First Stradivarius Build

[DanofTucson]

Hi all, I have decided to become a violin builder (I think you call it a Luther?).

So for my first build I want to build a Antonio Stradivari violin of 1703, such as the La Rouse Boughton violin played by Boris Kuschnir of the Kopelman Quartet.
But I have no access to any Stradivaries here in Tucson. And I have never seen one (or any violin) up close. Except for my 1961 Kay upright bass, which I did re-glue the tapered dove tail joint on once.

I was thinking I could scan my Kay bass on a giant copy machine and then shrink it down to violin size. Do you think that would work?

We don't have any ancient Bavarian Spruce trees here in Tucson, but we have lots of Mesquite, is that a good choice for an exact Stradivarius copy?

I also have a German style bass bow.

By the way, the Mesquite wood is wonderful for BBQ fires!

Thank you for your suggestions!

[mrmorrison]

This might help you in your journey:

http://www.violin-world.com/sound/lectwo.html

Good luck!

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by mrmorrison

This might help you in your journey:

http://www.violin-world.com/sound/lectwo.html

Good luck!

Oh no no! They base their build on the Betts Stradivarius (1704). That just wouldn't do!

[mrmorrison]

Originally Posted by DanofTucson

Oh no no! They base their build on the Betts Stradivarius (1704). That just wouldn't do!

How about this? http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/muratow_s_w/violin_design.shtml

[DanofTucson]

Hmmm... Looks like dividers are used allot for violin design. But I'm thinking I could use some string with a map pin and pencil.

[tonewoods]

Well, being in Tucson, you simply must join this outfit...

They meet every October in Tucson, and there's usually a Strad or two kicking around during the meeting...

I cut wood for violins (here's my website), and sometime attend...

Luck!

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by tonewoods

Well, being in Tucson, you simply must join this outfit...

They meet every October in Tucson, and there's usually a Strad or two kicking around during the meeting...

I cut wood for violins (here's my website), and sometime attend...

Luck!

Ok, great. But I think I'd rather move to Orcas Island. How do I do that!

[DanofTucson]

This has been to much fun. But I had better get back to cleaning up the clutter in my work shop, so I can get started on the Resolectric Guitar builds I'm supposed to be working on. I check you'alls replys later!

[scoots]

working?

[scoots]

well

[Parma_TeleMon]

So what's become of your Mesquiteivarius? We want an update!!!

[ghostwolf]

bet you could play some 'smoking' riffs on a mesquite violin.. :-0

[Parma_TeleMon]

OY! You should be ashamed of yourself. Really!!

[DanofTucson]

For a second I was impressed with how many views this thread has gotten.
I thought, "Wow, that's allot of views, for being in the "Testing Please Ignore Forum", this could be a good title for a real thread!

Then I checked an discovered the title:

"This is a test"

Has almost three times more views.


Aw heck, I'm gonna keep going anyways.

[DanofTucson]

As I said, I had to repair the old Kay upright bass.
The problem was the original factory neck joint separating after some forty odd years of abuse.




The light color you see in the joint lines is bare wood showing, because the tapered sliding dove tail joint is separating.
The verticle line through the curve of the heel to neck transition is an old repair that occurred before I owned the bass, and still holds with no problem.

[DanofTucson]

So it was seriously loose, but it just wouldn't come apart. I ended up banging on it with a 24oz dead blow hammer to get it to slide out. I don't have any picture of me hitting it with the hammer. That would have been good.




Now I can see what was hanging it up. The joint had very little glue still functioning, if it ever did. But part of the dove tail pin that was glued good, held the whole joint together until it broke away forming a "key". That's why it was loose, but took some force to slide it apart.

[DanofTucson]

Continued...



So here is the neck off.



This is a pretty good shot of the dovetail pin side where the pieces tore out.



And a view from a different angle of the pieces stuck in the dovetail.

[DanofTucson]

So to recap...



The dovetail pin needs allot of cleaning up.




And so does the dovetail.



Here's the two main parts of the bass. Shown with a Squier Bass for perspective.

[DanofTucson]

Well, it's midnight in the 'Old Pueblo'. Guess that's quittin' time.




Night night sleepy doggie.

[DanofTucson]

A little rough cleanup with the chisel



The glue was so badly deteriorated that the larger bits of old wood cleaved off easily...



..Or a small amount of persuasion...



and a little scraping.



Off with those bits.

[DanofTucson]

Some progress...



Everything is cleaned up and sliding nicely now. But it's going to need some shimming to restore a snug fit and re-enforce the receiving dovetail.




A spruce shim is cut to fit the angle and taper of the dovetail.



Then a dummy pin was cut to wedge the shim in place for preliminary glue up of the bottom shim.

Additional shims were cut for each side of the dovetail, but I failed to get pictures.

[DanofTucson]

With the slot cleaned up and shimmed, I turned my attention to the pin.



A nice rectangle hole will be allot easier to patch than a fractal tear out.



Some pencil scribbling shows off high material to be removed.



And more cutting...



It's getting there.

