MikeC's bench

[Shelbow]

Nice caliper, for some reason I keep imagining it made out of solid brass! That would look amazing but obviously very impractical weight wise.

[MikeC]

The dial caliper?  It's a scrap of poplar.  works well but I have to adjust the settings since the wood moves with changes in humidity.  

[Shelbow]

1 hour ago, MikeC said:

The dial caliper?  It's a scrap of poplar.  works well but I have to adjust the settings since the wood moves with changes in humidity.  

Yeah what I mean is I like the design the square shape. I'd love to make one out of brass.

[MikeC]

yeah it would look cool made of brass.  I like old brass fittings on tools.   It would be heavy though,  maybe could make cutouts to make it lighter.  This one was just roughed out with bandsaw and drill.  I didn't try to make it pretty but it's functional.  When it gets out of alignment due to the wood moving with humidity changes I can adjust it with the brass screw anvil at the bottom.   That's actually a brass toilet bowl screw  .  

The thin metal used to lift the dial is a cut off section of a hacksaw blade.  

[MikeC]

I had the fingerboard glued on to the neck then had a little mishap,  dropped it on the floor and the fingerboard came off.   Re-glueing it now....

 

[Jim Bress]

I'm sure that made your heart skip a beat. Otherwise undamaged I assume? It looks like the many parts are close to becoming a violin. Then you get to start playing with varnish. 

[MikeC]

yep, the only major part left to make is the top plate.  First I have to glue the back to the ribs so I have a stable rib shape to outline the top.   I had already trimmed the sides of the neck when the fingerboard popped off so I had to add some little blocks to the sides to position the fingerboard for re-gluing.   

I'm looking forward to varnish making.  I want to try the quick method of making linoxin as detailed in some past threads here.  Then use that to make a very lean rosin oil spirit hybrid varnish similar to what Davide Sora makes.   

 

[Jim Bress]

39 minutes ago, MikeC said:

yep, the only major part left to make is the top plate.  First I have to glue the back to the ribs so I have a stable rib shape to outline the top.   I had already trimmed the sides of the neck when the fingerboard popped off so I had to add some little blocks to the sides to position the fingerboard for re-gluing.   

I'm looking forward to varnish making.  I want to try the quick method of making linoxin as detailed in some past threads here.  Then use that to make a very lean rosin oil spirit hybrid varnish similar to what Davide Sora makes.   

 

At least you're keeping things simple.  Of course doing things the easy way is boring.

[MikeC]

yeah why take the wide easy road when you can follow an old path through the woods! 

 

 

 

[MikeC]

More progress,   Back plate glued to ribs, it's beginning to look like a fiddle.  That picture makes it look like I put the button on the wrong end.  hah!  It's just the camera angle though. 

And flattening the surface of the deal.   ( I recently learned that deal is an old fashioned word for spruce,  couldn't resist.) 

That reminds me, did you hear they found a real bigfoot?  He wandered into a casino sat down and started playing poker!  yep it was a big hairy deal!   ok that's my lame joke for the day.  

 

[MikeC]

Working on the top plate.  

[dand]

lookin good... the spruce sure works differently than maple..always a transition when doing the plates... 

[MikeC]

That's for sure!   I much prefer the maple even though it's a harder wood it's much easier to carve without splitting out.  Spruce requires really sharp chisels and a light touch.   

[MikeC]

I think the purfling miters on the belly turned out a little better than on the back.  I tried to have the C bout purfling form the bee sting as Strad did but I did well just getting them to come to a point. 

I still need to work on the final shape of the actual corners.  

 

[Mike Atkins]

Your first violin is really looking nice! I'm going to have to step up my game, you've done some great work as far as I can tell.

[MikeC]

Thanks!  I guess you could technically call this my third build.  But the first was way back around 1980 and was not good, then a year or so later I put together a partially pre-carved kit so it was just ok.    Fast forward three or four decades and I consider this to be my first real violin.     

[Mike Atkins]

Just now, MikeC said:

Thanks!  I guess you could technically call this my third build.  But the first was way back around 1980 and was not good, then a year or so later I put together a partially pre-carved kit so it was just ok.    Fast forward three or four decades and I consider this to be my first real violin.     

Indeed! My next violin will be my first too! ha! The things I learned from the sort-of-first disaster was really invaluable though.

