Over the past two weeks, I’ve been at the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in Durham, NH taking the violin building class with Karl Roy. This marks my third year in this class, and I’m now about two thirds of the way through building my first violin. The program is offered for five weeks each summer, but since I’m only able to attend for two of them, my violin is progressing a little more slowly that I would like.
My saga with violin making started when I asked a maker I knew how I could best get started learning the craft. He told me to “go make furniture”, which I found very insulting. I asked this guy how I could learn to make a violin and he pretty much just brushed me off as another one of those people who think it would be “neat” to make their own fiddle. I guess he didn’t realize that I already had a pretty good idea of the precision and discipline involved. Anyhow, his brushoff just firmed up my resolve to learn, and I stumbled across this program at the University of New Hampshire.
The classes are fairly informal, with each student working on his or her own instrument. Everyone meets in a group first thing in the morning to follow Karl around the workshop as he evaluates each student’s progress and gives direction on how to proceed. The class breaks for lunch at noon and then works from 1:00 to 5:00 when there is a two-hour dinner break. There are night sessions from 7:00 to 9:00, and also a session on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Basically we do a LOT of violin making, and end up having to go back to work to relax after the vacation.
Despite the long days, I’ve made some wonderful friends in the class, and I really look forward to seeing their faces each year. Jim Robinson from Renaissance Strings is the shop foreman and seems almost superhuman in his ability to offer constant help, and without Zoran’s advice my corners would never have come out as nicely as they did.
Here is what I’ve managed to get accomplished so far:
Year 1: Completed the rib assembly and started the rough arching on the top and back.
Year 2: Glue in the linings and complete the arching of the plates.
Year 3: Cut out the overhangs, and glue in the purfling.
Cliff:
Nice series of photos from the workshop Cliff. It was good to see it and Karl again. When I got home from the workshop, I started working on a second violin so I would forget all the stuff Karl taught. I’ve got it up the perfling stage. Good to meet you last summer. Maybe I’ll see you next year.
Dave Marlatt
from Kalamazoo
[...] This marks my fourth year at the Violin Craftsmanship Institute. Last year, I spent most of my two weeks refining the corners on my violin, so it really didn’t feel like I had made much progress. This year was different. I was able to complete the purfling, get the arching on both plates done, and voice the top. I had hoped to get the ff-Holes cut, but all I managed to do was to mung up a couple of practice pieces with wide grain… I guess they will have to wait until next year. [...]
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Do you know aaaaaaaaanyone here, in Florida, willing to teach?
Im crazy about violin-making, but no one whants to teach!
Im violinist and music teacher.
Could u pleeeeease get in touch with me?
Ill be really happy!
Thanks.
Great post. Just don’t forget the importance of the violin in the music scene! I think many bands can do better if they add a violin or two.