From Trees to Tunes

Making the Purfling

thomas — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:22:17 +0000

I left off last week having started the channels for the purfling. Upon review I was told they weren’t deep enough and so I spent much of this week going over my work. Fractions of a millimeter can make a big difference in violinmaking. Also last week, Mr. Vartanian asked me not to cut the corners. He cut two for me and then wanted me to try and copy his examples. And try I did. Each time I showed him what I thought was a good tracing he would tell me was either two long, short, fat, or pointed to the wrong spot. Mr. Vartanian let me borrow an old book of his with pictures of corners done by Antonio Stradivarius. While mine probably won’t look like those, I did learn that all of his points or “bee-stings” point to 2/3 down the corner edge. Nevertheless, I was allowed to cut the corners on the back and will come back to those on the top.

Mr. Vartanian's Corner

Tracing a Corner

Cutting out a Corner on the Back

To make purfling, very thin pieces of wood are used. The white center is about 0.7mm thick while the black edges are about 0.3mm! I used a block of poplar wood for the white center and Mr. Belote helped me cut two strips about 1mm thick with the band saw. To take it down to the right thickness, a plane is used very sparingly and then a scraper makes the sides smooth.

Poplar for the Purfling

Adjusting the Thickness

Measuring the Thickness

It’s pretty amazing how small of a shaving a plane can take if it is very sharp. I should also point out that wood this thin is very fragile. I knew this ahead of time but by accident, my hand brushed against a piece while it was still clamped to the bench. Even though I barely touched it and it barely moved, I cracked the first pieces I was working on. Since the crack wasn’t too big, I cut off that side and used the rest for the c-bout purfling but a mental note was made on my part.

Wood Split

Mr. Vartanian had some black wood stock stored away that he let me use but I forgot to ask what wood it is exactly. I know it can be ebony but it may be another wood. To help speed things along and just to show me, Mr. Vartanian glued my purfling pieces together. The really cool thing about his process is that because the wood is so thin, as glue is applied it makes the wood malleable and so it can be clamped into various shapes. The clamps of course match the same curves of the violin.

C-Bout Purfling Clamp

Purfling Against Top

All this may seem a little complicated but this process produces shaped wood and can be cut into strips using planes and knives.

Cutting Purfling Strips

Cutting the C-Bout Purfling

This protective and decorative part of the violin now has to be glued into the channel with special attention paid to the corners if I can get the last two just right…

Cutting the Purfling Channel

thomas — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:04:14 +0000

Violinmaking is a lot of fun for me but it is also a lot of tedious work. This week (and the next few to follow) covers a process that takes a lot of patience and can really mark the difference between a craftsman and an amateur maker. I’ve moved on to inlaying the purfling which requires very small cuts, chisels and fractions of millimeters to make. Purfling is best described as the black lines that outline the instrument. On most instruments they are inlayed and they act as both decorative and protect against cracks that form on the edge. This week I started cutting the channel to put the purfling into and I ran into a lot of difficulties again working with maple to spruce.

First, let me refresh where I was at the end of last week. The plates were glued together and there were very slight differences in the pattern that I evened out with a file.

Plates Glued to Make Semetrical

Corner Differences

After everything looked even and square, the plates were separated and Mr. Vartanian had me sand down the edge very flat so I could trace the purfling channel.

Flattening the Edge

Flat Edge

I then used a purfling tool which you can find pictured in the Tools section to trace the channel a certain distance in from the squared off edge. Any imperfections in the edge are displayed in the channel and may have to be fixed later on. Also, if the blades aren’t perpendicular or the tool isn’t pressed down enough to make a line, it is very difficult to go back and trace.

Tracing the Purfling Channel

Once the channel was traced, Mr. Belote let me use a sharp knife and a handmade chisel to cut the channel out. The knife is used to cut deeper into the traced line and make it easier to chisel out the wood.

Knife and Chisel Used

Closeup of Chisel

Thomas Cutting the Channel

As I mentioned earlier this is very tedious work. Even with the knife cuts, the wood doesn’t always come out of the grove very cleanly. In order for the purfling to lie nicely, the channel should be about 2.5mm deep and flat on the bottom. I finished the back and found out I was at most 2mm deep in spots and much shallower in most sections.

