A Strad Inspired Violin - Log 10/15/2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009


Carving the Inside of the Spruce Top to Graduate the Thickness
And Cutting the F Holes




To the right is shown the drill press with dowel stop used in drilling the pilot holes for carving the inside of the top and back of the violin. The press is set with a guage to 4mm.


In this photo carving of the top has begun using a finger plane and pilot holes guiding the graduation process are visible.


Here further progress has been made in planing the inside down to the 4 mm thickness. Ultimately the top thickness will vary from approximately 2.4 mm to 3.5 mm depending on the location and flexibility of the particular piece of wood being used.


Here you can see significant carving has been done.


Ben checks the graduation with calipers before going further.

The top is seen to the left with the F Holes drawn with a template as shown in a previous update. Now that cutting must begin further measurements will be done.

To the left is a modern hole cutting tool which at least in theory is believed to be like that used by Cremonese luthiers. Shown are the 9.5 mm diameter blade for the bottom eyes and the 6.5 mm blade for the two upper eyes.

Here Ben is using a circle template to aid in locating the center point of each eye.

The small depression Ben is pressing into the wood at the center point is the guide for the hole cutter tool.

Here the initial cut begins normally first from the outside of the top and then from the inside to ensure a clean cut with no splintering. When cut cleanly from both sides the circular pellet comes loose fairly easily.

Here Ben shows the angle at which the holes are drilled which is not perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The hole being cut is the upper treble side hole which is usually cut slightly higher than the bass one. The two upper eyes are cut symmetrically with the center line, 42 mm apart.

To the left is an original Stradavari template for the eyes of the F holes.

The Cremonese templates for the F holes had only the curved part as shown to the left because the curves and eyes were cut separately.

Here the top is pictured with all four eyes cut.

Ben has inserted the fret or coping saw and has made the initial cut starting at the lower eye cutting the inside line first to ensure maximum support on the wing and crucial areas.

This method minimizes vibration and allows for a cleaner cut.

Here an F Hole initial cut is complete but further refinement will be needed.