Brian Timmons's Bench

[Brian in Texas]

1 hour ago, Matthew_Graesch said:

I recently got a very large piece of willow that will be used for the next 20 years of corner and end blocks, plus hopefully a viola or small cello.

What a lucky score!

And yeah, so far the willow is cool. Great tap tone, but that's about as much as I can tell about it at this point.

[Brian in Texas]

The latest news from my shop, for those who prefer my long-winded drivel in video rather than the written word.

 

[Sean Couch]

Hey Brian, I just wanted to tell you that I also found a luthier that lives somewhat close to my house. He is only about 20 minutes from my violin teacher and she recommended him to me to re-hair my bow. She called him the “bow guy” lol, but he not only makes bows, but also violins, double bass, mandolins, guitars, etc., not to mention his awesome nontraditional scroll carvings. He also plays the fiddle in a band, so he can play and make.

I stopped by his shop yesterday after my violin lesson and had a great time talking with him. Super nice guy and easy to talk to. We didn’t talk tons about making stringed instruments, more or less just general chit chat, but he did say he is willing to help me. He really perked my ears when he said he would show me how to French polish a violin. 

It is amazing that there are so many folks out there making stringed instruments and doing beautiful work, but we don’t even know they are there until someone else tells us about them. 

 

[Brian in Texas]

16 minutes ago, Sean Couch said:

It is amazing that there are so many folks out there making stringed instruments and doing beautiful work, but we don’t even know they are there until someone else tells us about them. 

 

Lucky break for you, too!

[Sean Couch]

Right, it should be fun. I think he plays weekly at one of venues near him. I may need to roll out there one night and watch the performance.

It makes me wonder… who else is out there that I don’t know about? I bet I would be surprised at how many people, tinker with it like me, let alone all those that are actual real luthiers.

[Will Turner]

Without dropping names, I'd checked with a few close to me.   While willing to talk, there's too much time in their schedules to actually teach me.   I appreciate the advice that is willing to be provided, but I also get the sense that I cannot simply drop by for each step in my making.

While not the same benefit you are receiving with Ivan being so close, I do appreciate the feedback I get from you and the others here on Maestronet.

An interesting thing I've learned about the more open C bouts of Guarneri's designs.   I can bend the purfling by hand without it snapping in the more gentle curves without the use of a bending iron.   I wonder if Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu actually used that as a method of increasing the speed of making?  In any case, when i have to bend the purfling for a Strad style corner, I have to use a bending iron or it will break.   However, I've had problems with the purfling "separating" at the ends, perhaps it's too cheep a purfling?

I'm cleaning up the back plate, but the feedback from you on watching for straight runs on the purfling really helped.   You can now see the gentle curve throughout at the top and bottoms of the plate.

I do have some frustration on keeping the last 2mm clean (7x10 along the purfling but back 2mm from the exact edge).   I'll run a gouge along that and then use a scraper, but the areas of figure always seem to not be smooth.   It's like the scraper will remove more of the wood next to the figure and so it has a wavy appearance.   Also even with a glue size, it's easy to chip the edges.    

Do you or Ivan have suggestions there?

 

[Brian in Texas]

1 hour ago, Will Turner said:

Do you or Ivan have suggestions there?

 

Ivan showed me this yesterday, actually. There’s a dremel bit that he fixed a handle onto, this is what he uses to clean his channels with. I don’t know exactly which bit.

But as he pointed out to me, scrapers only follow the bumps that are already there. It’s very hard to sculpt with a scraper.

[Will Turner]

Thank you, that's fantastic advice.   I'll look at my local hardware stores assortment of dremel bits, I'm sure I'll find the match.

[Brian in Texas]

Nothing terribly exciting last night, just making some incremental progress in the shop splitting some spruce tops and making some jigs for glue-ups. Next time we'll be hot bending some wood!

Like my last video, there's probably not a whole lot here that the MaestroNet crowd doesn't already know about (in terms of woodworking know-how), but my videos are more for a general audience that doesn't have luthiery experience. Although I've come across a different way of clamping c-bouts that I mention here. Should be a bit more solid than what I had been doing.