Channel cut on Back

I am also leaving the corners alone at this point. The purfling tool doesn’t help bring the channel to a point as is standard on most violins. The point where purfling pieces meet is called a bee-sting usually. In great violins this is very clean, follows very smooth lines, and is done all by hand and eye. Mr. Vartanian worked on two corners for me that I will be copying and cleaning. When looking at the craftsmanship of a violin, how much attention a maker puts into the corner and how well it’s done truly says a lot about their skill and probably the craftsmanship on the rest of the instrument. While this isn’t a guarantee it is a good place to start and will be interesting to see how mine end up.

Closeup of Corner

As I started working on the top a lot of problems started happening again. The direction of the grain causes bumps for the knife and even tracing the channel is difficult because the tool can get caught in a straight line and not curve around nicely. The other difficulty is how easy it is to split the grain and cause chips if one is not careful. For as slow as I went, it is not second nature to know how the knife is cutting the grove and a few chips occurred.

Top Grain Chipped Off

Chipped Grain

The first of these and a few others will disappear as I do more work but the second and a corner was glued just in case.

Chip Glued

Channels Cut on Both Plates

So my next task is going back over all the work I did which is what makes this part so frustrating in a way. But I am still having fun and for those of you who never know what those lines were on your instrument, I hope you now appreciate how they got there.

Cutting the Edge

thomas — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:18:56 +0000

I’ve decided to not hurt the corners anymore! You may remember three updates ago I split a corner of the back. Well, working on the top this past week, I cut a corner completely off by accident. I’ve mentioned before how different it is to deal with spruce compared to maple. Since the grain of spruce runs vertically, it is possible to catch that grain and in my case, go straight down it. Of course, it is possible to fix small mistakes like this but this goes to show how difficult it is to produce a violin.

When I worked on the back plate, I used files to bring the edge down where the bandsaw could only rough out. The same process is used for the top but Mr. Vartanian wanted me to be very exact in the corners and smoothly take out small humps with a knife. The pin/pencil line is very easy to see and it makes cutting and filing more exact. As I was cutting one of the corners, the knife caught a rough spot, I was pushing in the wrong direction and the knife made a clean cut.

Cutting the Edge with a Knife

Cutting Corners

Upper Left Corner Cut

Upon showing this to Mr. Vartanian and Mr. Belote they showed me that I was cutting and not slicing the wood. Slicing the wood involves dragging the blade while pulling it forward. I also needed to smooth the wood in the corners more with a file before using the knife. This way there would be fewer ridges that could catch the blade. I let Mr. Vartanian help me fix the corner by using a clamp I was unfamiliar with to glue it back on.

Corner Clamp

Corner Glued Back On

Corner Fixed

Due to the holiday I had less time to work and the corner delay only left me time to continue taking the edge down. When the top was closer (and all the corners nice and intact) I glued it very lightly to the back using only a few drops of hide glue. This is done to make sure both plates are completely symmetrical. Any differences in the edge I will be filing and slicing down before more precisely completing the arching and inlaying the purfling.

Gluing the Plates Together

Closeup of Plates Glued.

Arching the Top

thomas — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:39:42 +0000

I mentioned in earlier updates that I would be using templates for the arching. Mr. Vartanian has always used his eyes and he has started showing me angles and ways to look at the arch to make it even and smooth. He also let me borrow a violin he was working on to base my arching.

Arching the Back

I had to pay special attention to the corners to make sure they are smooth and after checking with him one morning he said I was at a good stopping point and I could move on to the top. You can see in the bottom left of the second picture here one of the spots that is going to be thin from the drill press I used flattening the edge.

No Arching Line on the Corner

Leaving the Back

Moving onto the top, Mr. Vartanian cut out my pattern since I’m personally a little nervous about doing something like this on the bandsaw. He is very efficient and cut right up to the line of the pattern. He also said half jokingly half seriously I should keep the extra wood incase I mess up. I put it aside just in case.

Cutting Out the Top

Backup Wood

The Top

Tracing of the Top

I started to compare the thickness of the back to the top just to see how much wood I’m actually going to have to take off. It’s pretty amazing how much extra is needed to create something so thin. I started to use Mr. Belote’s violin cradle to rough the arching of the top and Mr. Vartanian gave me another option for work space similar to his table I used for the back. We nailed two pieces of leather into a bench to brace the plate up against. It was very easy to work with and adjust angles without having the plate clamped down.

