Category: Violin Making
The Silakowski Five-String Project
June 7, 2025
John Silakowski (1949-2022) was a violinmaker in Scottsburg, Indiana. He was the first violinmaker to make purpose built five-strings for fiddlers. He was quite productive […]
The Unicursal Fiddle
August 4, 2024
This fiddle is the second in a series exploring the sources of variety that we see in violins. A broader discussion of the ideas behind […]
Twisted! An Unresolved Tale
March 26, 2024
Un-Natural. Playing the violin in the conventional manner requires some rather un-natural contortions. The left elbow is held more or less directly below the violin […]
The Turing Fiddle
August 10, 2023
I made this fiddle as the first of a series to explore the sources of variety that we see in violins. I'm also thinking about […]
Cutting Wood for Violin and Cello Tops
August 1, 2023
Last month I had the opportunity to fill a gap in my luthier's education. Even during the Redwood Violin project where I made a violin […]
Freestyle Fiddles. Part 2: Measurement Checks
July 11, 2023
In a previous post about the Freestyle Violin Project I documented how two violins, a "dark" sounding one and a "bright" sounding one , were […]