A new violin project started today. #4

[Kevin Sjostrand]

After making two guitars in the past year I decided it was time for another violin, before I forget how to make one.

I have a couple more curly maple sets for violins but I've had a billet of Spalted Sycamore for about 6 years and have been thinking for awhile that it could make an interestingly different violin. Sycamore is similar in density to maple.
The billet is 24" x 8" x 2". I had some crack checking on one end that came in about 3". So cut that off and figured out how to cut it up. I got all the parts is need cut out and milled today.
The side slats are about .050". The neck blank is 15" x 1.5" x 2.5". The back plates are 15" long x 5" wide x 3/4" thick, cut book matched.
The billet was quarter sawn but along the width of the piece.
To get the nice figure the pieces are cut across the grain but it will be fine for the back and I think the sides will be too.

I'll pair this with a spruce top. I thought about redwood and could change my mind but I think spruce will look better.

So off to the races. I jointed and glued the back plates together this afternoon.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Here I'm starting the temporarily glue in the end blocks and then followed with the c bout corner blocks onto the mold.
Then I jointed a ND glued up the back plates and then the top plates. I used cord as a clamping system on the top because the wedge shape plates don't like to be clamped together, very hard to keep pressure on so the seam stays flat. This system works well to apply enough pressure to keep the plates in place while drying. I used Titebond to glue up the back and the top.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I glued in all the blocks and today carved and spindle sanded them to shape. The mold is now ready for the sides. I have the slats made to size and thickness. I'll be bending them probably tomorrow.

Here is the neck blank with the pattern glued onto both sides and pilot holes drilled for the pegs.

[TEETERFAN]

That Sycamore you’re using should be real nice. I did some reading about Sycamore and was a little surprised to find out that it is not uncommon in violins. Very interesting. Good luck with this build.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Not much done today.
Bent the c bouts and glued them in with fish glue

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I bent and glued in the upper and lower bout ribs. The sycamore bent nicely.
With the clamps off I used a mi I plane to reduce the excess height of the ribs close to the blocks on the top and back sides, then worked them on a sanding board until everything was level on both sides.
Then the top half of the two piece mold was separated by removing screws and then inserting 3 bolts in holes in the top half and screwing them in until they start to cause the upper part of the mold to push away and free from the corpus structure and then be removed leaving just the bottom half of the mold, the part that the end and corner blocks are glued to temporarily.

At this point I the top edge of the sides from the top corner blocks to the neck block could be planed down to slope to the neck block which was installed 3/32" lower than the sides. Then this was also finished up on the sanding board for a nice even slope.

Then I slipped that top part of the mold back inside the corpus so I could trace the it onto the top and back plates which will be cut to shape later.

Next step is to going in edge linings so just like a guitar, there is more material surface to glue the top and back to.
I'll be using multiple thin strips stacked, or laminated and glue them in to get about 1/8" thickness when done.
I can do this without having to bend the strips. They are thin enough to conform to the shape, and I'll just glue and stack them into place.

[TEETERFAN]

Looks like a fantastic start! You seem to have the process down pretty good. I spent many days as a kid climbing the big ole sycamore trees in my backyard, so I am intrigued by your choice for the back and sides. Can’t wait to see how this one looks, when varnished. Thanks for the informative posts and pics!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I have the linings in on the top side of the garland.
I also profiled the top and back plates on the small bandsaw close to the finished outline. The shape will be finalized later using Sanding sticks after the edge on the plates has been reduced to about 5mm.

I then started carving the outside arching of the top. Took off about half the material but still a long way to go to get the arching correct.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

So I've been working getting the top and back arching close to the final shape. Pretty much have the top there.
I hand cut the groove and glued in the top purfling. Carved it down flush then carved in a scallop around the edge about 1 mm deep and the shaped that I to the arching.

Today I cut in the purfling grooves on the back. This is done with a marking device that has two blades and scores the surface leaving enough of a score that can then be traced with an exacto knife cutting in about .060" deep. Then a special chisel is used to vacate the groove.
It's pretty Groovy!!!

I'll bend, cut and mitre the purfling tomorrow and glue it in.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

With the top and back outside arching basiclly done and the purfling leveled and the recurve carved in its time to flip them over and begin the hollowing out carving.

First i set up a jig on the drill press whi h alowws me to drill a series of holes from the i side to a depth leaving 4mm between the bottom of the holes and the outside top surface. The goal is to carve, plane and scrape until the top thickness is 3mm at the center and graduating down to 2.5mm arou d the perimeter. The ledge which will be glued to the rim of the corpus is 3mm.

I got to a place today where I'm close to thickness but fairly uneven thicknesses that need to be evened out.

About a .5mm amount left to go. Ive taken readings and writtem them on the inside so i know where i need to remove more material. Next ill do that and scrape and sand it smooth!