Stradivari Maurin violin

This is the beginning of another violin after Stradivari's 1718 Maurin. It is started by fitting blocks to the mould. These blocks will later hold the ribs together.

In the picture below the ribs are bent around the mould and glued against the blocks. Fitted against the ribs are the linings, narrow strips of wood to increase the gluing surface of the ribs. They are glued and held in place with cloth pegs while the glue dries.

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The linings have dried and the ribs have been cut to their finished height. Now I can draw around the ribs onto the front and back plates and cut them out with a coping saw. Then the real violin making begins: shaping the arch of the front and back of the violin. Here you see the front. When the rough arching is done I finalise the outline and put the purfling around the edges.

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Then more work is done on the outside until I'm happy with the arching shape. I use arching guides and a plaster cast of the original violin to decide on the shape. When it's done I move on to thicknessing the plates. The big shavings in the next picture are from the inside of the back. 

In the mean time I've also cut the f holes and fitted a bassbar in the front. Here I'm making a chamfer round the back to prepare the shape of the edgework. Soon the parts can be put together.

All the parts have been fitted together and I'm working on the neck to give it a shape which is comfortable for the violinsts left hand to get around.

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