 

[Sean Couch]

On 10/11/2025 at 2:32 PM, Will Turner said:

…In any case, when i have to bend the purfling for a Strad style corner, I have to use a bending iron or it will break.   However, I've had problems with the purfling "separating" at the ends, perhaps it's too cheep a purfling?…

I had the ends of my purfling separate on #2. Turning down the heat on the bending iron and using very little water solved the issue for me. I don’t have a temperature controlled bending iron so I plugged it in to one of my variacs to regulate the heat.

I don’t use a bending strap when working with the purfling. I use my fingers and a little scrap of wood if I need a tighter bend and my fingers are getting burnt. I also don’t bend the entire purfling strip, just the ends, and only enough to get them to fit the contour without cracking.

I think it was in one of Peter Westerlund’s videos where he shows how he makes his purfling. When gluing up the purfling, he has pre shaped “sticks” that he uses to hold the purfling together while the glue dries. The sticks also shape the purfling with one end being curved. Using his method, no bending iron is needed. If I ever get into making my own purfling, that is the method I will use.

[Brian in Texas]

As far as the clamping method with the u-bolts goes, I can see the advantage of it, although I also wonder if it's overly complicated compared to a more traditional approach.

[Brian in Texas]

After having tried this method, I'm not exactly a convert. It took a fair amount of fiddling around with it to get it right, hand tightening bolts (and not losing them), just more trouble than it's worth to be honest. I'll likely use a more traditional approach on my next build.

[Brian in Texas]

Shop progress: This weekend I glued the lower bouts of the viola in place. There are very slight gaps approaching the corner blocks, but I can live with it. I got the upper bouts bent last night and will be gluing them tonight. For the most part, willow bends beautifully and I look forward to using it again.

Yesterday was also the first time in who knows how many years that I picked up my cello and gave it a serious go. Maybe I should pick something easier than this caprice by Dall'Abaco to whip myself back into shape. But I'm completely enamored with how it sounds, stately and regal sounding in C minor, the most goth key signature in existence. I'm not going to share my practicing here just yet, but here's what this caprice is supposed to sound like.

My left forearm was screaming "what are you doing to me?!" while practicing. I need to practice lots of scales and arpeggios until I can play comfortably again. It's always hard getting back on the wagon. Back in my college days I was playing 3-4 hours a day easily. Now my forearms are burning after 5 minutes.

My cello needs new strings, I'm playing on Obligatos that are easily pushing 10 years old. They sound not too terrible, all things considered. But they are nevertheless worn out and sluggish to respond. I'm thinking a Spirocore / Larsen combo for my next setup so that I can have a more immediate, punchy response and tone. But holy hell, good cello strings are expensive! Well past the $300 mark for a new set. Also need my bow rehaired, but that's not too pricey, at least.

[Matthew_Graesch]

On 10/11/2025 at 1:32 PM, Will Turner said:

 

An interesting thing I've learned about the more open C bouts of Guarneri's designs.   I can bend the purfling by hand without it snapping in the more gentle curves without the use of a bending iron.   I wonder if Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu actually used that as a method of increasing the speed of making?  In any case, when i have to bend the purfling for a Strad style corner, I have to use a bending iron or it will break.   However, I've had problems with the purfling "separating" at the ends, perhaps it's too cheep a purfling?

 

I have always done the purfling on Guarneri models without heat because the bend radius is not too steep for a many types of purfling.  Some types won't handle it and some will.  Just need to experiment.  I like not using heat when possible given that my bending iron has only one temp.....HOT....and I end up overheating sometimes.

[Jim Bress]

I use a pasta roller to thin the purfling for easier insertion. It swells back up when glue is applied. Also the pasta roller puts a moderate curve in the purfling. 

[Brian in Texas]

2 hours ago, Jim Bress said:

I use a pasta roller to thin the purfling for easier insertion. It swells back up when glue is applied. Also the pasta roller puts a moderate curve in the purfling. 

Now that's a trick I hadn't heard of. Wacky, but it makes sense!

[Jim Bress]

Copied from an old thread. These things are great and the roller distance is adjustable.

[Will Turner]

8 hours ago, Jim Bress said:

I use a pasta roller to thin the purfling for easier insertion. It swells back up when glue is applied. Also the pasta roller puts a moderate curve in the purfling. 

Wow, never would have thought of this.   So cool the information to be had here at Maestronet.

[Will Turner]

On 10/17/2025 at 12:23 PM, Brian in Texas said:

After having tried this method, I'm not exactly a convert. It took a fair amount of fiddling around with it to get it right, hand tightening bolts (and not losing them), just more trouble than it's worth to be honest. I'll likely use a more traditional approach on my next build.

