First time amateur violin build in progress

[Brian in Texas]

Hello everyone, my name is Brian. Because I'm a lunatic, I'm making my first violin without professional training. Been lurking here for a good while but figured I should start sharing here. Apologies for the wall of text. Skip ahead to the images of my sloppy, horrendous first efforts if you don't care to read my boring life story.

I’m an out of practice cellist, 44 years old. I’ve had a woodworking shop in my back yard for the last 13 years or so. I'm currently working a generic office job, and I've previously worked in music instrument shops.

First was a general music shop with pianos, guitars, rental instruments for schools, etc. The second of these is a specialty fine violin shop, where I also learned basic setup skills like setting soundposts, fitting pegs, that sort of thing. I also learned oil varnishing, which I found to be immensely satisfying work. Hands down, the most satisfying thing I've ever done for a paycheck, and nothing else even remotely comes close! The cello I play is one that I varnished while working there. Regrettably, I ended up leaving that shop because of a toxic work environment. Hardest decision I've ever made, having to walk away from a dream job like that. I left that job in 2002, so I've been out of the professional music industry for a good while, you could say. It was necessary for my sanity, but I miss being part of that world every single day.

Lately I’ve become more enamored with my old dream of making musical instruments. The professional violinmakers I worked with were inspiring guys, and in all my working life so far, there hasn’t been anyone else that I respected professionally more than them. They're the only coworkers I've ever had who made me wish I could be in their position.

When I was in my early twenties, violinmaking seemed like an unattainable skill, the domain of gods. I know the best makers go to school for years to do what they do. I'm under no delusions of being the next Sam Zygmuntowicz. It always kind of felt like I'd never even be good enough to even try, so why bother? Trying to learn this on my own seemed as likely as becoming an amateur brain surgeon.

But things are different now. When I was a young twenty-something kid, I didn't have my own workshop or tools. And even though my life situation (house payment, wife, kid) precludes me from moving across the country and going to school for this, I also don't need anyone else's permission to try! And after 25 years, my desire to do this hasn't subsided, only grown stronger. I figured that I wasn't getting any younger, so it was time to start. I don't have a direct teacher to learn from, so the only way I'm going to improve is being horrible at it at first, and learning from my many mistakes. I owe almost all of my efforts so far to books and YouTube videos, especially those from Davide Sora.

As it currently stands, my back is glued to the rib garland and the top will be glued on next. Then comes cutting the mortise for the neck and scroll. After that, I suppose it'll be time to make a UV cabinet. I'm sure I'll have questions about cutting the neck mortise, and will post them here as the build progresses. I've been posting periodically on YouTube, but I've ended up getting a much more enthusiastic following on TikTok, of all places. Weird.

https://www.youtube.com/@BrianTimmonsTX

https://www.tiktok.com/@thejedilumberjack

Thanks to anyone that bothers to read all this. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome.

[MikeC]

Hi Brian,  it's good to see you here amongst the rest of us lunatics!     Welcome!   

[Brian in Texas]

Hey, Mike! Nice to see a familiar face here.

[Deo Lawson]

Looks good for a first time, better than my first. Pay special attention to the outer areas of the plate and take much extra time in the final surfacing step.. you will be grateful that you did once it is varnished.

[MoonCabinet]

Newbie here too. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks pretty darn good. Read the life story. Hope you stay at it. I'm too old school for tiktok, but excuse me while I go binge some youtube...

[Brian in Texas]

Thank you, Deo! Any particular tips or things I should avoid when doing that part of the surfacing?

[joerobson]

Where are you in Texas?

on we go,

Joe

[Brian in Texas]

6 hours ago, joerobson said:

Where are you in Texas?

on we go,

Joe

Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth.

[Brian in Texas]

On 1/31/2025 at 8:28 PM, MoonCabinet said:

Newbie here too. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks pretty darn good. Read the life story. Hope you stay at it. I'm too old school for tiktok, but excuse me while I go binge some youtube...

Thanks for following along.

[joerobson]

16 hours ago, Brian in Texas said:

Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth.

There is a violin makers group in Texas.

Try contacting Jake Simmons [https://www.jacobsimmonsviolins.com]

on we go,

Joe

 

[Brian in Texas]

1 hour ago, joerobson said:

There is a violin makers group in Texas.

No kidding! I’ll definitely look that up! Thank you so much!

[Garths]

Brian I've been following your content on both TikTok and YouTube and enjoy it a lot. I'm at a similar stage to you (first instrument, working from online tutorials and books). You've done a great job at cataloging your journey!

[Brian in Texas]

Thanks, Garths! My build videos started off pretty straight forward, but somewhere along the way the tone got slightly more unhinged. The first video of mine that blew up on Tiktok (I'll link the YouTube version here for those without the stupid clock app) was this one. People loved the opening line so much that I decided to use it as a reoccurring tagline. As of right now, the analytics on TikTok say that over 154,000 people have watched this. Absolutely bonkers. Not at all what I expected. I was making videos mostly as a way to amuse myself, with the added benefit of documenting my progress.

Now I have people following me on there that say they have no previous knowledge of violinmaking, classical music, playing an instrument, etc. But for whatever reason, they're fascinated and emotionally invested in seeing this build take shape. Violinmaking as popular infotainment, who would've thought? Certainly not me.

 

[Brian in Texas]

On 2/2/2025 at 1:45 PM, joerobson said:

There is a violin makers group in Texas.

