and scroll on a viola? Is poplar commonly used for this or do makers prefer maple for the neck and scroll for some reason?

The aforementioned dietary habits may cause candle light dinners to become slightly hazardous if not downright explosive.....

A proper Strad vs this Thing in a play off - now this idea would make a classic underdog movie! I think we`ve already got more than 40 bucks worth of entertainment from it, I just love those copper nails and the bee sting purfling on the worn out corner. I say tighten that screw on the button, string this sucker up and let it rip!

Tool marks tell a story and will keep people from the future guessing how you did it. Just like we now guess and discuss how those old timers worked way back then.

Crikey mate, look at the size of that name! I would never be able to use a tool with such a fancy description.......

Here's another vote for a scratch stock. You can easily and cheaply make a fit for purpose tool or if you want to throw money on the problem then both Lie Nielsen and Veritas make excellent scratch stocks. I use mine often for beading and fluting on all sorts of projects.

Mampara likes this very much! I see one in my near future.

Stick to the plan, when it sounds OK, be happy and move on. Or risk getting stuck in this techno garbage for a while and produce nothing.

My question relates to the second graph presented here, it appears that plate mass is inversely proportional to frequency? This graph thus denotes that a thinner (i.e. less mass) plate vibrates at a lower frequency compared to a thicker (more mass) plate? This graph can only make sense if the weight axis is displayed inversely.

A neck graft would be preferable but its a cheap fiddle so why not try something different? Its end grain so maybe just drill the hole clean and insert a similar maple dowel to fill the void. Reshape and varnish as needed.