Violin Making, Second Edition Revised and Expanded E-Book

Bruce Ossman

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 81

Beschreibung

Author and lifelong teacher Bruce Ossman uses his simple techniques and clear instruction to guide you through every single step of making a violin. With a complete list of tools, full-size patterns, detailed illustrations, and templates for every piece all included, you'll craft an instrument fit for an orchestra.

Leseprobe

About the Author

Bruce Ossman was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 200 years after the death of Stradivari. Bruce partially attributes his interest in art and music to family members: His mother was a pianist, a grandfather played an instrument called a mandolin harp, and his father was a coal miner who took up oil-painting while recovering from a cave-in. His architect brother also played a part. Whenever the two of them sat down to discuss things, they always made drawings to illustrate ideas—a process Bruce still uses. While growing up, Bruce did work harvesting crops on family farms and spent a few summers working deep underground in an anthracite coal mine in spaces too low to stand up—which may be why his present house has some ceilings 16-feet high.

While attending Penn State University, Bruce took advantage of all the wonderful arts programs. When he heard the Curtis String Quartet play “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber, he fell in love with the violin. Bruce graduated in 1959 with a degree in biology.

Mining was too dangerous, so Bruce joined the Army. While serving two years in Okinawa as a radio technician, he developed an admiration for all things Japanese, eventually trying his hand at bonsai. After returning from the service, Bruce taught middle-school science until 1993.

Upon his retirement, he had time to pursue his interest in music. Bruce decided to make a violin after going through all the back issues of Strings and Strad magazines in the West Chester University library. Some of the traditional methods of violin making seemed needlessly complicated, so as he worked, Bruce tried to simplify things. The sketches he made to guide his thinking resulted in the first edition of this book. Since then, a violinist has played the Bach “Chaconne” on Bruce’s first violin.

After finishing his first violin, Bruce brushed up on musical theory by learning to play a soprano recorder; then he progressed to fiddling. He found that playing a violin is much harder than making one! But practicing on a self-made instrument was very rewarding and a great incentive to continue on his musical journey. Other hobbies include traveling and woodworking. Bruce has drifted down the Susquehanna River on a homemade kayak, ridden a motorcycle across Europe, and driven coast-to-coast several times. He’s always kept an aquarium, and is a life-long birder—he’d like to be reincarnated as a purple martin. As an amateur craftsman, he’s made such things as a Newtonian telescope, a working model of a trebuchet, and a crossbow. A still-unrealized goal is to build a glider big enough to fly in—but that would probably be a final project.

Bruce has enjoyed getting to know some wonderful people who’ve started in the great art of violin making. Some have gone on to more advanced levels, and that’s even better! (See the gallery on pages 14–23.)

Bruce and his wife, Martina, live in Chester County, Pennsylvania, midway between West Chester (the hometown of Samuel Barber) and Chadds Ford (Andrew Wyeth country). Their son and daughter-in-law live in Manhattan.

Contents

A Preview of the Building Process

Gallery

Chapter 1: Background and Structure

Chapter 2: Preparation of Materials

Chapter 3: Construction of the Violin

Steps 1-50: Using the Form, Making the Ribs, and Shaping the Blocks

Steps 51-71: Shaping the Belly and Back Plates

Steps 72-84: Adding Detail to the Belly—Creating the Bass Bar, f-holes, and End Rest Slot

Steps 85-115: Creating the Neck, Pegbox, and Scroll Unit

Steps 116-132: Shaping the Fingerboard

Steps 133-182: Finishing Up

Appendix: Full Size Patterns and Templates

A Preview of the Building Process

Reading all of the directions and studying the patterns before starting will give an overview of how the pieces are fashioned and how they fit together.

First, a body form is made from plywood. This mold will be used later when the blocks and ribs are temporarily fastened to it to establish the basic shape of the body.

Next, the main pieces are precut. The parts that can be prepared beforehand include the corner and end blocks, ribs, top and bottom plates, neck/pegbox/scroll block, and bass bar. The pegs, tail-pin, tailpiece, fingerboard, bridge, ribs, and purfling can be purchased ready to use.