Try contacting Jake Simmons [https://www.jacobsimmonsviolins.com]

 

Joe, I tried reaching out to Jacob, to no avail. Do you or anyone else here happen to know if this Texas maker's group has an online presence somewhere? I found "TexasLuthiersAssociation" on Instagram, but the most recent post they had was from 2022. Anyone else here local to the DFW area?

[David Burgess]

Brian, I think you've done a pretty nice job on that video.
Your estimated 100 pounds of downforce on the the top might be more than a wee bit high though, so perhaps that part could be edited?

[Brian in Texas]

Yeah. That’s part of the problem with being a rank noob, having a bunch of facts and figures rattling around in my head, but not being able to keep it all straight. Ha! 

[ChrisBk]

On 2/3/2025 at 3:43 PM, Brian in Texas said:

Thanks, Garths! My build videos started off pretty straight forward, but somewhere along the way the tone got slightly more unhinged. The first video of mine that blew up on Tiktok (I'll link the YouTube version here for those without the stupid clock app) was this one. People loved the opening line so much that I decided to use it as a reoccurring tagline. As of right now, the analytics on TikTok say that over 154,000 people have watched this. Absolutely bonkers. Not at all what I expected. I was making videos mostly as a way to amuse myself, with the added benefit of documenting my progress.

Now I have people following me on there that say they have no previous knowledge of violinmaking, classical music, playing an instrument, etc. But for whatever reason, they're fascinated and emotionally invested in seeing this build take shape. Violinmaking as popular infotainment, who would've thought? Certainly not me.

 

HI Brian, congratulations, and thanks for sharing your adventures! I just found CelloMaking for myself and got addicted (well, 3 months ago already), really inspiring to see others going through similar stages! keep it up, 

all the best 

Chris /Austria

[Brian in Texas]

Chris,

That's awesome to hear! I'm going to finish this violin first, and then a dear friend of mine wants me to make a viola for him. I also have someone that follows me on YouTube asking me for a cello. I play cello myself, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that one pans out. So, I'm working my way up, size-wise! One thing I will NOT be doing is a double bass, though. My shop's just not that big, and I don't want to be messing with anything that size even if I had the room.

[ChrisBk]

Hi Brian, I also watched your stuff on youtube, very well done, congratulations, 

also I love that you share the mistakes that were made- which we all know, are the most helpful for learning- 

so thanks for that and good luck- I am looking forward to new YT content

 

good luck in the workshop

Chris

ps. as for double bass- never say never- it might just so happen that somebody asks and you might just get curious...? at least thats how the cello happened to me 

[Davide Sora]

On 1/31/2025 at 8:32 PM, Brian in Texas said:

 I owe almost all of my efforts so far to books and YouTube videos, especially those from Davide Sora.

Hi Brian, I'm always happy when my videos can help someone passionate about this work. And don't worry too much about not having attended a violin-making school. School teachings alone don't take you very far, self-learning is the basis of our work.

[Brian in Texas]

Davide, thank you for the encouragement! And thank you again for your videos, they're absolutely invaluable. Trying to learn all this on my own is really challenging. Not having a teacher looking over my shoulder, preventing me from making certain mistakes, is a disadvantage in one aspect. But for me, the mistakes are my teacher. I'm having to figure out what I did wrong and try to do better next time.

Chris, thanks for checking out my channel. If I didn't share my mistakes, the videos would only be about half as long!  But I'm learning some valuable repair skills inadvertently because of it, like the patches I had to do along the edge of the spruce plate (seen above in my original post). That damage happened because the purfling pick I used was a touch too wide for the channel and blew out the edge grain. I've since ground it thinner. 

[Brian in Texas]

Here's the most recent progress, trimming the linings from a few days ago. 

Next up will be gluing on the top and then running headlong into the neck joint. Does anyone have words of wisdom for my first time doing a neck set? I've been dreading it, to be honest.

[Shunyata]

For neck set, first watch Davide Sora’s videos… especially the templates he uses to guide orientation.

 I am self taught, but my approach is this.

1. Cut the mortise in the violin body.  I do this before putting the plates on using a fine dozuki saw, using the neck tenon to scribe the cuts.  Cut inside the scribe and use a wide chisel or knife to gradually widen the mortise until the neck tenon just fits, snugly.

2. Glue the plates on and cut out the notch in the top plate and shape so the neck tenon just fits.

3. Shape the flat of the mortise until the fingerboard points in a straight line to the end pin.  See how Davide does this.

4. Shape the flat of the mortise until the fingerboard projection heights is right.  I use a large rubber band to hold the bridge in the proper location and check against this.  See what Davide does.

5. Shave the button face of the neck tenon and adjust width of mortise to get overstand height right and and even overstand on both treble and base side.

6. Fine tune all prior steps and chalk fit for perfect contact surfaces.  See what Davide does.

7. Check it all again, at least three times.  Removing the neck and reseating each time.

8.  See Davide’s gluing approach… it works flawlessly. 

[Brian in Texas]

Shunyata, Thanks for the thorough response! I've seen others cut the neck mortise after the corpus is fully assembled. What's the advantage to cutting the mortise before the front plate is glued in place? Easier to scribe on the neck block versus the irregular surface of the front?

[Shunyata]

Again, I am self-taught… 

If you cut the mortise after gluing the plates, you can’t use a saw.  A saw allows a fast, accurate first pass at roughing out the mortise.

I use locating pins for my plates, so I can still be sure that I am locating the mortise properly.