Here's a quick shout about Nicholson flat files.I buy two new files at the beginning of the year at a total cost of about $15. The larger file has a course and a fine side so I'm essentially getting three files. The cost for equivalent Grobet files that I...
I was at the Oberlin violinmakers workshop again this summer, sharing workbenches and ideas with sixty five talanted makers from around the world. With advances in measurement technologies and through a culture of free sharing of ideas and information, some gifted and...
Searching for the spirit of early craftsmanship. For many years I have been looking for ways to emulate the spirit of the craftsmanship that I see in the work of many of the Classic period violins. There is a liveliness and freshness in these early instruments which I...
"Ah , I see you use C74's!" declared my brother, the movie-lighting engineer. He had just spotted my viola with the freshly glued linings clamped into place with clothes pins. C74's? What are they and what are they used for? As my brother tells me: "We use C47s for...
Holding a violin scroll while carving the volutes and dressing the pegbox is a little awkward. Here is one of the simplest and most effective jigs that I've come up with: a piece, 12mm ply with 30mm holes in it. Use a soft piece of ply and round the edges of the...
I wanted to add some local spice to the viola that I made in Tepotzlan, Mexico. Ernesto, my host, gave me some of the traditional Amate paper that he uses for his own labels. Amate is made from the bark of a spectacular Ficus tree. I saw this one in the...
Amongst many tips I got from Ernesto Ramirez, I particularly liked this method of rough hollowing the plates. At first I thought that it was a rather fussy approach but, having tried it myself, I find that it is quite practical, it saves a little time and reduces the...
When varnishing an instrument it is nice to seal off the f-holes. This stops accidental drips getting inside, and it stops wood dust and such coming from inside your instrument and sticking to the wet varnish. The most effective way to do this is to use blue masking...
For many years I have wanted to attend the annual, two week,Violin Making Workshop at Oberlin, Ohio. It attracts makers from all over the world and this year was attended this year by sixty violin makers and about a dozen bow makers. With so much talent and...
"Violin maker" is a broader term than it appears at first. Violin makers of course also make cellos, violas and even the occasional bass. (Bass makers on the other hand are a much more principled breed and tend to stick to their own instrument - you know where you are...