Comparing the Thickness

Arching the Top

Leather to Brace the Plate

Leather Nailed Down

Working with spruce is very different from maple. The grain of spruce runs vertically so it has a tendency to split. This is most difficult in the C-bout area. To counter the splitting there, Mr. Vartanian told me to come at the splitting wood from two directions. It is also much easier to cut spruce than maple so I’m finding that I can brace the plate with my hand and work with it against the leather. With a rough 5mm line I started gouging out a rough arch.

Rough Line for Thickness

Wood Splitting

Gouging the C Bout

Rough Arch All Around

Closeup of Rough Gouging

Sometimes wood will have little impurities in it that can’t be seen till it’s cut into. This is common to see in the process of making and sometimes in the final product if it doesn’t get cut away. I found a little one in my top that started to disappear after I cut away more wood.

Impurity in the Top

Since I left the top a little thick when it was being glued together we took it down flat again with a plane taking off about another millimeter. I then went to rough the arching more now using finger planes instead of the gouge to smooth things out.

Flattening the Top

Rough Arch with Finger Planes

Before taking the plate to the drill press, Mr. Vartanian wanted me to take the edge down to 5mm more exactly to help counter messing up and getting too thin an edge at any spots. This I did with a plane as well. Here’s how the thickness is comparing after the edge work.

Thomas Planing the Edge

Roughing the Edge of the Top

Comparing Thickness Front and Back

Before taking the top to the drill press Mr. Vartanian noticed I’ve been working rather slowly and he showed me some ways to more efficiently take wood off. He said it usually takes him about a day to get a nice rough arch for the top. We set up the drill press and I focused more on keeping a constant pressure on the top. I was successful in cutting an even edge this time!

Edge Taken Down with Drillpress

Rough Corner Close Up

Rough Edge

Going back with small planes I took the edge down smooth and left it for the holiday!

Smoother Arching by Mr. Vartanian

Smooth Corner Closeup

Smooth Edge

Arching the Back

thomas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:37:18 +0000

Due to a family emergency this past week, most of my time was spent away from the work bench. The time I did spend, I was able to continue the arching of the back and started bringing down the edge of the arching to the 4.5mm the drill press was set to. This is most difficult to do in the c-bouts because of angles and the grain of the wood running against the direction of the tool. Mr. Vartanian let me use his work space which has a sturdy table that pulls out and he allowed me to clamp the plate to it to work.

The Table

The Table Out

The Plate Clamped

This made the gauge work much easier and I was able to bring the edge down flush with the flat edge already present. Eventually this will allow me to make a channel for the purfling to be inlaid which I’m looking forward to.

Rough Edge

Smooth Edge

Here’s some short news on the top from last week. After the pin tracing was complete Mr. Vartanian’s trick is to trace that line with a pencil. This will create a ledge of lead that will be very easy to see when cutting out the pattern on the band saw. Once both plates are cut I’ll be gluing them lightly together to adjust and make sure they are identical at every angle.

The Top Plate, Traced

I’m sorry for the short update but I promise much more next week. Till then, please send me your questions and comments. I’m looking for a lot of feedback about this site and will gladly entertain anything related to string instruments. I will be happy to answer your questions privately or publicly through the site. Looking forward to hearing from you!

The New Template

thomas — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:30:28 +0000

This has been an eventful week. Due to some things that I should have fixed earlier on, I’ve put myself behind a little and had to change my plans some as well. I continued roughing the arching down and found I was more successful going ahead and using a finger plane than the gouge from the previous week.

Back Plate with Finger Plane

Arching on the Back

Back Plate Arching

Now that my edge was thinner I started taking it down again to the pencil line with files and using my original template as a guide. At one point I was checking a few things with Mr. Belote and he went ahead and took the button down at the top of the plate as well.

Filing Down the Shape

End Button

At this point I decided that there were too many imperfections in my template and I had gone a little too narrow in the C-bout that I could no longer use it on the side I was working. An untraditional move, Mr. Belote helped me make a new template. We used a thick paper instead of the poster board and to save time, Mr. Belote cut out the template for me. When cutting out the pattern, you have to do it in one cut because lifting will cause inconsistencies in the pattern which I didn’t want to deal with again.

