Violin Forum/Message Board

[Dave Chandler]

I completed this little fiddle last month, the back, ribs and neck is made of from a local maple plank that I found, and the top is from Pisgah National Forest here in western NC.

Also based on the 1681 Andreas Guarneri, holding very closely to the long arch, rib heights, graduations, edge thicknesses etc.

Finish was a coat of golden brown oil varnish, and two coats of red-brown with ashphalt to deepen and darken the color. Then a top coat of clear varnish. Finally, a bit of clear coat applied by french polish.

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Initially I had the neck mounted too low, although the projections was 27mm, the neck only rose 4mm above the front edge of the belly, leaving a very close clearance, about 1.5mm where the arch rises up under the fingerboard. Now its about 3.5mm so I'm happy with that. I added a piece of ebony spacer under the heel rather than try to match wood.

Op13-6 by David Chandler, on Flickr[/img]



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Although I have the low C peg added, I found that it seriously took away from the sound of the G. You can see the nut is filed down for either 4 or 5 string use. It still has the 5 string tailpiece also. For my own use, I prefer the 4 string setup.

Op13-7 by David Chandler, on Flickr[/img]

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Op13-3 by David Chandler, on Flickr[/img]

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Op13-4 by David Chandler, on Flickr[/img]

I made an error on one of the corners on the back, so yes, I'm aware, it bugs me, but whatcha gonna do? I probably should have splice in a piece of wood and recut the corner.

This back wood turned out to be really flexible, so I made the belly a bit thinner than usual, by perhaps 0.2 mm. so its about 2mm around the edges, 2.3 for upper and lower bouts.

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Still has the 5 string tailpiece. Probably not contributing to the sound, but it is a nice sounding fiddle.

Op13-2 by David Chandler, on Flickr[/img]

All in all, it turned out to be a very sweet sounding violin, not a lot of volume, but will be excellent for chamber music.

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Op13-1 by David Chandler, on Flickr[img][/img]
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Dave Chandler]

By the way, when I reread my post, I noticed "clear coat" might be misleading -- this was a bit of 2# clear shellac applied with wadding and a bit of olive oil lubricant, not to be confused with the commercial product "clear coat".
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[MWard]

Nice looking wood and nice shape. Is it from a Strad poster? I would love to use it. Did you have to extend the pegbox for the extra peg?
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May I always be the person my dog thinks I am.

[Dave Chandler]

I'm pleased you like the shape. I'm very fond of the Guarneri shape and the fullness of the arches -- and the sound.

The shape on this one is from a standard Guarneri template I picked up (I think I got the template from metropolitan - metmusic.com at some point) but adjusted slightly to match the dimensions provided in the luthierlibrary.com website, under the 1681 Andreas Guarnerius descriptions. I doubt I needed to adjust more than a mm here or there to match. The F-holes were reproduced from a photo of the same violin at the same site.

The wood was pulled from a pile or rough sawn lumber. I had to buy a 12' board, but will get about 5 or 6 very nice backs from it. About 2' will be used for making rib material, and also to make neck blocks.

If I were doing it again, I'd extend the length of the peg box a bit. Instead I just squeezed it in, and it makes it difficult to tune the left side pegs -- not much room for knuckles, just fingertips.

Playing it as a 5-string does pose some adjustments to playing because of the tightness at the nut. Also the low-c affects the G string. It seems to reduce the volume of the G a bit, but also adds some sympathetic resonance when playing the G that I can't really describe.

Another problem with having such thin and flexible back and belly is that it takes very little to get the post to fall without tension on the top.

If you'd like a mould template for the 1681 Guarnerius, give me a mailing address and I'll send you a paper copy from my own mould.
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[okawbow]

Nice instrument, Dave.

You might be interested in a five string Guarneri I made a few years ago, using a 1742 "Del Gesu" as inspiration. I made the plates about 20% thicker than the original 4 string. The wood is red maple and engleman spruce. It has great projection and still a strong G for a 5 string. You can see it on this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_0T2ZIjWnw

Also a few pictures before varnihing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/20524843@N03/sets/72157603148712079/with/2004838012/

Chuck

[Dave Chandler]

I've been reading in other posts (not on this site) that the key to getting the projection out of the lower strings is to use a heavier bass bar.

I enjoyed your photos, very nice fiddle.
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[okawbow]

Thanks Dave,

I did use a stronger bass bar. Again, about 20%. I also chose a dense, hard piece of red maple for the neck. I was less concerned with figure in the wood, and more with strength. That fiddle is played hard every day for the past 5 years, and still straight and sound.