Beginning violin making

[mendel]

Hi everyone 

 

I reacntly got started with violin making and I'm a bit confused how I'm supposed to get the arching. I am making the strad titan, but I'm not sure if I can copy the arching from a strad poster because it is worn out is it a problem to use the strad poster arching? or do I need curate cycloid arching? And if anyone has a file if you can please share I would really appreciate it!

 

One more question if you look at the picture of my ribs you will see that they are not completely 90°. Is that a huge problem? And what do you think of my ribs in general? 

Edited January 4 by mendel

[mendel]

?

 

[Riccardo964]

On 1/3/2026 at 11:50 PM, mendel said:

curate cycloid arching

curate your cycloid

[Shunyata]

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.

[Brian in Texas]

Hey! I'm another newbie, having recently finished my first violin. 

I'd avoid copying the arching on the Strad poster perfectly. There will be distortions from centuries of tension and wood movement. Instead I'd plot out the average arching symmetrically on both sides.

Welcome to the madhouse.

[mendel]

On 1/8/2026 at 10:20 AM, Shunyata said:

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.

Thanks. would you know any online files that I can get arching for the strad titan?

[mendel]

On 1/9/2026 at 9:14 AM, Brian in Texas said:

Hey! I'm another newbie, having recently finished my first violin. 

I'd avoid copying the arching on the Strad poster perfectly. There will be distortions from centuries of tension and wood movement. Instead I'd plot out the average arching symmetrically on both sides.

Welcome to the madhouse.

Hey thanks. Btw I saw your YouTube video on it, looks great you're definitely one of the people who inspired me to actually start building.

[mendel]

On 1/8/2026 at 10:20 AM, Shunyata said:

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.

What exactly do you mean too pointy?

[Shunyata]

16 hours ago, mendel said:

Thanks. would you know any online files that I can get arching for the strad titan?

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

[violinsRus]

16 hours ago, mendel said:

What exactly do you mean too pointy?

The shape of the corner blocks and rib joints will result in corners that are long like this, or more. I assume that's what was meant. 

[Shunyata]

16 hours ago, mendel said:

What exactly do you mean too pointy?

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.  :-)

[mendel]

On 1/11/2026 at 10:57 AM, violinsRus said:

The shape of the corner blocks and rib joints will result in corners that are long like this, or more. I assume that's what was meant. 

Is there a way to fix it now?

[Brian in Texas]

On 1/10/2026 at 5:15 PM, mendel said:

Hey thanks. Btw I saw your YouTube video on it, looks great you're definitely one of the people who inspired me to actually start building.

Oh, that's cool! Glad that my madness could inspire others. 

[mendel]

On 1/11/2026 at 10:58 AM, Shunyata said:

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.  :-)

How can I fix this before it's too late?

[HoGo]

You'd need to remove the upper and lower ribs from the corner blocks, reshape and reglue. Centerbouts may work OK for you. 

You can use damp towel and bending iron to produce steam that will release the glue (did you use hide glue?).

I'd make at leas tracing of whole back (including overhang) of the violin shape you intend to make, place the assembly on the drawing and check the points against that. The blocks with ribs should end 2mm or so within the corners and lay 2.5mm inside from outside edges.

You can lay your current ribs on paper and trac it with washer that will keep pencil 2.5mm from ribs (mark spot where you want to trim the outer rib) and you'll see how long your corners will be when you make back on it.

There are several tutorials online that show how to lay out the cornerblocks properly.

[mendel]

Hi,ty is there no way to fix this without taking the ribs off? I only saw your message after I already trimmed all the corners what should I do? 

[HoGo]

First off, check the ribs against real violin outline to see what needs to be done or trace them with washer on a piece of paper and compare to real violin outline. Without this we are shooting in dark. You may be able to get it to OK looking shape just by removing upper and lower bout ribs from cornerblocks and reshape blocks and glue back. It's not hard to do but you need to know exactly where you want material removed and how much.

 

[MikeC]

Hi Mendel,  I wouldn't worry too much about the pointy corners if this is your first build.  You have the Titian poster right?  So on your next build, copy the corner blocs from the CT scan on the poster.   The shape of the corner blocks is what makes the corners.  Blocks too long = corners too long.  Make mistakes on the first one, correct them on the second build.

Make templates from the poster from the back plate CT scan since it will be less distorted.  Use half templates.  Well that's what I do anyway.  I'm a beginner too, not an expert, so just my suggestions.   

[nathan slobodkin]

On 1/10/2026 at 6:18 PM, mendel said:

What exactly do you mean too pointy?

There is a tendency for beginners to make the rib corners too long. Just a few tenths of a mm on the outside curves of the block pushes the point where the curves meet several mm further out. If you draw the actual plate corner the way you want it to look and then use a divider or some kind of spacer to draw a line the width of your overhang plus the thickness of your ribs inside that, then you will be close to the correct shape of the block. Nobody sees the shape of the ribs. It is the shape of the plate corner that matters. If the rib corner is slightly too short you can still make the plate corner the shape you want and the discrepancy will be a minor fault. If the ribs are too long it is much more of a problem.

[FiddleMkr]

On 1/23/2026 at 12:24 PM, mendel said:

Hi,ty is there no way to fix this without taking the ribs off? I only saw your message after I already trimmed all the corners what should I do? 

I’m going to add my two cents, really just an addition to what Nathan said, and that is if the shape of the plates cover the rib corners, where they are now, the “too pointy” rib corners won’t really be noticeable. And if you can fudge a little bit on the plates so that they do cover the points and it still looks ok just finish it as is. After all, every fiddle you make will be different, even if you use the same mold and patterns and buy wood from the same vendor, etc. The only reason to redo the corners is if you want the practice; or if you don’t like the way it looks and it bothers you too bad. 

[mendel]

Thank you all for the feedback. Does anyone know about the website makingtheviolin.com and if the templates over there are good and accurate? This is what I'm up to now it's taking forever

[HoGo]

42 minutes ago, mendel said:

Thank you all for the feedback. Does anyone know about the website makingtheviolin.com and if the templates over there are good and accurate?

Some US folks had problems with size as they are done in metric and EU paper formats. You need to check size in your software when you import and print. I used Illustrator to check them and they were good for me.

[mendel]

29 minutes ago, HoGo said:

Some US folks had problems with size as they are done in metric and EU paper formats. You need to check size in your software when you import and print. I used Illustrator to check them and they were good for me.

Ty

 

[Torbjörn Zethelius]

To truly understand archings you have to look inside. The archings were made first on the inside as parabolic curves as they have the ability to reflect the sound back and forth inside the body. A chain held slack between the hands indicates the ideal shape of the curvature. Both plates were made to be the same. The thickness was then 'added' on the outside of the plates. That is the reason why the front and back plates are different on the outside and more similar on the inside.

[Dr. Mark]

3 hours ago, Torbjörn Zethelius said:

The archings were made first on the inside as parabolic curves as they have the ability to reflect the sound back and forth inside the body. A chain held slack between the hands indicates the ideal shape of the curvature.

I'll try to be open-minded.  Tell me how you came up with parabolic curves:

So you're saying that a parabolic curve and a catenary are the same?