Tracing the New Template

Cutting the New Template

Cutting the Template View 2

The New Template

The reason I had to cut a new template was to trace it onto the other side. Since my pattern was based on the template from Henry Strobel’s book, I needed something new to make the side symmetrical. I want to take this time to apologize to Henry Strobel. The information in his book is quite helpful and in the right hands can produce an amazing instrument. A few poor decisions on my part led to what I have now and say nothing to the information he provides in his book.

I clamped and traced the pattern on the other side under supervision and started taking down to the line again. Even when the line is mostly gone that isn’t close enough. A fraction of a millimeter can make the entire side look lopsided. It was imperative I get the side down to just the pencil line.

The Pencil Trace

Pencil Line Left

Once I had the pencil line taken away I brought the plate to Mr. Vartanian for inspection. He was approving to say the least, though he could easily tell I had to cut some corners to get to where I was. He told Mr. Belote to help me take down the edge to four and a half millimeters with the drill press using a special circular saw. Mr. Belote took down the bulk of the edge to 5mm as I observed and took pictures. I then took a pass and took it down the rest of the way.

Drill Press Still

Drill Press Moving

Taking Down the Edge

Taking Down the Edge 2

Edge Taken Down

Closeup C Bout

Closeup Edge

Taking Away the Chips

A key to this quick trick is to keep pressure on the plate so that it doesn’t lift up as you slide it under the press. Twice I let up the pressure and the edge is a little thin in those spots. That’s something I’ll just have to live with at this point.

Now that the edge was flat, it made a lot easier to see and measure angles that Mr. Vartanian wanted to check. Most importantly he wanted to adjust the edge of the corners so they pointed a certain way. I started to file these down and then he showed me to take them down with a knife instead. As I took the second corner down the right angle I slipped and heard a crack. I split the wood!

Split Corner

Glued Corner

So, we glued it. In the end, this edge/crack will be rounded off so it’s nothing to worry about; it could have been a lot worse. It’s nice to see instruments made today that look perfect to the naked eye but they too may have had small mistakes like this happen.

A little more time was spent finalize the shape off the new template and other symmetrical measurements and I had to get the new pattern to the top wood. My corners were a little short compared to the template so another untraditional technique/idea was given to me by Mr. Belote. Usually, the template is used to trace the back and the top. Since both of mine are no longer the same as the end product I just clamped and trace the back directly to the top wood. I used a pin to trace the plate which is a trick used by Mr. Vartanian with his template.

Finished Back Shape

Back on Top Wood

Pin Used to Trace Shape

Back Clamped to the Top to Trace

Once the pin imprint is in the wood it can be traced with a pencil making it much easier to cut out and file down. Hopefully this will save me time and catch me up to getting the arching more complete over the next few weeks.

Cutting out the Back Plate

thomas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:45:49 +0000

Just to recap, the front plates have been glued and the seam looked a lot better than when the back was glued.

After planing the underside flat you almost can’t pick out the seam because the grain of the wood goes in the same direction as the seam itself.

Just to recap, the front plates have been glued and the seam looked a lot better than when the back was glued.
After planing the underside flat you almost can’t pick out the seam because the grain of the wood goes in the same direction as the seam itself.

Front Plate Glued

Top Seam

Top Plates Glued Before Planing

Top Seam Planed

To move on to something more interesting, I cut out my pattern! Now these blocks of wood are going to start looking like a violin. First thing first I had to trace my pattern using my template. (Check out where the template came from on my update from 11-12-07). To make sure the template didn’t move and because it was a little bent, I clamped a piece of wood over it.

Tracing the Pattern on the Back

Half ot the Traced Pattern

I flipped the pattern over and did it again all while “fixing” some mistakes from earlier when the pattern was cut out. You may remember the upper bout corner was a little ungraceful upon review so I gave it a little more shape and curve this time round. I also didn’t like the shape I cut for the button on the back plate so I used a quarter (thank you Mr. Belote) to trace that and take it down as I go. (Sorry if the pencil lines are hard to see!)

