Violin Pictures for 55 50 Ron

Zachary Hoyt · Jul 3, 2011

I got my first violin done a couple of months ago and have been playing it. I'm pretty happy with it but there are a couple fo things i would like to do better next time, most particularly the scroll, which is not what it could be. I've taken it up to the NY State Old Time Fiddlers Association and gotten favorable comments about the sound and mostly favorable about the finish and appearance. I will make another in the fall when I have a bit more time. Thanks very much for the help with where to get good information.
Zach

dmiller · Jul 3, 2011

So how hard is it to make a fiddle? I've always wanted to "someday".... I play one my great uncle made. Pretty proud of it.

Old Roy · Jul 4, 2011

That one did come out nice !!Would like to hear it.
Believe me I'm not knocking your work just a question. While you were showing it , Did anyone suggest maybe to lower the bridge a tad to sweeten the sound?
I have a copy of a Joseph Guarnerius ( Germany )
We just found it a year ago though some extensive search that belonged to my wife's great grandfather.
He brought it over from the old country ( Germany). I just had an old time fiddle player suggest that for this one, but warned that if taken down too far it will have a too bass y sound. This man also said someone he knew mad one with a Bulls head rather than the traditional scrolled head, He is looking for a pic of it I was diong a search for such items when I found this interesting 2 string horse head, says it is over 2000 years old

MarkB_MI · Jul 4, 2011

Beautiful!

HWess · Jul 4, 2011

From kit or plans?

Zachary Hoyt · Jul 4, 2011

From a book, and when the diagram was inconsistent I measured my old violin that I played to get the correct dimensions.
Zach

Zachary Hoyt · Jul 4, 2011

That's a neat horse head, I can't carve like that so I'll just have to stick with a scroll. I will lower the bridge at some point, it could come down close to 1/8" without being a problem, I think. Just haven't gotten there yet. I will try to remember how to take a video of it so you can hear the sound. That violin that came down through your family sounds like quite a treasure, with the history it has for you.
Zach

Zachary Hoyt · Jul 4, 2011

It wasn't all that hard, but I had built a mandolin and some banjos and harps and dulcimers before it, so a lot of it was sort of familiar. The scroll was very time consuming but there is a step by step process that makes it not terribly complicated as I had thought it might be. If you want to ease into it you could try buying a violin kit from Stewart-Macdonald or somesuch place.
Zach

55 50 Ron · Jul 5, 2011

Wow, nice Zach. I haven't been on YT a lot lately and I missed these photos until a friend mentioned it in an email. You have made ALL the parts. We don't carve the scroll, we buy a precut one and just do the finish carving and cutting. Also we buy ebony tailpieces, chin rests and fingerboards. We just final-shape the fingerboards. We have several books and articles that spell out all the dimensions but we do occassionally measure an OLD one as a check point. I'll need to post another photo here of one that I'm doing the finishing (varnish, etc.) work on at present, but summer doesn't allow as much time to do this inside work!! I'm curious as to what you used for your dimensions, particularly the thickness of the front and back plates. Those thicknesses are where we spend the most of our carving time. It would be nice to talk to you via email or phone but I don't particularly like to post those on here.

Violin Pictures for 55 50 Ron

Zachary Hoyt

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dmiller

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Old Roy

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MarkB_MI

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HWess

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Zachary Hoyt

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Zachary Hoyt

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Zachary Hoyt

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55 50 Ron

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