[DanofTucson]

Patches



Cut down to fresh wood again.



There was also a spot on the other side of the pin where a previous repairman had used putty. I cut it down to replace the putty with a wood patch. I'm not going to worry about the bit of old putty in the sole of the pin.




While doing the repairs I noticed many hairline separations around the edges of the body. I cleaned them out with a knife, injected glue and clamped it up.

[DanofTucson]

The patches were made from a piece of scrap mahogany.



A patch here



A patch there



Then glue and clamp. I made the patches "proud" to be shaved down during final fitting. Under the safety glasses in the back ground you can almost see the stick which was cut to match the dovetail angle, wrapped with adhesive
backed sand paper and used to do the fine adjustment of the final fit.

[DanofTucson]

I made the joint fit extremely tight. Dangerously so. After applying glue I almost couldn't get it together. I had to use the 24oz dead blow hammer again to drive it home. But it worked. Since the dovetail is tapered, it went together like a cork.


The orange hammer is sitting on the spare clamps to the left.



The light colored wood at the bottom of the heel is another shim. I both shimmed the height, and reset the neck angle with this repair.
The original neck angle on this Kay bass was very low.



And now to let it dry for awhile.

[DanofTucson]

Here it is



For those of you that double on upright, I can highly recommend the Corelli tungsten wrapped / steel core strings. I got a new set from Southwest Strings in Tucson when I did the new setup after this repair. They are way easier on the fingers and have much better tone than my old "Red Label" strings. I made the "Peg Leg" end pin out of an old table leg and a white cane tip.




When I reset the action and cut new slots for the lighter gauge strings I made feet for the old bridge out of ironwood. Ironwood grows in the Sonoran Desert where mesquite grows, and has sometimes been cut down and sold as BBQ wood with the mesquite. I can't image how the wood cutters could not know what they were doing. The ironwood would be so much harder on their tools. The heavy dense ironwood seemed to improve sustain and volume.

[PeteMac]

That's some pretty neat handywork ya got goin there, Dan.

I don't know what she's worth, but I'd be s**t-scared to try anything like that on any acoustic instrument.
Nice work.

Does it play any differently than before you fixed 'er up ?

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by PeteMac

That's some pretty neat handywork ya got goin there, Dan.

I don't know what she's worth, but I'd be s**t-scared to try anything like that on any acoustic instrument.
Nice work.

Does it play any differently than before you fixed 'er up ?

Thanks, Pete.

Man! It plays so much better! I should a broke the neck off years ago!
I guess it's been a long time since I seriously considered the set up, so trying out a new string gauge and having to reset everything because of the changed neck angle. I just did a much better job this time.
The guys I let try it ask me if they are nylon core strings, because the action is so easy. But they are actually steel core. It was like driving a truck before, and now it's like, well, maybe not a sports car, but a well balanced touring sedan.

[woodman]

fascinating saga, and a mighty nice piece o' work!

[Wardpike]

Great work. When are we invited to the bbq?

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by Wardpike

Great work. When are we invited to the bbq?

Looks like I'll have to postpone the BBQ for awhile. It's this dang clutter in the shop again. It's a never ending project!

[DanofTucson]

Yea, when I started the project to clear space to work I took these pictures to be my "before" pictures for the amazing shop cleanup project.



My work benches had no drawers or cupboards.




So of course every horizontal surface was covered with stuff.

[DanofTucson]

Continued



So I built twelve drawers for the work bench.



And some overhead cabinets.



And a rack to organize my clamps.

[DanofTucson]

Plus I built pegboard tool holders. Re-arranged all the storage. And took a bunch of stuff to the Boys & Girls club donation trailer.




So, of course, every horizontal surface is cover with stuff.

[DanofTucson]

So, I took the "Mesquitievarious" Bass out to California last weekend to a BBQ/Block Party (didn't you get your invite?) and Jammed with a bunch of old band mates. In a fit of drunken bravado I told a couple of them that I'm building myself a guitar, and, I'm gonna build one for each of them too!
If that's not bad enough. When they asked me what kind of guitar they are getting. I told them they're each getting a Tele body, with a reverse head stock, 24 fret neck, oh yea, and they're going to be resolectric, tri-cone, of course.

When I sobered up I thought... Man! This is going to be fun!

[Derek S]

Great build and a very cool pictorial history. As an aside, what side of Tucson do you live in?

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by Derek S

Great build and a very cool pictorial history. As an aside, what side of Tucson do you live in?

Thanks Derek. I live out in the boonies on the south west side.

[Derek S]

I live on the West Side in the El Presidio neighborhood (Snob Hollow). Y'know, just west of the soon to be swinging (by at the most 2090) Downtown...

[DanofTucson]

Originally Posted by Derek S

I live on the West Side in the El Presidio neighborhood (Snob Hollow). Y'know, just west of the soon to be swinging (by at the most 2090) Downtown...

Ah yes. Used to live down there in the historic university neighborhood.
One thing I miss is all the close by take out.

[DanofTucson]

This is a couple of pieces of hardwood from Bolivia that I hope to get five necks out of.