The Traced Pattern

The Traced Back Pattern Second View

You may also notice that the pattern isn’t centered on the wood. After talking it over with a few people we decided that there are a few “impurities” if you will in the wood and by shifting it down I was able to avoid them in my pattern.

After a quick trip to the band saw, BAM! A violin looking plate appears.

The Back Cut Out (Top)

The Back From Below

Of course I still gave myself some room in places like the button and corners but the plate is pretty much cut down to the line. I started to file down the edges since they are rough from the machine and to get a final shape that will hopefully match my original pattern or be a new one based on human error! Here’s a picture of that now more graceful corner as well that I had to fix.

Filing the Edge

Files and the Corner

Files & Corner View 2

After filing for a while I seemed to be hurting the process more that helping it. I wasn’t filing flat on the edge because they were so thick. Millimeters are miles in the violin making world. So to make my life easier I started to rough out the arching with a gouge and take down edge to about five millimeters (where the line is on the pictures). This way when I go back to filing there is less of an area to shift around on and I can carve a shape closer to what I’ll want. To brace the plate I clamped it in a cradle which I borrowed from Mr. Belote and then I went to town taking out a lot of wood.

Back in Cradle

The Gouge

Gouging the Back

Gouging the Back View 2

Rough Arching with the Gouge

Closeup of Gouge Work

I had to use a lot of force to get the wood to cut and I ended up with a few blisters on my hand as well as I start to form calluses from the handle of the gauge. Even though I’m not taking strict measurements there is a lot of wood to take off and I am still periodically checking imaginary lines up to the top of the arch.

Thomas Gouging the Back

I have to be careful not to take corners completely off and eventually I will go back with finger planes and probably some rough templates to precisely shape the arching.

Rough Arching

Even though I totaled a few good hours of wood work just taking away chip after chip I still have a ways to go to rough out the back. I checked in with Mr. Vartanian and Mr. Belote and they placed some pencil lines in places that I can still take down wood. You might be able to see them in this picture.

Places that Still Need Work

Well, back to the bench!

Finishing the Back and Joining the Top

thomas — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:21:38 +0000

So I took the clamps off the back plates and the seam was uneven more that I would have liked. After talking to Mr. Belote he pointed out that I should have placed clamps underneath to counter the pulling upward motion of the center clamp. I’ll remember this when I glue the top seam.

Uneven Back After Gluing

Close Up

Instead of ungluing and cleaning up the mistake it is just as acceptable to re-plane the bottom side of the back plate which didn’t take too long.

Underside Glued and Planed

Closeup After Planing

Upon doing this I took the thickness/height of the arch on the back down to 16.5mm. This is an acceptable height that I will plane down from when creating the arching of the back plate after cutting out my pattern.

Back Glued without Clamps

Gauges

Even though it will change over all the carving and scratching the flame always excites me when looking at a violin, especially to see how it develops through the process of making one. Here’s a close up of how the flame lined up around the center seam after the planing. This will be close to what you see in the end and what will be brought out by the varnish.

Flame on Unfinished Back

The wood I’m using for the top was cut on the quarter. This is more easily described as looking like a slice of pie. You can see how the rings of the tree curve around and line up showing how they grew at some point as one. Some people think that by cutting the wood this way and joining them together you end up with a more even and more flexible plate. Whether that’s true or not, it is a very traditional cut and common to join the wood this way. Compared to the wood I used for the back this wood involved less initial “grunt” work to flatten and square off the sides. They were already fairly close which made the required planing a lot easier.

Top Quarter Cut

Top Plates Before Planing

Top View

Mr. Vartanian gave me some hints as well to help things along and I noticed as he was helping me that he holds the large plane more efficiently by extending his index finger on his right hand. This gave him and me more balance and, more importantly, more control by adding another angle variant. He also helped my frustration finding a hump as I tried to get a good joint and he pointed out that the plane needed to be sharpened which helped immensely.

Top Plate Flat

Top Plates Flat

After Planing

Comparatively I took less time to work the top than I did the back but I will get better at this over years instead of weeks.

Here’s an idea of how tight the grain is for the top, something I personally really like to see in instruments and will be interesting to see how it’s brought out when there’s varnish on the wood.

