Violin Forum/Message Board

Well said.

Thanks again Dave for your advice. Always appreciated.

I think I will continue on with the top that I have. If it cracks, it cracks. It will at least be a learning experience for the next one.

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Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.

Yeah, this is my first attempt at making the spruce top. Kind of learning as I go. Not beautiful. I know. But we all have to start somewhere, I guess.
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OK, that's good to know. Hopefully by the time I get the channel cut on my first top, I can pick up the pace a bit on the ones to follow.

That is a beautiful purfling job! And you did it by hand? Very impressive.

I have quite a bit more practicing to do in order to catch up with you! Smile

This is where I am out now:

http://far ...

I was reading Courtnall, and it sounded like they were advising to put a light coating of diluted hide glue along the purfling surface area. Do you do this?

I didn't do this originally because thei ...

Wow. Nice. I like it.

Wow, purfling work is not as easy as I thought it would be!

It's been difficult for me to not bruise the wood during the work. I'm starting to think it might be easier and neater for me to devise ...

Yes, I agree. I think I'll probably start with wood. It will give me a sense for how the wood will fit, ect.

OK, so it sounds like most people just use them as a temporary holder.

Courtnall mentions the use of "steel" pins. On further investigation, it looks as though they are using them for th ...

Just curious what material people prefer for pins to hold the top plate.

I have seen references to both metal and wood. I am assuming that a dowel of wood would generally be preferred, as it would ...

OK, thanks Lyle!

I'll give that a shot then. I was reading this book called The Museum of Early American Tools by Eric Sloane and in it he mentions this tool called a "froe" which was use ...

OK, great. I'll cut them down the middle. I think I might be able to find someone with a band saw big enough to do it. It might not be good to hammer down a wedge because the pressure from the blows m ...

Thanks LP!

So you are splitting it down the middle, right?

Right now, the pieces that I have are just in log form. So maybe I need to split it down the middle. Also, I only have a board undernea ...

I ended up stacking it under my porch, which is outside but protected from the rain. Not sure how it'll go. We'll see.

I also put it up off of the ground on some boards, so hopefully that will keep ...