Shunyata

Not as elegant as Mr Burgess (who eliminates the problem rather than treating the symptoms) I have had good luck with this approach. I clamp the joint line (C clamps) to cross pieces located underneath in this picture) to ensure the joint stays closed. Bar clamping from both sides also helps as the cheap bar clamps do not maintain a right-angle clamping face. But Mr. Burgess has a true engineering solution. Kudos!

The radius of curvature seems to small, at least to the eye. When you trace the plates, the points will seem to stick out strongly. It could be just the photos giving this appearance. But if it looks off to you, you will have a place to start thinking about adjustments. :-)

I have always used my own templates, so no. I would just work from the poster and compare against Strobel for reasonability.

A sound first attempt. Ideally, your ribs would be at right angles. You need to take care during the bending process to keep things square… a bit fussy to fix when you get off track. The dimensional impact will be modest. Your points look a bit too pointy (based on photos). This is an easy mistake when you are making your own templates for the first time. There is a lot of geometry to get right! Go ahead and work from the poster to make your arching templates. And then compare to templates from other sources/violins such as you might find online or on the Strobel book. Make sure that your templates don’t look wildly out of line. I recommend that you stay away from power tools and do things by hand.

A thin coat Davide Sora’s refractive ground, followed by clear/yellow Colophony varnish does a nice job. The linseed oil penetrates the ground and pops the flames nicely.

For what it is worth, here is a picture of the piece. The offending area is adjacent to the center seam on both sides. It looks like I need to scrap the piece.

Unless I run into more problems I am going to push through. The splits naturally close when the top is under compression. So I am going to hope everything holds.

I am carving a top and the top keeps developing splits in the middling the plate. I am being very careful about pressure on the plate, it seems like the splits are already in the wood. I have had three splits, two of which were the same grain line on different sides of the plate (book matched). I have repaired them nicely using very thin, high gram strength hide glue. Has anyone else encountered this? Suggestions?

I use a completely different approach. I use a heavy metal beaker placed directly in my Hold Heet pot, with no water and a plastic lid placed over the whole contraption. Metal beaker quickly heats through direct contact with the pot, but has enough thermal mass that I can remove from it the glue pot for a few minutes while gluing (wrapped in a towel)… then back in the pot with the lid on.

I heard the Playfair Guarneriolayed solo with an up-close mic. I was struck that the E string had a shimmering resonant quality all the way up the fingerboard. Yet the tone was crystal clear. It was stunning. What aspect of the build or setup most influences this. I would like to do some experimentation but need some idea about what the drivers are.

Clearly a classically trained conservator.

I have a 104” Rikon that gets unhappy with a 3/4” resaw blade… so I know what you mean.

I started rehairing my own (and friends) bows a few years back. A few observations… I like to fully release the bow, just as you say. But you can’t be so loose that you are nearing full retraction on the frog to tighten the bow. Humidity is a definite issue especially with fine, high quality hair. For the sake of your violin you want to stay above 30% humidity. Turning the heat down a few degrees will really bring humidity up and take some of the load off your humidifier. Some hair stretches a fair amount as it plays in, some does not. Usually takes 12 hours of playing to see where you will wind up. In the end you sometimes need to replace the hair. It is always good to let you archetier know that you like your hair on the loose or tight side. I have a cello friend who is always telling me hair is too loose, no matter how tight I make it for him. (I refuse to leave it like your bow!)

I give them to kids in school string programs who have challenges paying for a rental.

I am not a professional, but… I fully graduate the plate. Locate the end-holes and cut with a circular cutter. Sharpen your cutters very sharp. Drill pilot holes. Cut partway from the back first, then finish from the front. Be very careful about orientation so the walls are crisp. Lightly sand with 1000 grit to bring the walls to finished condition. This is only a finishing step, not shaping. Do not ruin the edges or change the shape of the hole. Draw in the remaining lines, fitting to the end-holes. Cut the little triangles out at the wing ends, close to the end holes. Doing those first gives you lots of structural support for this delicate operation. Cut thin slices, shaving the triangle back until it is flat with the wing ends. No leverage on the wing point, ever! Start in the middle at the f-hole notch and slowly open up a seam for the knife to go through the plate. Continue to expand until you a a rough opening all the way around with about 1mm still left to be removed. Very slowly work all the way around in multiple passes and remove the last bit. At this point pay careful attention to the orientation of the f-hole walls so that they are straight and have a nice appearance from the outside. They won’t be at right angles to the plate surface everywhere. Make sure the sound post fits through cleanly. Use a super fine riffler file to smooth the cut edges if necessary. If you are careful, this should be just light touch up. This is a finishing step, not a shaping step. Fluting the wings is the last bit. I think professionals do this much earlier, but I save it for last. This allows me to fine tune the appearance of the exposed cut edges and the flow of the finished f holes into the waist arching. You need to take the finest of cuts to avoid any pressure on the wing… which is good discipline anyway for forming the delicate shape. Finish with a very thin flexible scraper for smoothness and crisp edges.