[MikeC]

22 minutes ago, Mike Atkins said:

Indeed! My next violin will be my first too! ha! The things I learned from the sort-of-first disaster was really invaluable though.

Have you seen any of Davide Sora's videos on youtube?  I highly recommend them.   I learned a lot watching those and from hanging around here on MN.   

[Mike Atkins]

3 minutes ago, MikeC said:

Have you seen any of Davide Sora's videos on youtube?  I highly recommend them.   I learned a lot watching those and from hanging around here on MN.   

Yes, I've watched them over and over. His work is impeccable and his careful attention to every detail drives me to do better. And here on Maestronet from what little I've interacted with him, he's also a humble guy who's more than willing to share is experience. Davide is first class!

[MikeC]

Attempting to layout the position of my F holes using the old Cremona system.   Lower hole center is where the golden section intersects the triangle which is one third the pin length.  Upper hole centers is a radius of the hypotenuse of 1/4 the triangle height and positioned in from the C bout sides radius 1/4 the triangle height.   Compass points on the C bout edges can either be from a radius of the hypotenuse to 1/4 height or from half the base length, there's not much difference either way.    Is that confusing enough?  heh.  I made a few mistakes and restarts along the way.  

 

 

[MikeC]

.

Looks like my images didn't load the first time so here they are.  

[MikeC]

working on contours.  It's still a bit asymmetrical especially in the lower bout but getting close.  

[Andreas Preuss]

On 9/13/2021 at 7:05 AM, MikeC said:

Attempting to layout the position of my F holes using the old Cremona system.   Lower hole center is where the golden section intersects the triangle which is one third the pin length.  Upper hole centers is a radius of the hypotenuse of 1/4 the triangle height and positioned in from the C bout sides radius 1/4 the triangle height.   Compass points on the C bout edges can either be from a radius of the hypotenuse to 1/4 height or from half the base length, there's not much difference either way.    Is that confusing enough?  heh.  I made a few mistakes and restarts along the way.  

 

 

In my view this is the Stradivari system. The difference to the original Cremona system is that he works from the outside to the inside. This has the advantage that if the outline gets distorted, what was usually the case withbthe baroque construction method, the f hole on the opposite side could be adjusted to the eye as sitting in the right place. (A sort of clever cheating)

Only working like this the distance from lower f hole lobe to the c bout border is, within working precision, the same. DG did not use this system and therefore the distance to the c bout border shows bigger difference left and right. 
(just my interpretation from measuring f hole positions on quite a number of full size photographs)

Accordingly you find on Strads that the bass side f hole sits in the right position on an overall geometric scheme and on the treble side it is always as much off as the distorted ribs. (Not very much though, but it made me scratching my head until I found Strads clever way of cheating) 

Addition: 

in my interpretation I found a way how to connect the center points of both lobes, so it looks different from your drawing. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Andreas Preuss
Addition

[MikeC]

19 minutes ago, Andreas Preuss said:

In my view this is the Stradivari system. The difference to the original Cremona system is that he works from the outside to the inside. This has the advantage that if the outline gets distorted, what was usually the case withbthe baroque construction method, the f hole on the opposite side could be adjusted to the eye as sitting in the right place. (A sort of clever cheating)

Only working like this the distance from lower f hole lobe to the c bout border is, within working precision, the same. DG did not use this system and therefore the distance to the c bout border shows bigger difference left and right. 
(just my interpretation from measuring f hole positions on quite a number of full size photographs)

Accordingly you find on Strads that the bass side f hole sits in the right position on an overall geometric scheme and on the treble side it is always as much off as the distorted ribs. (Not very much though, but it made me scratching my head until I found Strads clever way of cheating) 

Hi Andreas thanks for your comments.  I have a couple questions.   When you say the difference to the original Cremona system is that he works from the outside to the inside.   What is the alternative?  What is the 'original Cremona system'?

You say DG did it differently do you have any idea of his method? 

my outline is a little bit distorted that's why I had to scrap my first drawing and start over.  Marking the center line more carefully but still the center points for the F holes are off slightly one side vs the other side.  I may have to cheat a little bit Strad style.    

[Andreas Preuss]

9 hours ago, MikeC said:

working on contours.  It's still a bit asymmetrical especially in the lower bout but getting close.  

I really do wonder if symmetry is necessary. Especially if we think of the asymmetric string load and the asymmetric arrangement of bass bar and sound post.