Posted on July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips An American in Mirecourt, Part Two An American in Mirecourt, Part Two Violin Construction as Learned by an Apprentice to René Morizot by Paul Schuback from his 1995 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #65, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 See also, An American in Mirecourt by Paul Schuback Roughing Out the Insides of Plates and Cutting f-holes After the outsides of the plates have been carved and scraped to their finished shapes and the purfling has been installed, the next step is to trace the f-holes onto the top. The f-holes will be cut out after the inside of the plate has been roughed out and the plate is thinner, but this is the time when you establish their positions. Measure 19.3MM from the edge of the plate at the neck end to find the bridge position on the centerline, and locate your f-hole template by referencing off of the bridge position and the centerline of the top. You can play with how they are angled to suit your own tastes. Trace the f-holes onto the top, and check to make sure that they end up an equal distance from the edges by measuring with a divider. The French always carve little hollows where the lower wings of the f-holes will go so that those areas will be recessed on the finished top. So after you have traced the f-holes, you gouge, plane, and scrape the wing areas out a little bit. In the process, you will cut away parts of your lines, so you will need to retrace them. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 13, 2024September 11, 2025 by Dale Phillips Thoughts on Violin Setup Thoughts on Violin Setup by Don Overstreet from his 2001 GAL Convention workshop Originally published on American Lutherie #71, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 In a very real way, speaking here today is the realization of a dream. I came to Tim Olsen’s shop on Park Avenue years ago when he was still making guitars. One of my uncles, who lived in the area, had sent me a newspaper article about Tim’s operation. Later I attended a GAL Convention. I’m indebted to the GAL for being an inspiration for me as an instrument maker — it gives proof that it can be done. I got my start in the violin field by way of a friend in Seattle named Bill Tafoya, who ran a guitar shop there. In 1973 I told him that I wanted to make guitars. He suggested that I go in the direction of violins instead, and he thought I should contact David Saunders, who had a violin making shop on Queen Anne Hill. I called David, and although he was not taking apprentices at that time, he connected me with Peter Prier, who was just starting the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City. I called Peter in 1973 and finally started at the Violin Making School in 1978. I graduated in 1982. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 13, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Violin Bridge Holder Violin Bridge Holder by Alan Carruth Originally published in American Lutherie #7, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Thanks to George Manno for some feedback on his experience with bridge tuning. Bridges on good violins do tend to be quite similar, but I still like to work them up individually. And he is certainly right about fitting the feet! One dimension he seems to have left out is the thickness of the feet at the bottom of the bridge, generally given as 4.5MM (3/16"). If this is too heavy it can make the instrument sound “closed.” If you don’t want to thin it anymore a bit of wood can be removed from the end of the leg without affecting the stiffness too much. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on April 7, 2022May 13, 2025 by Dale Phillips Violin Setups, Part One Violin Setups, Part One by Michael Darnton from his 1990 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #35, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 See also, Violin Setups, Part Two by Michael Darnton Setups represent one of the most important aspects of violin work. They are the most changeable part of a violin and can make the difference between a customer liking or hating a violin. People who do setups for a living in large shops do a lot of them — countless numbers of bridges, pegs, posts, and nuts. If you’re making one or two or twenty instruments a year you’re not going to be doing many setups. For the people who do those things everyday, it’s a very specialized art and they have very rigorous standards. With that in mind I’m going to try to communicate to you some of those standards, along with some actual “how-to” hints. Tools A bench hook (Photo 1) is simply a piece of wood that has a strip nailed to the bottom on one end and a strip nailed to the top on the other end. It hooks over the front edge of the bench and gives a stop to work against. On the under side of my bench hook I’ve glued a piece of sandpaper (Photo 2). If a tiny, thin piece of wood needs to be planed thinner, I flip over the bench hook and use the sandpaper as a traction area. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on April 7, 2022May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Violin Setups, Part Two Violin Setups, Part Two by Michael Darnton from his 1990 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #37, 1994 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 See also, Violin Setups, Part One by Michael Darnton Bridge When fitting a bridge, the first thing to determine is the proper placement. Ideally the bridge is exactly centered between the inner nicks on the f-holes. This assumes that the holes are centrally located on the violin, which is not always the case, and that the fingerboard is pointed at that position, which it commonly isn’t. The most important aspect of bridge placement is that the string path should be in a straight line. That is, the bridge should be directly between the nut and the end button. In this centering I would expect a maximum total deviation of about .5MM, and I would try to compromise this adjustment the least, assuming that the strings remained pretty much over the center of the fingerboard. If the neck was pointed really wrong I might consider resetting it. Also, I always check to be sure of the position of the end button, and I’ll move it if necessary. In some instances this can be an easy method of correcting for a slightly-wrong neck set. If the f-holes were really off center on an old instrument and I had the time and money, I’d consider resetting the neck and end button off center to match, possibly replacing the neck so that the heel would still point (although crookedly) at the button at the top of the back, minimizing changes to the button. Anyway, with an understanding of the problem and the possibilities, find a good place for the bridge to sit in the “east-west” dimension, then determine the proper “north-south” location. Ideally, the length of the neck from the nut to the edge of the top next to the neck on the E-string side should be 130MM, and from that point to the middle of the bridge 195MM; a ratio of 2:3. Consistency in this ratio keeps the positions of the player’s fingers relatively the same compared to the edge of the body, no matter what the total string length — an important factor in finding notes in the upper positions. If the length on the neck is off, the position of the bridge should be altered to compensate. For instance, if the neck length is 128MM, the distance to the bridge (the “stop”) would be (128/2)×3=192MM. This is the theory, at least, but I should also warn you that like most things in the violin world this is a subject of controversy, because some people believe that the total length of the string is the most important thing and would deal with the 128MM neck by making the stop 197MM instead. These people maintain two things. Firstly, that the player will quickly adjust to the new ratio. This is true — just ask a viola player. Violas are notoriously nonstandard. Secondly, they assert that the proper string length is important for the tone of the instrument. This is possibly but not necessarily true. Now you know the logic; the decision is yours. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