I found some nice speed nuts (or whatever the term would be) where it's a knurled knob that is easy to twist with the fingers and no wrenches are required.    Pretty cheap from Amazon and other online retailers.   Just order for the thread size needed (1/4-20 for example below).

 

 

[Davide Sora]

20 hours ago, Jim Bress said:

I use a pasta roller to thin the purfling for easier insertion. It swells back up when glue is applied. Also the pasta roller puts a moderate curve in the purfling. 

 

18 hours ago, Brian in Texas said:

Now that's a trick I hadn't heard of. Wacky, but it makes sense!

 

12 hours ago, Will Turner said:

Wow, never would have thought of this.   So cool the information to be had here at Maestronet.

I prefer not to do this because if the channel is too narrow, when the purfling expands, it could cause cracks, especially in spruce endgrain areas, and in the worst-case scenario. Moreover, if the channel isn't perfect, when the purfling expands, it will adapt to all the imperfections, potentially resulting in wavy lines. This doesn't necessarily mean anything will happen, but the risk is there. The purfling must be narrower than the channel and be able to slide in and out freely without getting stuck. The expansion caused by the glue must not cause excessive pressure against the channel walls. I need purflings one-tenth narrower than the channel with the materials I use.

[Jim Bress]

36 minutes ago, Davide Sora said:

 

 

I prefer not to do this because if the channel is too narrow, when the purfling expands, it could cause cracks, especially in spruce endgrain areas, and in the worst-case scenario. Moreover, if the channel isn't perfect, when the purfling expands, it will adapt to all the imperfections, potentially resulting in wavy lines. This doesn't necessarily mean anything will happen, but the risk is there. The purfling must be narrower than the channel and be able to slide in and out freely without getting stuck. The expansion caused by the glue must not cause excessive pressure against the channel walls. I need purflings one-tenth narrower than the channel with the materials I use.

I agree, the purfling should be the proper thickness (unsqueezed) to fit in the purfling channel. Squeezing the purfling a bit helps the purfling go into the channel with the hot hide glue easier and less forced. It works for me, as your methods clearly work well for you.

[Davide Sora]

1 hour ago, Jim Bress said:

I agree, the purfling should be the proper thickness (unsqueezed) to fit in the purfling channel. Squeezing the purfling a bit helps the purfling go into the channel with the hot hide glue easier and less forced. It works for me, as your methods clearly work well for you.

Yep, I had no doubt it would work for you. Any method can yield good results if used correctly and with awareness of potential problems, so you can prevent them. The type of wood used for the purfling is also important to consider, with its varying degrees of glue absorption and subsequent expansion and contraction once the glue has hardened.

 

[Brian in Texas]

@Will Turner @Jim Bress @Davide Sora @Matthew_GraeschThank you for weighing in.

Last night I leveled the ribs with a small plane and my flat sanding board. I noticed after the fact that some of my ribs are not a dead 90 degrees to the mold and are kind of all over the place. I'm not sure if this means I need to have a complete do-over of the ribs or not. I have no idea how that happened, but it seems pretty bad to me. 

[Davide Sora]

12 minutes ago, Brian in Texas said:

@Will Turner @Jim Bress @Davide Sora @Matthew_GraeschThank you for weighing in.

Last night I leveled the ribs with a small plane and my flat sanding board. I noticed after the fact that some of my ribs are not a dead 90 degrees to the mold and are kind of all over the place. I'm not sure if this means I need to have a complete do-over of the ribs or not. I have no idea how that happened, but it seems pretty bad to me. 

These imperfections are not uncommon and sometimes even extreme in antique instruments, even valuable ones. They can add a unique, artistic touch to your outlines; it's up to you to decide whether or not they're acceptable. For me, it wouldn't be, but it's only an aesthetic issue; from a functional standpoint, I see no limitations. 

[Brian in Texas]

42 minutes ago, Davide Sora said:

These imperfections are not uncommon and sometimes even extreme in antique instruments, even valuable ones. They can add a unique, artistic touch to your outlines; it's up to you to decide whether or not they're acceptable. For me, it wouldn't be, but it's only an aesthetic issue; from a functional standpoint, I see no limitations. 

Thank you, that's very reassuring.