StewMac fiddle kit

[MaineGeezer]

With Kevin's encouragement I'll be posting my experiences as I assemble the StewMac fiddle kit. I say "assemble" and not "build" because most of the build part is already done. The top, sides, and back are already glued into a complete violin body. The neck, pegbox, and scroll are completely carved and sanded.
Jobs that remain include fitting the neck heel to the body by chiseling out a recess in the body at the proper angles so the neck lines up the way it should. The supplied directions become a bit vagu at this point. I suspect the person writing the directions has never actually set a neck, but if you've fitted a guitar dovetail you shouldn't have any trouble sorting it out.
Other tasks include installing some purfling in pre-cut slots that aren't quite fully cut so you have to finish the ends of the slots then miter the ends of the purfling to maatch. I botched the job on the top, did slightly better on the bottom.
More a bit later, with some pictures I hope.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Way to go Steve.
We'd love to see pics
By the way. Getting the purfling installed is perhaps the hardest part of the process.

[MaineGeezer]

Here's a couple of photos. The first shows the neck and body, the fingerboard masked for finishing.. The 2nd and 3rd show the mixed results on the purfling. Sometimes I got it to look almost the way it should...and sometimes I didn't. In my feeble defense I'll say that the purfling grooves ended as round holes with the left and right grooves not necessarily lined up very well.
I've sanded it very smooth -- # 2000 wet or dry paper -- I think the directions say to go to #400 pr #800; in any case, a lot smoother than a typical guitar.
Another interesting detail is that the portion of the nexk one holds onto when playing has no or minimal finish on it. THsy's all masked off.
My next step,, I think, is to start on the finishing. Keven was very helpful, answering my dumb questions until I got a basic idea of what I think I want to do. I'm not going to do it the way he did, so he is absolved of all blame if it comes out looking terrible. Diane was a consultant as well, and none of this is her fault, either.
Wandering around the internet, I came across https://www.internationalviolin.com/ . I gave them a call and talked to Ken, the general manager. He suggested applying an initial coating of egg whiles (!) to seal the wood,followed by 10-12 thin coats of the tinted oil varnish they sell, rubbed down between each coat, using different tints to get a sense of depth...at least in theory. He also said plain unflavored gelatin could be used as a first coat to seal the wood.
While the idea is intriguing, especially the egg whites, I haven't made a final choice yet.

[JLT]

I built one of those kits and, when I took it to my violin teacher, she said that it was comparable to a $1000 "student" model. My mentor Arnie Gamble agreed.

After I found that I couldn't play it right handed due to some damage in my wrist, I went back to my workshop, opened up the violin, and reversed the bracing on the inside of the spruce soundboard. After the violin was reassembled, I made a new bridge and nut that were mirror images of the old ones, installed the sound-post on the opposite side of where it was before, and strung up the violin again. A little playing with the new configuration told me that I needed to reverse the positions of the tuning pegs as well, so that their locations wouldn’t interfere with my right hand’s range of motion.

I ended up selling it to a guy who had been looking for a left-hand violin for ages. (A left-handed violin is one of the rarest of beasts in the musical instrument world.)

[MaineGeezer]

The wood used in it seems as though it's of good quality. If I can get somebody to compare it favorably to a $1000 violin I'll feel pretty good!

I applied the first coat of egg whites this afternoon. It goes on quite smoothly, dries fairly rapidly but not as fast as shellac so I didn't feel rushed. I think it will work well.

[MaineGeezer]

I've experimented a bit with the colored violin varnish I ordered. I got brown, red-brown, and golden brown. It comes in 2 oz. bottles and is quite thin -- almost like water [edit: I neglected to thoroughly mix the varnish. It was a more "normal" viscosity after I stirred it up.]. The amount of coloring laid down by one coat is "not much." It is as advertised -- transparent. It will take several coats to get to the degree of darkness and opacity that I want, or think I want.

Another idea I read about too late to try this time, but I may next time, is to expose the wood to the UV rays of the sun, or a blacklight, before applying the finish. The UV darkens the wood in a "Makes it look old" sort of way, and supposedly brings out the grain figure in the wood.

Here's a couple photos of the violin with one coat of "Golden Brown" varnish. (Ignore all the junk on the counter.....)

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Nice. I never did the UV thing so I just dye the wood.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Is it fun??

[MaineGeezer]

Today I glued the neck to the body with HHG. It's what anybody who works on it in the future will expect, so why not make it as easy as possible for them.
I like the color. That came out quite well, egg whites and all.
I sanded the fingerboard to the correct radius (43mm) by boring an 88mm hole (43mm radius x 2 + 2mm allowance for the thickness of sandpaper) in a wood block, then cutting it across to produce about 2/5 and 3/5 sections, and sticking o piece of sandpaper on the inside to make a sanding block.

[MaineGeezer]

Today I glued the neck to the body with HHG. It's what anybody who works on it in the future will expect, so why not make it as easy as possible for them.
I like the color. That came out quite well, egg whites and all.
I sanded the fingerboard to the correct radius (43mm) by boring an 88mm hole (43mm radius x 2 + 2mm allowance for the thickness of sandpaper) in a wood block, then cutting it across to produce about 2/5 and 3/5 sections, and sticking o piece of sandpaper on the inside to make a sanding block.