A new violin project #5

[Kevin in California]

I'm using non traditional woods again.
For this one, Redwood for the top and a wood that looks alot like walnut but I think it's something else for the back and sides and neck.

I have the side strips cut and thinned to .045"
The top plates are joined and the back plates are joined.
Both are 7/8" thick.

The first step will be to bend the side pieces.

I made a new mold and already have spruce block attached and shaped ready for the sides.

[Kevin in California]

I'm moving along on this build.

I bent the side pieces for the corpus and finished gluing them to the blocks today. The sides sections are about 1/16" taller than the blocks which are at 1 1/4".

So the sides are glued on slightly proud. I trim them down carefully close to the blocks then sand both sides of the corpus flat to the blocks on my sanding board.

Once that was done I trimmed the C bout corners to make them square to the sides.

Then I could use the corpus to mark off the profiles on the back and top plates. There are 2 lines. One is the outline of the body which will be there as a guide for gluing the top and back onto the corpus. The outer line is a overhang that is part of the structure.

Then I used a marking block and scored a line around the edge of both plates that will be starting point for the edge thickness. Beginning at 6mm. Ultimately it will be 4mm.

Now I can begin removing material and start to establish arching on the back plate.

[John Parchem]

wow! Down to a science.

[Kevin in California]

I've started carving the back. Edge thickness at this point is 6mm. I still have alot of material to remove. Next step is to mark the edge thickness at 4mm and take it down to that line as I continue the shape the arching. 4mm is the final so I have to carve carefully.

[Kevin in California]

Not there yet but taking shape.

I used a Dremel attached to a base to take the edge thickness down to about 4.5mm an in 3/8" so I'd have a fairly level ledge later for the purgling install.

Then I began carving again refining the arches.

[Kevin in California]

I have the purfling installed and scraped down on the back plate.
Next I began to carve out the inside with a gouge. I have about half the wood gone. Still much to do to bring the thickness down to 5mm in the center bout area graduating out in all directions to about 3.5mm.

[Herman]

Nice!