Violin Forum/Message Board

[Chet Bishop]

Sorry I didn't see your question until now, Mat:

I use the ball-point because I can see the ink. My eyes are not what they once were, and I cannot reliably see the pencil marks. Besides...all the places where the ink is going are getting shaved off.

One other thing about the pencil is that the washer I use to trace the plate (thus determining the width of the overhang) tends to "ride up" the taper of the pencil more than it does the relatively straight tip of the ball-point pen. On cellos and basses, I overcame this issue by switching to a small section of pipe with the correct wall-thickness, in place of the washer. It does not have as strong a tendency to flip up or to ride up the pencil.

Don't sit around thinking about building an instrument from the raw materials: get moving and do it! You are not getting any younger!

A few years ago, I had the bitter-sweet task of rebuilding, correcting and completing a cello, which had been begun thirty years previously by the owner's father, as his only attempt at building an instrument. The problem was that he had died without having completed it.

I completed the cello, correcting the things that really had to be corrected, and leaving as much as I could of his handiwork: his daughter is now playing it in loving memory of her dad.

http://www.bluefiddles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Journeys-of-the-Swan.pdf

It was a happy ending, but don't let that happen to you!
_________________
Chet Bishop
https://bluefiddles.com
https://fivestringfiddles.com