Tag archives for lutherie

Cutting the Edge

22 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

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

15 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

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

The New Template

9 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

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.

Finishing the Back and Joining the Top

3 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

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!

tags: front, lutherie, planing, woodNo Comments »

Outside Mold

2 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

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

Getting Started – Wood and Tools

1 March, 2010
Published by thomas in Uncategorized

I am really excited! I’ve worked on violin family instruments off and on for six years now while going through high school and college. My interest began when my cello started buzzing one day. I picked it up from the repair shop and the repairman showed me around and let me hold a violin from the 1600s with the original neck (it was screwed in back then!). I was hooked. Since that time I’ve wanted to join the mystic circle of violinmakers around the world striving to combine science and beauty to make something that really touches players and listeners. Now I finally have my chance!

So I had to pick wood. Being around instruments for years now I had an idea of what look I wanted in my wood. Shar has aged stock of maple used for backs, ribs, and the scroll. The wood here is at least 18 years old. From my experience the older the better, so I found a nicely flamed and extremely light set for the back plate. The weight of wood matters a lot in the final product. I’ve noticed that lighter instruments tend to resonate very well and I was really happy with my find. The scroll block has nicely matching flame as does the rib block. Check out what the ribs of a violin start out as. Eventually I’ll have strips only a millimeter thick bent to form the body of the instrument.

Wood for the back of the violin.

Block for the Scroll.

Block for the Ribs.

Soon to be the ribs.

Unfortunately, Shar was out of top wood so I did a little research and finally came across a website that sounded really great. Rocky Mountain Tonewood (http://www.rockymountaintonewood.com/) is run by Simeon Chambers and the wood he sells is at least 50 years old! I decided to buy his top rare grade since I want the best possible materials going into this instrument. After talking to Mr. Chambers and telling him about my project he was kind enough to send some other wood I would need completing my wood selection. These included bass bar stock, willow strips for lining, and a chunk of wood for blocks.

The Top Wood

The Bass Bar.

The Willow Lining

Block Wood

Age of the Block Wood

As for tools, I am familiar with many tools used in the process of making a violin. I decided it would be a good idea to show some examples of what I’ll be using throughout this process. Check out the tools section of the site to see what many modern makers are using to make instruments today!

I was really excited to see that Mr. Chambers took the time to find out the age of the tree. You can see in the picture it started growing in 1596! So overall, I think I picked some really nice materials to go into my violin.
As for tools, I am familiar with many tools used in the process of making a violin. I decided it would be a good idea to show some examples of what I’ll be using throughout this process. Check out the tools section of the site to see what many modern makers are using to make instruments today!

tags: lutherie, violin, woodNo Comments »

Tag archives for lutherie

Cutting the Edge

Arching the Top

The New Template

Finishing the Back and Joining the Top

Outside Mold

Getting Started – Wood and Tools

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