Apparently non-traditional woods are not readily accepted in the "violin world".
So while I let the first violin settle in "in the white" awhile longer I've begun to build #2.
This one is Bradford Pear wood back and ribs from a 30year old tree we had removed about 7 years ago from our yard. The trunk was 7 feet of straight clean 18 inch diameter goodness.
I've used some for turnings and it is solid, dense closed grain with a pleasant tan color and swirly grain.
The top is redwood. At least 50 year old planks pull from a storage tank a few years ago. 5.5" wide x 3/4" thick. The boards were 10' long. I bought about 6 or 8 of them.
Many were near quarter sawn. Beautiful dark wood with some darker grain lines. I've resawn a bunch for three and four piece tops for guitars. I've built 2 thus far and it works out great. Grain lines totally hide glue lines and this actually adds some helpful stiffness to the top.
Anyway I looked at the boards and saw they are perfect size for a violin top. So I have the 2 pieces milled and glued together for the top cut to shape and ready for carving.
The rib structure is built still on the mold and will still need linings installed.
The back plates are joined. This pear wood us not as easy to carve with gouges as maple.
I believe this will produce a beautiful instrument that will hopefully make great violin sounds.
There is a violin maker here in California who recently made a violin from apple wood with a redwood top that sounds amazing so I have high hopes for mine.
I will post some pics of my status thus far tomorrow.
Another adventure.