Completed December 2021
The spruce top of this violin has a wider-than-usual grain pattern. Traditionally, a narrow, tight grain pattern is thought to be more desirable for tone quality. But, as is often the case, there are lots of exceptions, including many wide-grained Strads and Guarneris worth millions.
Completed November 2021
River is the first violin on which I employed a different varnish method. I finished most of my earlier 17 violins from a quart can of generic “amber violin oil varnish” purchased from my violin supply source. Starting with River, I now use a “ground” layer of clear or amber shellac, then a very thin color layer of transparent oil glaze, then many incredibly thin layers of a varnish made simply of linseed oil and pine resin. I much prefer the satin finish of this method, and the glazing technique allows for more visual interest.
It has long been rumored that Stradivari used a secret varnish formula that made his instruments both stunningly beautiful and tonally unsurpassed. Tiny flakes of his varnish have been examined in every conceivable way, and still no one has detected anything other than various common varnish ingredients. One thing we do know, however, is that the original varnish on the vast majority of the old master’s violins has long since worn away, in many cases replaced with numerous layers of “modern” spirit varnish or French polish. And yet, Stradivari’s violins still sound and look magnificent. Perhaps it’s not the varnish?
Completed October 2021
This violin is not named for the way it sounds.
Completed October 2021
It’s what you’ve gotta do! Learning both to build and to play the violin over the past two years has reinforced for me this very fundamental concept: you don’t get better unless you practice.
The deep red color of this violin is how most Stradivari instruments looked when they were newly varnished, as was the fashion at the time. The deep red of the old master’s violins has faded over the past 300 years. I’m hoping this one might be around long enough to fade like that!
Completed August 2021
Named for my wife’s father’s father, who was a vocalist and violinist, among other musical talents. Stacey remembers how Otto embarrassed his grandchildren in church by belting out the hymns at twice the necessary volume.
Completed August 2021
There is a very small erotic image laminated inside this violin, in a spot impossible to see without a flexible fiber-optic scope. The question I am trying to answer is: if this were the violin of a 14-year-old boy, would he spend more time practicing?
(For the record, the image is from a 19th century painting and, as erotica goes, is pretty inoffensive. That’s the most I will say about it.)
Completed June 2021
Since it takes about a month to build a violin (about 200 hours), I have plenty of time to think of names while I work. So one might think I’d come up with something more dignified. But soon before I started building this one, I started formal violin playing lessons. The first song I learned was, “I’m-A-Little-Monkey!”
Monkey, along with several of my others violins, has been fitted with mechanical fine-tune pegs. Instead of a simple wooden peg stuck in a tapered peg hole, a mechanical peg is a carbon-fiber shell around an ingenious set of gears that allow the peg head to be turned eight times for one spin of the shaft. This makes it infinitely easier to tune the strings properly and quickly. There are lots of good reasons for using fine-tune pegs, and lots of good reasons to stop using traditional pegs. But the ability to tune without fine tuners is a hard-learned skill that accomplished violinist are proud of. For many of these players, fine tuners are for beginners and sissies. I know I’m at least one of those.
Completed May 2021
My grandson, born just before I started this violin. Like both his father and mother, Luka is blond and blue-eyed, and I wanted to make a blond violin with just a hint of blue under the rim of the overhang. It didn’t turn out as I’d envisioned, though, as the top layers of amber varnish turned the blue to green. All attempts to correct this problem failed, as you can clearly see from the finished violin. People often comment that they find the instrument very “interesting.” It sounds better than it looks.
Completed March 2021
Named for the candy bar. There is a story told on the radio show and podcast “The Moth” by an Indian man who is introduced to the treat for the first time: “This is KitKat. They eat it in America. It’s AMAZING!” I tried to color the varnish to look like milk chocolate.
Completed April 2021
I lived in Indonesia for almost a year when I was 18, staying with a very large family headed by a prominent and well respected political journalist. “Bapak” was getting on in years and was rather skinny, bald, and jug-eared. He was extremely smart with a very broad sense of humor, and he played the violin like he was choking a cat. I almost died from suppressed laughter one night when he let rip a full twenty-second fart while the rest of the family ― all stone-faced ― continued watching television. This violin has significantly better tone.
