Posted on July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips An American in Mirecourt An American in Mirecourt Violin Construction as Learned by an Apprentice to René Morizot by Paul Schuback from his 1995 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 See also, An American in Mirecourt, Part Two by Paul Schuback When I started out, my idea was to make lutes. I haven’t made one yet, and the more time goes by, the less likely it is that I ever will, but that was my intention — to go to France and study lute making. I found out that lute building was not easy to learn, and violin making was more lucrative, so I decided to become a violin maker. I studied with René Morizot from 1962 to 1965. Between 1900 and the 1960s, to graduate from a violin apprenticeship program like I went through, you had to be able to make a violin in the white (en blanc), including the scroll, in a week. You started Tuesday morning, and by Saturday night, working eight hours a day, you had to have it done. That may seem fast, but it’s really not. Friends of mine, older guys, would actually make two violins a week, not including cutting the scrolls. They’d have a scroll maker cut the scrolls and necks, then they’d set them into their instruments. Cottage-industry people who worked at home could make up to six violins a week, in the white, ready to be varnished. It was piece work, and they were paid by the numbers that they made. If they made the six by Saturday, they’d get their quota. If they made more, they’d get bonuses. They were cheap instruments, but they worked. 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 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 July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: David Rivinus Meet the Maker: David Rivinus by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #61, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 David Rivinus is a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest, having recently moved here from Vermont. His lutherie life has taken him from the Midwest, to California, Vermont, and to his current residence in Newberg, Oregon. It has also taken him from building, restoring, and photographing traditional instruments into the laboratory and out to the cutting edge of viola ergonomics, which is where I met him. The following conversation took place at the 1999 Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit near Portland, Oregon, where he and his innovative work were a welcome addition. What got you into the shop? Was it the music, the woodworking, or just turns of fate? I’ve been interested in both music and woodworking ever since I was a kid. I played violin and viola in school orchestra, and when I went to college I was a music major. I played in the college’s chamber orchestra and did a little conducting. My woodworking actually started with clocks. I was very interested in the gears and the inner workings of clocks, and I did some restorations. My first experience with varnish, for example, was in restoring clock cases. 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 July 8, 2024May 2, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Michael Darnton Meet the Maker: Michael Darnton by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #27, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 How did your lutherie career get started? I started playing cello when I was in 6th grade and immediately got more interested in the instrument than I was in the playing. When I was about twelve years old I got some money for Christmas from my grandmother. The very next day I ran out and bought Heron-Allen’s Violin Making, As It Was and Is, which I had spotted at a local bookstore. I talked to my mother a couple of weeks ago and she told me that she took one look at the book and thought, “This is a waste of money! He’s never going to do anything with it. It’s much too complex.” But she was wrong. I really surprised her. It took awhile to get around to it, though. Five or six years later I bought a piece of wood and some tools. I started a violin, but I didn’t get very far. I just put the whole thing aside. 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 July 7, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Douglas Fir Stradivari Questions: Douglas Fir Stradivari by R.E. Bruné Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 James Condino of Ashville, North Carolina asks: I used to have an article from a guitar magazine in the ’80s about one of the Stradivari guitars. The article claimed that the top was made of Douglas fir. How likely is that? R.E. Bruné of Evanston, Illinois answers: In reference to Stradivari using Douglas fir, this is a virtual impossibility. The wood is not native to Europe, and was not in commercial circulation in Europe in Stradivari’s day. Perhaps the confusion arises from the nomenclature of wood in which Americans tend to call most conifer soundboards of European origin “spruce” and the British use “pine” to refer to the same materials. In actuality, most are of the genus Abies or true fir, of which there are many varieties native to Europe such as Abies pectinata and Abies alba. (Google these and other species for more information.) Douglas fir is not a true fir, being of the genus Pseudotsuga. Picea is the Latin name for true spruces which are also used for instrument soundboards, of which there are also many varieties. All of these are difficult to positively identify once they are on a completed instrument, especially one that has aged for several centuries. ◆
