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I'm considering on building a violin for my 6 year old son, Joey. He has expressed interest in the past and when he finally saw one up close he was very curious. The woman who owned it was very sympathetic and even allowed him to try and play it with her supervision. She commented that he had potential because he made the right kind of noise with the bow.

I know from talking with a neighbor whose son takes lessons that even student grade violins can be pricey and that renting is often the way to go, but I don't think anyone else in our house would respect a rental. As I've been building a guitar though Joey has been very curious but respectful at the same time. In fact, he's even asked me to build him a violin. It's almost too much of an opportunity to pass up!

That being said, I'm still too new at building and I know that carving an arch top or bending violin sides are beyond me. Besides, I want him to be involved as well. So I'm thinking a kit would be the best way to go.

Now this is where I need help: which kit is best? I know Stewmac sells one as does Grizzly. Bear in mind (no pun intended) that I'm just looking for something that's good enough to learn basic woodworking skills for a 6yo to help with then to have to learn on, so it has to be playable too. It's my hope that if he is part of its construction that he will also learn to take care of it too. I know: it's a lot to ask of a 6yo but I'm looking to make it a learning experience fohim

I built 2 of them one from Waldrom Instruments and one from stewmac. Building them was basically the same. The Waldrom Instrument was very good quality. Six is a good time to start to play the violin. Keep in mind that the kits tend to be full sized instruments.

I built one from a Stew-Mac kit I bought on sale at Woodcraft when our local outlet stocked them for a short while. It was very straightforward; most of the serious work had already been done. (However, pervert that I am, I rebuilt it as a left-handed violin, which involved switching the tone bar to the other side, reversing the pegs, and making a new nut.) It seems to be OK tonewise, although I haven't really monkeyed around with trying various sound post positions; I was happy enough just put the damned thing in more or less where it was supposed to be.

If you want to see what you're getting in to, the Stew-Mac instructions are available from their web site at:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/i-5342/i-5342.pdf

You might also check out the kits from International Violin:

http://www.internationalviolin.com/Sear ... oryCode=58

They're pricier, but have a good reputation. And from what I can read, they also pre-fit the pegs (which eliminates the need to buy a custom reamer with a two-degree taper). So the difference in price might be worth it. I guess it just depends on whether you want to make more violins and can justify the tooling expense.

Thanks, guys. I guess I need to look around for a smaller size violin for him. Still, it would be fun to build something for him and with him.

check out an inexpensive ukelele kit or a cigar box guitar.

You should be able to finish them within his attention span. My kids can't believe I'm still working on a project after 4 or 5 months.

nkwak wrote:Thanks, guys. I guess I need to look around for a smaller size violin for him. Still, it would be fun to build something for him and with him.

I hadn't thought of this before, but I remember now that I came across a book at the library that explained how to make a very simple violin and viola with triangular soundboxes. The book is Making a simple violin and viola : with 27 photographs, 17 line drawings and 5 scale diagrams by Ronald Roberts. It's long since out of print, I'm sure, but Bibliofind or Abe's Books probably has copies of it. You can scale the drawings up or down to make any size you want, and it sounds like a good way to get the violin you want at the least possible money and time spent.