VIOLA JOURNAL PAGE 2 |
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The top linings are glued in and the blocks have all been trimmed down. Compare this photo to the lower one in the previous post if it's unclear from where all those wood chips came! |
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Tracing around the ribs to mark the outline of the top plate. |
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Once I've cut out the top, I plane down the middle just to double check that the join is precise. Looks good! Things progress quickly from here. Spruce feels like frozen butter to carve after working with that highly figured maple back and a few hours later the rough arching is complete. It might happen quickly, but this is possibly the most important part of the entire building process when it comes to deciding the instrument's voice. |
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As soon as I'm satisfied with the outside arching, I flip the top over and begin scooping out that acoustically potent spruce. I've already drilled the holes of the f-holes to help ascertain the thickness of the top while working. That solid sculpted top is soon transformed into a light and ringing plate. Now it's time to connect the dots (carve the f-holes). |
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The position and shape of the f-holes control how the top plate will twist and tremble when subjected to the energy left from a vibrating string after passing through the bridge. The area between the ff's is where the plate has the most capacity for movement. I call it the "acoustic island". |
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The bridge sits right in the middle of this "island" and transfers the energy used to get the whole plate vibrating. The bass-bar and soundpost help control and distribute this energy, but it's the size and shape of the "island" along with it's relation to the top and lower bouts that can make an arching so accoustically effective. I've drawn on the purfling just to help visualize the final layout of the plate, then I trace on the ff's and cut them roughly out with a jeweller's saw, leaving a lot of room for me to make decisions when finishing them by knife. I nearly always save those two curved pieces that you see in the upper right photo. I've got a zip-lock bag in one of my drawers with about a hundred of them. I have a strange feeling that they'll come in handy someday......?? |
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Starting the purfling channel on the back. Quite an exceptional piece of maple! |
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The channel is complete and I begin fitting in the strips of purfling. |
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After the purfling is glued into the channel, it's time to carve the fluting. Fluting is the channel that is carved to dip below the level of the plate's edge. This allows the edge to remain of sturdy thickness while increasing the flexibility and acoustic activity of the crucial area around the outline of the plate. |
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The fluting finished and blended into the rest of the back's arching. This adds much to the beauty and complexity of the arch. Sometimes the light falls just rightto capture it in a photograph. |
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The back, now completed, is glued back on. For my first 50 or so instruments, I purfled and fluted the plates without removing them from the rib structure. This way of working has an organic and intuitive feel to the process since one is handling the entire sound-box. During the fluting process, unable to measure the exact thicknesses of the plates(since they are still attached to the body), it's necessary to decide on the plate's outer thicknesses by feeling for the flexibility of the plates under one's fingers. I'm glad that I worked this way for years and feel comfortable visualizing the thicknesses of a plate one cannot measure. Recently, during the purfling of a cello, unsatisfied with my possibilities for securing the instrument to the workbench, I removed the plate. A loose plate can be very easily clamped to a surface, making the cutting of the purfling channel a more controlled and pleasant affair. The same practical ease of clamping carried over to the fluting of the plates as well. Why do I glue the plates on at all before doing the purfling and fluting? It has to do with the edge overhang, but I am beginning to question the necessity of that as well. I'm always pleased when I notice that my process itself is evolving. |
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Same process for the top. Purfled and fluted. |
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Bassbar carved to fit the inner arching. |
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I make sure to glue a label onto the inside of the back plate before gluing the top back on. LIV(instrument #54)
Now that the body is complete, I'll get started on the neck and scroll; impatient to hear how that acoustic body will sing. |
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I've designed a robust but modestly sized scroll for this model. It should have suffiicient gravitas to complement the breadth of the body without being overly extravagant or excessively weighty. |
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Beginning with what truly affects functionality, I shape the neck and pegpox to their necessary widths. Only now that the important work is completed do I concentrate on the character of the head itself. I don't believe that I'll ever tire of the possibilities for expression available with the traditional "spiral" head. For me, it comes closer than any other man-made design to the perfect elegance found in nature. |
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Somehow, while carving a scroll, the majority of my tools all eventually find their way to the workbench! |
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000 |
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