Papa Post: A Tour of Violin Shop

So, Foxwife asked if I would give a glimpse of what I am doing at work right now. A tour!

Below is a shot of the workshop, with woodchips and fiddle parts and instruments baking in the UV light box, and a few toys and bottles of hot sauce, too. The bench against the wall there is set up so that I can do most of my work while standing. It saves a lot of neck and back pain while I gouge and dig and saw about on things.

At this end of the workbench I have two violins from the turn of the 20th century that I've restored, meaning I dragged them apart and fixed all their cracks and bad repairs and cleaned the mold and dirt out of them, and then got them up to a nice shine again, ready for fresh ebony pegs and setup. This work is rewarding because I serve the instrument, making it the best it can be, knowing that it will outlive me by three or four hundred years, brightening the lives of people not born yet. 

The orange violin is a 1909 A. Heuyauer made in Salt Lake City, and the brown one behind it is a 1912 Heberlein made in Markneukirchen, Germany. These fiddles will go out to a dealer in Milwaukee tomorrow-- he has been calling all week to hurry me along- apparently excited to get his hands on them.

Below are my next two violins, opus 42 and 43, still in pieces, though the one on the left will be put together by the weekend. I am very proud of the scroll I've carved for it- it has a lot of character and compliments the rest of the fiddle nicely. The one on the right had a different back to begin with, a beautiful quilted piece of maple that was cut in the 1960's, and chosen for this violin by Foxwife from my stash of wood. Unfortunately, a large seam of checks was hidden in the piece, and I had to scrap the almost-finished back after 20 or so hours of work. So it goes...

These violins are modeled on a G.B. Rogeri violin of 1704, although most of the stylistic points reflect my own taste by this point. Violins built on this form have a rich, even sound; very fun to play.

Next is my new viola, opus 41, with it's first layer of varnish drying on it. The ground varnish goes on the protect the wood, and is harder than the consequent layers that give my instruments a depth and rich color I couldn't achieve without this first, golden field. This is a fairly accurate copy of a 15 5/8" da Salo viola that Mark Womack gave me a mould for. It's sunning in the light box right now.

And below is that mould! The plywood form with the holes drilled into it holds the ribs, or sides, of the viola to the blocks, helping to form the instrument to the right dimensions. This bad boy is ready to go back into production after I have my violins drying, as I've gotten a commission for one from Park City, Utah from an old friend. Her daughter will be a senior next year, and she promised her a Jacoby viola some years ago. 

I'll go back to playing with blocks of wood now, and let Foxwife walk you out.

-Chris

**Christopher is employed by A. Cavallo Violins. Learn more about the shop HERE.