Plates of the Birch Violin

I popped the plates of the birch violin off the ribs today. Now I can start tuning them up. This is my starting point: The belly is 76g and rings at 382. It is solid with no f holes or bass bar. The stiffness number is 11.1, quite stiff. The slab birch back has a rather low ring note of c - 263 and weighs 123g for a stiffness number of 8.5, also rather low. I'm sure the belly ring note will drop in pitch, but right now they are almost a fifth apart. There is another rather strong overtone on the back at g 392 as well, so they sound pleasing when tapped back to back. It's a starting point anyway. I think the low back ring tone is a characteristic of the slab birch. It sounds like good soundwood, rustles when rubbed with the fingers and all, just has a lower pitch. The photo show the piece of foam I use to find the tap tone. Laying the plate right side up and tapping in the center gives you mode 5, the ring tone. Laying the plate upside down and tapping on the top or bottom gives mode 2, I think. Tapping with the plate in the same position on the side of the upper or lower bouts gives mode 1. For the belly mode 1 is 93 mode 2 is 190 mode 5 is 382. The back mode 1 is 86, mode 2 is 131 mode 5 is 263. So it's Gb2 Gb3 G4 for the belly and F2 F3 and C4 for the back.
I just finished reading a great book. No, I didn't read it at the grocery store. Well I did in read the first 4 chapters or so there, but then my wife took it out of the library for me. It is The Shack, by William P. Young. I think it is one of the finest books I've ever read. If you haven't read it pick up a copy. You won't be sorry.

Gluing the Liners

I'm gluing in the liners now. You can see the box of tiny clamps I have. I don't remember how much they cost. I bought them at an Amish flea market for 6 or 8 for a dollar, I think. I put 9 on each side of the top bout...12 on each side of the bottom. The c bouts are already done, but I have enough clamps to do all the liners on a side. Liners are one of the things that aren't made out of a specific kind of wood. Some people say that willow wood is the best. Some use only spruce. I've seen people use walnut. These ones are Yellow Poplar, I think. I've made all my linings from wood I scavenged out of pallets at work. I find a light piece that "rings" nice. I tap every piece of wood I see. If it is really light, and rings clearly and with a high pitch I check it out closer. I want to find a piece that I can cut the linings on the quarter. I don't know if they are supposed to be that way, but that is the way I do it. They seem easier to bend that way. Another board I've used is American Sycamore. I've made some backs out of Sycamore so I used the Sycamore linings on them. They look really cool. Both the Sycamore and the Yellow Poplar bent very nicely. I had no idea what kind of wood either of these were until I got them home and smoothed them up with a plane. The piece of wood I've used for the top block, and also the bottom block on this one, was also scavenged. I think that piece was willow. It's gone now, so I have to keep my eyes pealed now for block wood too.

I've made amends!

Dah? That's what I thought when I realized my violin isn't done yet. Why not pop the offending rib off and re-glue it the right way. A little water and heat on the iron, and the rib was turned inside out. I'm so used to running parts on the lathe. If you mess that up it's time for another piece of stock. The joint still isn't what I'd like to accomplish, but it's a little better. At least the flame looks better. Now it's on to the linings on this one.
I also have the Birch violin ready to glue the purfling in. I had one little piece break out between the edge and the groove. Better than I've fared before when I didn't put a light size of glue around the edge first. The chunk is on the bench, I just haven't glued it on yet. This one is the first time I marked the f holes and made the arching fit them, instead of doing the arching and then just pasting the f holes on. From what I remember (it's been a while since I was working on the arching) it is about .5mm or so thicker than the pattern right now. This one has a heavy, hard slab Birch back, and a light, low density Englemann belly. That is the suggested combination according to Nigel Harris to make a violin that sells fast. We'll see about that.

Where do I hide?

Where can I hide? I purposely left the bottom joint to the last step to avoid a couple problems I had in the past, and then made a worse mistake, and a second rate joint besides. As the photo shows, (now that's a dumb idea), I reversed the flame angle. In my only defense I will state that this was the first ribset I did with flames on them. I did plan it out. I did make sure that the angle went the same all the way around. But I must have bent one of the C bouts the wrong way, so when I bent the lower bout to match, it made it backwards. I've never seen that done before. The flame may change on the C bouts. People have cut the button off. I've never seen the flames reversed on the bottom. If anyone has seen it, please let me know.
Hiding is what we want to do when we make a mistake that we're ashamed of. The fact that we're ashamed of it is a good thing. At least we have some shame. But hiding doesn't solve anything. (If anyone knows a good, acceptable way to....hide....the bad rib joint/flame reversal let me know). Getting things out in the open is the only way to go. Admitting your failings is only admitting that you are human, and not God. Sometimes I feel more human than most. Even if you are successful in hiding something, you still know it. If you know it, God knows it. So fess up. Straighten out your crooked paths. My mistake is out in the open, but it's only a violin. If it was something I was doing on the sly, for my own gain..that is a serious human failure. In that case hiding still won't work. Jesus said that all that is done in the dark, or whispered, will be brought out in the light, and shouted from the mountaintop. There is no where to hide.