curious1 Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Expect to Fail! Best teacher I ever had... Melvin, are you using thinned glue to get the back onto the ribs, in expectation of this possible future for your fiddles? Someone here has the tag: "the quicker you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up". Ha, love that! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted September 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 What did you do to make it work... much thinner graduations, or leave it heavy, or something inbetween? Hi Don, I made the belly 2.8mm in the middle and around 2.6mm elsewhere and it worked to my surprise sold to a fine pro player and got good feedback from several others who know their stuff which is obviously a better evaluation than my own favorable opinion. The wood did have a notably brittle and crisp texture which I guess might have been significant? (The model was based on the Alard del Gesu.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted September 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Expect to Fail! Best teacher I ever had... Melvin, are you using thinned glue to get the back onto the ribs, in expectation of this possible future for your fiddles? Hi Christopher, Yes I am using thinned glue. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Jacoby Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Great food for thought. Thank you for sharing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
christian bayon Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 Getting lazy or camera broken Melvin? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted November 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 Getting lazy or camera broken Melvin? Hi Christian, Thanks for your kind inquiry I am working on a secret project at the moment which is keeping me a bit quiet but hopefully back to normal soon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted December 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 7 piece front. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Urban Luthier Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 is that quartered beech on the ribs? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Jacoby Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 Wild! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted December 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 is that quartered beech on the ribs? Yes. Wonderful to bend Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Urban Luthier Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 i bet! it looks wonderful too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
christian bayon Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Melvin is back! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arglebargle Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 7 piece front. All at once, or several gluing sessions? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 All at once, or several gluing sessions? Good question .....Three sessions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arglebargle Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Good question .....Three sessions. Disappointed. May I ask why a 7 piece top? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Urban Luthier Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 i expect there are many precedents for cello and bass tops made from several staves of wood. it was common practice for gambas -- they were bent too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Disappointed. May I ask why a 7 piece top? Good question! I have lots of really nice cello fronts in my wood store but this wood I am using has some very rare and special qualities including great age. There was not enough useable wood to make a two piece front but after a quite difficult logistic exercise avoiding knots, worm and rot I got three central sections perfectly quartered with minimal run-out and decent pieces for wings...It's a Ruggeri copy and actually there is a Ruggeri from 1690 in the Dextra collection with the same belly arrangement. Isserlis' Strad has it too. There are two ugly recent nail holes in this wood which I will plug but not entirely disguise as they are almost a kind of stigmata. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arglebargle Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 Thanks for the info. I've got more questions, I think. But for now I would like to express an appreciation for workshop photos, and the small things they show. Direct your attention to the third photo. See anything? There is a lot, but what I love is the single paper clip hanging from a nail. At some point that happened, for what ever reason. A small gesture. Why? Who knows? Who cares? Not me. People being people all over the world. Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted December 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 Hi Argle, Thanks for your kind words. I'm happy to answer questions. I do like to have a paperclip handy!. That one was placed there with a few others to be changed in shape to move fast setting epoxy around when I fit gold ornaments to pegs as pictured below Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted January 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Work on a cello Quote Link to post Share on other sites
~ Ben Conover Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi Melvin, hope you are well.Interesting wood for Cello front ! Hope it sounds suitably old. I'm making another Cello now, same ff's as yours but stretched Guad form, using some 'interesting' wood too. You might find a Cello cradle useful, I just got one and it really helps. This one is for violin, the Cello ones are around E150. You need not use the ball vice thing, the cradle is 50mm thick ply, so heavy it stays put. I added a baton under it and mount it in the swivelling engineers vice. http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product/703931/Shaping-Mould-for-Tops-and-Backs-Violin.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
actonern Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Melvin, that's a poplar back? Whatever it is, how do you decide on grads for wood that is not the same as the instrument you're copying? Best regards, E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted January 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Hi Melvin, hope you are well. Interesting wood for Cello front ! Hope it sounds suitably old. I'm making another Cello now, same ff's as yours but stretched Guad form, using some 'interesting' wood too. You might find a Cello cradle useful, I just got one and it really helps. This one is for violin, the Cello ones are around E150. You need not use the ball vice thing, the cradle is 50mm thick ply, so heavy it stays put. I added a baton under it and mount it in the swivelling engineers vice. http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product/703931/Shaping-Mould-for-Tops-and-Backs-Violin.htm Hi Ben, OK here thanks & Happy New Year to you and yours. Thanks for the link to the cradle. I already have a much more primative version of this that I made for myself in haste but the product your link shows looks very effective and good value. It could be great if you can illustrate your current cello making here. Bests Melvin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted January 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Melvin, that's a poplar back? Whatever it is, how do you decide on grads for wood that is not the same as the instrument you're copying? Best regards, E Hi Ern, Yes that is a poplar back! I am pretty conservative ( with a small C) when I work. Normally I will be copying an old Italian instrument that is known to work well. Generally I will source as similar as possible wood as possible when I do a copy. . For every instrument that I copy I have several pieces in stock waiting to be used. Most of my work is copy based. I just try to have a large stock of wood and match it to what I copy. Your question is a good one. Normally I would make the grads a bit thicker if in doubt and regradate the instrument later if needed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Posted February 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 The few pictures in this post are for MN member Tango who some time ago I promised to show ribs being removed from a mold with all linings attached. These are cello ribs and I did not document the process well. I hope to show violin ribs before too long and in better detail but I hope something here could be of use or interest. Stage one for removing the ribs from the mold is to check that none of the ribs have adheared to the mold.( to prevent adhesion before using a mold.. I rub wax into the edges of my mold removing any excess with a rag damped with turps). The corner blocks need to be busted of the mold first ( NEVER the end blocks!). This needs to be done with a percussive shock rather than with torque and power. I use a tiny pin hammer even on celli. You must never hit the block directly. Always place a sturdy hard piece of maple or MDF...( not spruce) between the block and the hammer. This piece of wood MUST be the full width of the block. The hammer blow must be fast but not hard. Do it with a the flick of a wrist rather than the movement of arm or shoulder. If there is no initial effect turn the mold over and hit the block on its other side in the same way...if nothing much happens, increase the speed but not the power of the blow & repeat the procedure. This should break even a very sturdy overdone hide glue bond. Once the corner blocks are all snapped off the end blocks will now actually have somewhere to go when we try to bust them off which they would not have had before. Proceed as above until they are free. When a block breaks free on one side of the mold don't repeat the hit on that side of the mold but instead turn the mold over and hit the block on the other side of the mold. It is entirely possible to remove ribs with all linings attached from replicas of Strad's molds. I build a kink into my corner block housing on my molds to make it even easier. This is the first photo in the series below but the rest are in order of procedure. Pics below...Hopefully in order Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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