Needed a Bigger Coping Saw

I started to build my cello mould. I like to spell it with a 'u' because to me mold is what grows on something that is damp and rotting. I will have a center pattern that will be glued together as one piece, and a top and bottom pattern that will be pinned and screwed to it with one by twos. The one by twos will also serve as a gluing surface for the blocks. Each layer is a different size and I will file it all on an angle when I get it assembled. The blocks will also be angled, so setting them up will be more work, but it shouldn't be that hard.

I took my drawing up to Staples, and had them make a copy of the top half at 200%, 201%, 202%, 203%, and 204%. Then they did the same for the bottom half. It is much cheaper to copy them out as 12" X 18" halves and then tape them together, than to copy them out as 24" X 36". The patterns are just halves, so I glue the copy right on the board with spray adhesive. I cut my top and bottom patterns out of 1/4" hardboard, and smoothed them out.

I thought that I could only get on side of the pattern on each length of shelving. The shelving is about 11.5" wide, and by putting one half on one side, and the other flipped on the other side, the tops conveniently sit in the c bout area of the other. I can save 3 full boards. That could be another cello mould. So I drilled my locating holes that will go through the mould and line up the patterns for marking out the corners on the blocks, and I located the holes using a flashlight to line them up with the copy, and then marked them out.

Then I realized it. I don't have a saw that can cut it out!

My coping saw is only 4," and it has a broken tang, so it is hard to change blades. So I picked one up at the hardware store. It seemed all right. It had a nice thick handle on it, but when you use it you have to constantly watch that the tang where the handle is stays put. It doesn't want to. I have a really nice deep throat fret saw, but the blade can't turn, so it won't work. The only option I've seen is one made by Knew Concepts. It is a pricy option. An 8" fretsaw that will only rotate 45 degrees each way for $103, or a coping saw that looks like about 6" for $149. I'll live with what I have.

I still have the top and bottom to cut out. I also need to pick up some screws, and 1/2" and 1/4" dowels. I always think that I have screws in one of the two boxes of drawers hanging on the wall. They have a lot of screws, bolts, nuts, washers, and other things; but never what I want.

This is it so far.

A Cello from Start to Finish

I have some projects going on. The Gagliano viola, and the Plowden, need to be finished up. But my big project will be the Gagliano cello. I don't have the Allesandro Gagliano poster. I'm using the Nicollo Gagliano from 1774 that was featured in the 2008 Christophe Landon calendar that came in The Strad. It also has a cool Gagliano violin on the same page. That's what got me hooked on Gagliano.

It is a quite narrow, shorter cello, that looks narrower than the nice one on the Norway site, I forget what that one is. I like the shape of the narrow one better. I bought some shelving for 49 cents each at Menards to make up a mold.

Here is my drawing. It is 732 long, and the waist is 222. I may make the top 2% bigger ala Guadagnini. Any help or suggestions?

Gagliano

I'm working on a Plowden del Gesu. It is the first violin with a low arch that I've tried. It's coming along good. I am also fixing up the purfling on the Gagliano viola I drew up. I really like the shape of it. I like the shape of the Gagliano cello and violin too. I've been working on Guadagnini viola, and the purfling is way off from even around the top of the back. I have no idea how that happened. I found out that the slab back should have been set up heart side up. That just seems weird to me, but I've read it from several sources lately.

Besides that: I just don't like the big chunky look of the beast. It is close to being hideous.

So I was trying to make up a viola shape that was a mix of the older, slimmer Guadagnini violins and cellos, and morph them into a viola, like I did the Gagliano. It just wasn't working. I had a dream that night of throwing all the papers in the trash. So that's what I did. I'm going to stick with what I like and make a family of instruments that I drew up from the photos of the Gagliano cello and violin. They only showed the backs so I used photos of other Gaglianos to get the f holes designed.

The shape of the violin is very much like the early Guadagnini violins. The holes aren't cool oval ones, but then the corners don't poke out like sore thumbs either. Even the arching seems to have the fullness of the Guadagnini. He made high arched, and low arched violins, so there is room to play around. The viola has a 19 mm or so arch. I picked that because it looks like a Grancino viola of about the same size (420 mm), so it isn't unduly high.

I thought of getting the poster for the Gaglino violin, and cello. The cello is by Allisandro? and not Nicolo. Did they work in the same style? Maybe I can just come up with my own. Right now I'm happy with the outlines, and can get back to work. I will redraw the cello, the wone I have is a little messy, and have it blown up double size to make a pattern. Then I can make a mold and start on a cello too.