Winter 2022-2023
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The plan is to have this violin ready for Makers' Day. 12th March 2023 in London, King's Place.
Do come and try it! 
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Makers' Day is a unique event in the British musical calendar, showcasing the living craft of violin making and promoting it to a wider audience of musicians. Whether you are actively seeking to purchase an instrument, or interested in broadening your interest in the violin, it provides the opportunity to see, hear and play instruments from a wide selection of contemporary makers from Britain and overseas, as well as meet the people who make them.
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It's always a very interesting, open and buzzing event, with lots to see and hear. Everybody with an interest is welcome to come and have a look. Do come and say hello!
I will be sharing a stand (Table 9) with Philip Brown of Philip Brown Violins in Newbury, like last year. I will have my two latest violins there, and Philip will have a selection of period bows ranging from the 17th to mid 19th century, including a copy of a Panormo cello bow. |
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Here the front is being thicknessed. I'm looking at the thicknesses of existing Stradivari violins, and of my own previous violins of this model, feeling the flexibility of the wood, measuring the frequencies and listening to the tap tones. Lots of senses and decisions coming together.
The back has been fitted to the ribs now. The shavings in this picture come from shaping the studs I've fitted over the centre joint. I've never had a joint come open so far but it's nice to know they're there.
In this picture the edgework of the front is being shaped. It's going chamfer by chamfer. I'm making three chamfers from the upper edge and three from the under edge. They are then blended into a rounded shape. Though with the widest point slightly lower than half way. So all the chamfers have their own width. It sounds straight forward but in practice it's actually not so easy to make it to exactly the shape you want, especially on the front where the difference between hard grains and soft grains is throwing in an extra complication.
When the edgework is done the front is glued to ribs. The box is closed.
The box is getting a break now, while the fingerboard is prepared and the neck shaped. I quite enjoy making fingerboards. It's a very systematic process, working do get the dimensions and curve and scoop right one by one.
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When the fingerboard is on the neck, the neck can be fitted to the body. We've got a complete violin...
A few weeks passed, in which the final neck and button shaping took place and some cleaning and tidying.
We're still on track for it to be ready to play at:
Makers' Day, Kings Place, London
12th March 2023
Where anyone with an interest in violins is invited to come and have a look, meet violin makers from the UK and abroad and see and try their work.
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Finally, time to varnish. We're very lucky with the weather. Curing varnish in the February sunshine. How lucky is that!
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