Southern California Violin Makers Workshop 2012

June is typically a busy month for me.  Since 2008, I have been attending the Southern California Violin Makers Workshop for a week, sometimes 2, and then during the third full-week in June, we have the shop set up at the National Old-time Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho.

So today I'll post about the workshop.  It's held in Claremont, California, put on by Jim Brown, and taught/led by Michael Darnton of Chicago.  The grounds are not too bad.

The violin-makers workshop was held on the ground-floor in this wing of the building --

while the bow-makers were across the way in this wing, behind the arched walkway --

Most of the attendees had been to the workshop before, and all (in the first two weeks) had built previous violins.  Everyone was at a different place in their current violin and the atmosphere is such that we can ask questions about anything at any time.  We all just set down at a bench and start working.  Seeing what other people are doing, how they're doing it, the tools they're using are all wonderful ways of learning.

For me the greatest thing is that I learn so much I didn't even know to ask about.

One of my goals this time was to learn more about the outline and corners.  I believe I made a major conceptual breakthrough in my understanding of corner geometry.  I was never happy with the shape of  my violin corners, mainly because I didn't have a clear picture in my head.  Now, after years of having it presented to me, something finally clicked.  It's now a matter of execution.

Towards the end of my week there, I got the purfling in both plates of my Brothers Amati fiddle.

And I spent some time working the edges down.

The workshop's official site is here.  If I understand it correctly, the workshop is accepting beginners during the third week.

I have more photos of the workshop here.

Michael Darnton's website is here.

Purfling channels and c-bouts

I used a Dremel tool attached to a router base to take out most of the purfling channel. I have, however, become more and more interested in the shape of the purfling as it approaches the corner, so I leave that to be done by hand.




Following a suggestion by a couple violin-making friends on Facebook, I have inserted the C-bout purfling before completing the channel from the upper or lower bouts. This is still a tough job for me, cutting the curves into the corner. Sharper tools and more patience! I did find a new use for an old tool I had -- the tool with the red and black handle is a fretting tool, used to clean old glue and such from fret channels when refretting a banjo or guitar. It is much thinner than the purfling channel, and is therefore really nice for getting wood out of the corner tips.




Things look a little rough here, with the glue still wet and the purfling proud in some places. I use the back of a ball-peen hammer to push the purfling into the groove, so when people ask how I get the purfling in, I can honestly say I hammer it in.

Purling channel (WARNING: power tool usage)

For those who have an aversion to power tools in woodworking, you'll want to avert your eyes for this. I have a Dremel tool jig for cutting the majority of the purfling channel. At the So. California Violinmakers Workshop last summer, I got to use a Fordham Rotary Tool set-up. Very nice. I'd like to get one, and may someday, but right now I have this. One thing I particularly liked was the foot-pedal power control. With the Dremel, the power control is on the machine -- really handy if you have three hands. But it occurred to me that I could build a kill-switch for the power to the Dremel to allow it to come to rest before I lifted it off the plate -- always a good time to really mess things up. So I went to the local hardware store and bought a big wall switch, a socket, a box, cover plate, and power cord.



Here's the box assembled, with the Dremel jig plugged in. In practice, the box will rest on the floor where I can operate the switch with my foot.



Here are the two plates with the purfling channel routed. Note that I stop short of the corners, and will finish that up by hand. Using the Dremel tool is still a stressful way to cut the channel, but it is clean and quick. It will take me longer to hand cut the eight corners and the button than it did to do this.



I should add that's it's always a good idea to plan these things out ahead of time. It's all in the design! :-)

Cleaning up the arching

With the purfling in, I now start on getting the arching to its final, or at least nearly final, state. I use templates, based on the original instrument, in this case the Stradivari 1715 "Titian", but cleaned up with curtate cycloids. Curtate cycloids are similar to what people of my age might remember as a spirograph, and are an old mathematical form, certainly known in the time of Stradivari and Amati. To draw a curtate cycloid, you can take a button. Put a pencil through one of the thread holes, run the button rim along a ruler, and trace out the pattern on paper.

While planing down to the final arching, it is satisfying to pull up a fine strip of the purfling as you go.

Purfling

Purfling is the black-white-black strip that runs around the edge of the top and back of a violin. It is typically made of three pieces of wood, dyed black (or nearly) for the two outside strips and dyed white (or nearly) for the inside strip. The violinmaker cuts a little channel all the way around the plate, then bends and fits pieces of purfling, which is then glued into place.

I just finished gluing the purfling on my latest --



The arching is incomplete here, as is the purfling, which still needs to be blended into the profile.

Purfling is a picky job. Because of a competition I'll mention later in this post, a friend sent me a quote from Biddulph's book on the maker Guarneri del Gesu. I received it just this morning, after I had cut and bent the purfling and channel, but was dissatisfied with my job, wondering what to do to clean it up. --

"The slot for the purfling is frantically cut. The knife slashed roughly along its intended route, leaving marks which career over the finished edge. The mitres are only approximately formed; the large gaps were sometimes quickly filled with paste, or simply left open. The purfling pursues a hesitant course, stopping short of the end of the corner, and meandering across the wide channel..."

Guarneri del Gesu is considered by most to be among the top two violin-makers, the other being Stradivari. This quote is in reference to the instrument named "Ole Bull" after the famous Norwegian violinist who owned it. It is reportedly a very nice instrument, and there is currently underway plans for an exhibition in 2010, featuring violins made on this model by living makers. You can read more about that here.