Chirstmas gift finally will be delivered tomorrow.

[johnnparchem]

Finishing takes a long time. The violin has all these weird curves and the short story is I sanded through an area, right before my final clear coat, on the top where there was a lot of color. I never got it quite right but I have sure have been learning in the process.

I do not play a violin but I did go at it with a bow. I never realized how loud they can get.

[Bruce Dow]

Beautiful.

Who is the gift for?

[Tony_in_NYC]

Nice job!! Kit or scratch?

[johnnparchem]

The gift is for a young man who helps my wife in our garden. A couple summers ago he took my son on for an internship at his organic farm with a u-pick blueberry field. Quite an experience for my urban xbox son.

The violin is made from a Waldron Instruments kit.

[naccoachbob]

Nice job, John. And a stunning gift. Would love to have seen his face.

[johnnparchem]

Here are a couple of videos of the first play. It sounded good. She had me lower the bridge quite a bit ( I should have rechecked the hight after I strung it up). The video was from my phone ...

http://cid-8371cbfd7b1587e6.photos.live ... 0Movie.wmv


http://cid-8371cbfd7b1587e6.photos.live ... 0Movie.wmv

Also a photo of the new owner.

WP_000056.jpg

[Kevin Sjostrand]

John,
That is amazing. Great job. Isn't it something to be able to put together an instrument with your own hands that can actually make music? I am still amazed that I am making guitars that play and sound pretty good.
Be proud, be very proud!!

Kevin

[tippie53]

My hats off to you and anyone the can do a carved instrument .

[mjmeehan]

Spectacular.....
I've been tossing around the idea of a violin kit for my niece. Anything about the building process that was much different from a kit guitar? Aside from all those extra curves, that is.

[johnnparchem]

Spectacular.....
I've been tossing around the idea of a violin kit for my niece. Anything about the building process that was much different from a kit guitar? Aside from all those extra curves, that is.

The kits are doable. The big differences from a guitar:

Harder:
If the purfling slots are not cut in the kit, it is harder than a guitar because you can not index off of the sides, rather you need to index off of the thin overhang of the top and bottom. Also there are miter joints for each of the curves. Stewmac has the slots mostly cut, Waldron will cut them if you ask. I did not ask so I had to cut my own.

You have to hand cut and chisel the mortise for the neck in the body, getting the angle for the neck correct.

Also I think you want to put the body together with violin clamps.

Easier:

Only one brace.