Michigan Violinmakers Association

I went to the Michigan Violinmakers Association meeting on Sunday. It was pretty cool. I brought a few instruments to see if they thought I should still be there. They didn't throw me out. But no one wanted to play them either. Look at them, and see how many places I messed up. But they didn't scream PLAY ME apparently. A lot of good feedback though, especially from one soft spoken guy who works in Ann Arbor. Sorry, I'm terrible with names, but I think he was David Brownell. Peter, the president of the club seemed to be the most enthusiastic about the instruments. Apparently, he can see past the flaws and see the vision. That's my interpretation, and I'm sticking with it.

There were three new members there. Paul Chen, I think that's right, has a lot of experience, and worked at Oberlin for one of their workshops with Holmes, and Burgess. Brings a lot to the table. Then there was another, from south of Chicago, Jay Damm. That name must have been fun in school. He is a shop owner, and I imagine has had his hand in every aspect of the business. Both are fairly young guys. Everyone looks young to me!

There were maybe a dozen there. Many were in restoration. Some were shop owners, including Matt Noykos, who gave the main presentation on preparing a fingerboard. It was very well done. He uses some stuff; magic in a tube, for getting just the right balance of dull and shine on the finished board. Ebony polish from Old Wood. http://www.metmusic.com/varnish/old-wood-varnish/extra-products/27681/old-wood-ebony-polish-20cc/ Some there said that the Old Wood ground system is good. But then they always add, pricey. Yeah, but is it worth it? Does it do more than anything else you've tried. Would you use it again? If you would, is it only the price holding you back? Those are the questions I wanted to ask.

I always have questions. Some I didn't get to:

Does your wood move all over the place when you rough it out? I don't mean on the bench, I mean as far as flatness. I've decided to rough it out somewhat inside and out. Flatten the bottom and join it square, and THEN glue the halves together. Maybe then they would move as much taking the final 2 mm a side off of them.

The secretary is Gregory Young, who just was hired as a Ferrari mechanic. Really? Is it more fun changing the double clutch pads on an F40, than swapping out the disc on the clutch on a 2009 Ford Fiesta? DAH! That is a no-brainer.

The meeting was a lot of fun, and very informative. I found out I want to make more violas. For many reasons. The first, and foremost is the way they sound! I didn't know that they sound SO MUCH BETTER than violins. Yes they do. Rich and sonorous. Matt did a final soundpost adjustment on a viola that he fixed some cracks on. The player was there to pick it up. She explained what she liked, and didn't like; he adjusted it 3 times, and it sounded great.

Another reason I want to make more, is that they seem to be like the only venue for someone like me who doesn't understand conformity. Violinists are very, very picky, and want everything exactly the same. Michael Darnton assured me that they don't generally measure every dimension, and just want it to feel right; but that's not the way it seems. Violists on the other hand will put up with all sorts of things, if it gives the sound that they are looking for.

There are big ones, small ones, and gigantic ones. Long strings, short strings, and gut strings, and steel strings, and all that sort of thing. High arches, higher arches, arches right to the edge. Get the fingerboard in a 2:3 relationship to the stop, and it all works out.

Did I mention that they sound WAY BETTER than violins?

Loose Ends

I have a LOT of loose ends. I need to finish up 5 instruments. Let's lay them out:



The first two are for the grandsons. This will show you how my brain works. I saw this 10 string baroque guitar by Stradivarius.



Cool thing and it sounds great. Checked out the size, and they are all over the place, but basically a smallish body with a long scale length because the saddle is set very low. Then I got the idea I could make it smaller for the boys. Easy enough, right? Then I saw a ukulele at a garage sale for $2. It had a case. The case looked to be the right size. I bought it. The Strad body fit right in.

The ukulele is a baritone, didn't even know that there was such a thing. It is tuned the same as the bottom four strings on a guitar. Cool, the boys could have fun with that, and the notes would be the same. AGH! The ribs on one side are cracked from the neck to the bottom block.

More work. The neck proved to be loose too, Was never fitted well. The ribs are fixed, the neck fits now. New varnish on the sides.

I need a new rib iron. Tried to bend some rosewood for banding the guitar, and the heat gun broke.

So I need a rib iron, need to glue on the ukulele neck, and buy another peg. That one is easy.

I need to bend and glue the banding, glue on the neck, put in frets, and glue on the bridge, and varnish the little guitar.

Now for the violins:



The Gagliano viola needs a tailpiece, nut and saddle, and a bridge. Easiest one to finish.

The Gofriller viola, and the del Gesu violin both need finishing up on the woodwork before varnishing. I wanted to string them up and see (hear) any differences as I thinned in the recurve area. Those aren't really hard things either. But they do need to get done before I can start on other cool stuff.



Cool stuff? Oh yeah, there is always cool stuff to do. How about Walnut, and Quilted Maple Gofriller violins? Gofriller's because they look cool, and the lower bout is only 199, and the wood is on the narrow side. Still need to draw the plan up. Do them together so any sound differences can be played around with.

I have another hunk of Birdseye, one Cherry piece, a piece of Sycamore for a 5 string. Oh yeah! There is still the 5 string Cherry and Poplar 5 string in the drawer that I have to fix the purfling on. I must have been in a fog when I did that job. Where do I hire these people?

I only have three boxes to keep the instruments together with all their stuff. I need at least 2 more. I have three other ones, but they house exotic wood for fittings and fingerboards, block wood and clamp wood, and wood for linings and ribs. Maybe I could use the big blue box for that stuff...