Access to a band saw and drill press is useful, but common hand tools will suffice. Since a violin is mostly carved to shape, gouges and a thin-bladed knife are essential. Directions are given for making a carving turntable (page 42), rib-shaping forms (page 38), and simple clamps (page 43).

When the materials and tools have been prepared, the following steps can be followed. They form a logical sequence, but sometimes it is possible to change the order or do several things concurrently:

1Body form. The corner and end blocks are tack-glued to the body form.

2Pre-shape ribs. The ribs are pre-shaped by laminating thin veneer strips around forms OR by bending thin strips of maple over a heated metal bar (pre-cut maple ribs and electrically-heated bending irons can also be purchased).

3Attach ribs. The shaped ribs are glued to the blocks on the body mold.

4Trace plates. After the ribs are trimmed, the mold/block/rib combination is used to trace the proper shapes onto the boards that will form the top and bottom plates of the body.

5Cut neck opening. An opening is cut into the front block and rib. This is where the neck will be attached later.

6Remove body form. The body form is removed—leaving the shaped block/rib structure.

7Attach linings. Strengthening linings are glued to the inside edges of the ribs.

8Cut plates. The top and bottom plates are cut to shape with a band saw or coping saw.

9Shape outsides of plates. The plates are fastened to the carving table, and the outside surfaces are gouged and scraped to the proper arched shape.

10Hollow undersides of plates. The undersides of the plates are hollowed so that they become thin enough to vibrate easily. A choice can be made to leave enough wood under the top plate to be formed into a bass bar instead of gluing on a separate one.

11Carve sound-holes. The sound-holes are then carved into the top plate. **The purfling can be installed now, if desired, instead of at Step 23. However, Stradivari did it later in the process, and that is the way this book is organized.

12Form bass bar. The bass bar is glued to the underside of the top plate or shaped from the wood left there.

13Cut end rest opening. An opening is cut into the rear of the top plate to receive the end rest at a later time.

14Attach top plate. The top plate is glued to the rib/block/lining structure.

15Shape neck unit. The large maple block is marked and sawn to start the shaping of the neck/pegbox/scroll unit. Guide holes are then drilled to mark the locations of the four pegs.

16Carve scroll. The scroll is carved with a small saw, knife, and gouges.

17Hollow pegbox. The pegbox is hollowed with a knife and chisel, using a template to determine the depth.

18Shape neck base. The base of the neck is shaped to fit into the opening that was previously cut into the front block of the body.

19Tack-glue fingerboard. A fingerboard is shaped or purchased and temporarily tack-glued to the neck.

20Attach neck. The neck is glued into the body opening and the base of the neck cut level with the bottom of the rib and front block.

21Attach bottom plate. The bottom plate is body opening and the base of the neck cut level glued to the body and the base of the neck.

22Attach end rest. The end rest is glued into place at the rear of the top plate and carved into shape.

23Add purfling. Purfling strips are made to fit into grooves along the plate edges and glued in place. **The purfling can also be installed earlier on in the process around Step 11. However, Stradivari did it at this point, and that is the way this book is organized.

24Shape pegs. The pegs are shaped to match the taper of the reamer.

25Ream peg holes. Tapered peg holes are reamed into the pegbox guide holes.

26Attach nut. The nut is glued to the front edge of the fingerboard. After it is shaped, small nicks are made for the strings.

27Varnish. The fingerboard is removed, and the violin is given a final smoothing and is varnished.

28Insert sound post. The sound post is inserted through the treble-side sound hole.

29Shape bridge. A pre-formed bridge is shaped to fit on the top plate between the sound holes.

30Finishing touches. The fingerboard, tail pin, tail piece, and strings are added. The position of the sound post is adjusted for best performance.

GALLERY

A beautiful handcrafted violin is a wonderful project to complete and admire. In the following pages, the work of five luthiers is displayed to inspire your own work. The violins that started it all—Bruce Ossman’s own—are pictured on pages 16-17. Don Homan, a retired physicist, began building violins as a hobby using the first edition of this book (page 18). Andrew Sutherland is a professional luthier living in England (page 19). Peter Gallant, another reader of the first edition, specializes in crafting violins from exotic and unusual woods (page 20-21