Closeup of Top Grain

Gluing the plates was much easier this time because Mr. Belote let me borrow two bar clamps that the plates could rest flat on and still be clamped together. They’re located on the outside of the joint. I also countered the upward bend I dealt with on the back by placing the center clamp on top and the quick grip clamps on the bottom.

Front Plate Glued with Better Clamps!

Underside of the Front Plate

After everything set it still looks like I’ll have some planing to do before it is perfectly flat but I’m much closer than I was last time which is great news and will allow me to focus on getting the plates cut out soon!

Joining the Back

thomas — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:19:13 +0000

Well, this week is a learning experience. Since I’ve worked on violin repair before I am very familiar with the tools used by a violinmaker. One of the smartest tools is a plane. Planes can be set to a very fine degree and when used properly will supply amazing results.

Squared Half with Tools

Bigger Planes

In the case of what I did last week, the wood joined to create the back has to be planed down and squared off. The square can not have any gaps in the seam. Even the smallest hump, bump or dip will cause a lot of problems down the road in the process. For me, I had to remember how to use a plane efficiently again. At first I could barely pull off any wood without skewing off to the side or splitting the grain on the surface. After some study and practice I started to analyze the plane like I would a piece of music that is giving me trouble. I found that I was shifting my weight and I had more success if I didn’t hover over the plane.

Tools used to square back.

Mr. Belote also gave me the trick of looking at the strips of wood coming from the plane to make sure I wasn’t leaning to one side or the other. I finally was able to succeed in planing the bottom side flat. I had to use a flat edge to check all my angles and make sure there was not just the absence of humps but also light beneath the edge. The most common straight edge I know of and used is a large ruler as you can see here in this picture. Next I had to use a square against the joint side to help me measure a 90 degree angle against the flat side I just created. This was trial and error and I had a lot of help from Mr. Belote since Mr. Vartanian was out for part of the week.

Square

Squared Plate

The other way to check the flatness of a surface is to compare it to a flat surface. A piece of marble seen here can show the difference of the two plates and then the final product after working both sides. Here’s another picture of the back seam itself before gluing. I took down some of the extra wood with a band saw since my joint edge was now flat to help with the amount of arching I’ll do later.

Back Glued

Closeup

Yet again, something did go wrong.

The clamps pulled a little and it ended up not gluing flat. As for right now, the glue set too quickly so I’m letting it sit over night to fix later. I’ll have an update next week with how I adjusted the result and how the top is going. Maybe this time my plane techniques will go a little quicker.

Outside Mold

thomas — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:46:21 +0000

As plenty of players already know there are many shapes to the instruments we play. Some violins have smaller upper bouts or may be just a few millimeters longer than another. Other instruments have different slight variances that change the sound and feel of the instrument. While many measurements are essentially standardized the basic mold of the body has to be chosen by a maker based on taste and availability. In my case I decided to use a mold that wasn’t being used at Shar. I now own two books by Henry Strobel, Violin Making: Step by Step and Useful Measurements for Violin Makers. (http://www.henrystrobel.com/) In the first book mentioned, Mr. Strobel gives a lot of great information along with full size drawings for a “basic Strad pattern.”

The Strobel Template

I then had to make my mold. Commonly I’m finding that many makers use a traditional Italian or internal mold. Mr. Strobel also describes his process by using an internal mold but the master maker I’m working under, Ashot Vartanian, is used to using a French or outside mold. Since I’m personally more unfamiliar with (and want to learn about) an outside mold and the persons guiding me are used to that as well, I decided to adapt Mr. Strobel’s pattern into an outside mold. Bill Belote, a repairman and violinmaker at Shar who has also made an instrument under Mr. Vartanian, found me some plywood to make the mold. Mr. Belote will also be guiding me through this process since Mr. Vartanian is busy enough making his own instruments and helping with repairs. After gluing two pieces of plywood together to get something thick enough for the height of the ribs, it was very easy to trace the pattern from the poster material cutout.

Plywood with Clamps

Glued Mold

Using a set of dividers I traced the patterns again creating the proper distance and shape for the ribs in the C-bout and corner areas especially. On the band saw (see Tools) Mr. Belote helped me cut out the shape and using files and sand paper I smoothed out the surface to create what will make the shape of my violin!

Tracing the Mold

Mold Files & Tools