I have been building a left hand violin for an order and it is finally ready to be varnished. Hand made left hand studio violin built in the workshop of Ilja Grawert & son master violin maker and luthier in Brisbane Australia The Gap and North Queensland near Whitsundays in our beautiful workshop surrounded by rain forest, fruit trees, gardens and a clear Mountain creek…
Currently as a little side hobby I learning to stamps on wood. So far I am getting closer to acceptable quality with every new attempt. When I am happy there will be new, traditional stamped labels in my violins. beautiful look and no printing involved…very traditional old craft, old time. Stamp No1 was the first trial ever in rubber and is just not good enough, and No2 is done in a soft rubber and a little bit better but triggered a material change and Stamp No3 is my first trial in end grain hardwood. I am still improving the method and am already getting better results.
Here is another one of my projects I am currently working on. A 15.5 inch studio viola…thicknessing the top-plate is finished, the bass bar wood is prepared to the right thickness. I chose a high quality, well seasoned, split peace of spruce. After checking all the proportions, lots of measuring & calculating I could mark the final length and exact positioning for the bass bar to ensure most vibration of the top. The bar gets roughly fitted and now everything is ready for fitting and gluing the positioning blocks…
So the bass bar is glued as you saw in the last update. I removed the clamps grabbed my little thumb plane and started shaping the bass bar. It has to be supportive of the pressure onto the top plat from the strings and bridge as well as being able to spread the vibrations on the bottom strings as fast as possible over the whole plate. That way you get this beautiful deep growly sound we love with cellos. When done I glued the top plate onto the sides and started working on the back plate. I make use of some thickness templates which are only a guideline creating the right thickness and balance.
Shaving the inside of the top plate, fitting & shaping the bass bar & thicknessing the back plate accurately is very important in building a cello. This is one of the most essential parts in creating the beautiful sound which will eventual make people dance, burst into tears of beauty or just listen to the song being carried through the concert hall. This process transforms the cello from a furniture to a musical instrument… which then will be loved by the musician its companion for life.
Each cello carries a song of its own, telling a story of its proportions, the tools and the hands shaping it from a block of wood into this beautiful creation of sound.
After fitting and gluing the little wooden placement blocks to hold the bass bar in exactly the same position while fitting, I started with the rough fitting of the bass bar. I place the bass bar in the right position check the fit and use my little thumb planes to shave away some wood. I was hoping to do more but burned my index finger last night on a fire brick and decided I need to wait a day or two. Fitting the bass bar is always exciting as that marks the finishing of the top plate. Are you interested in pre-order buying this cello you have a chance to take some influence on the making to make it a truly personelised cello. Follow the link below:
I finally got around to prepare and glue the fingerboard on my new studio cello.
It will be finished in two weeks. I can’t wait to hear it…
