[caption id="attachment_241" align="alignleft" width="176" caption="Polished violin"][/caption]

I said I would get it finished, and I did! This is an instrument that I made from a violin making book by Ed Heron-Allen. I can’t play a violin, but it has the same tuning as the F5 mandolins I make. I asked my daughter to play a couple of little melodies, and I was stunned by the quality of tone and the power of the notes coming out of that little box. I can see why craftsmen get mesmerized by this little gem. I have more adjustments to make, like, add a chinrest, lower action, find a case and bow. I thought the pedal steel guitar was difficult, but this violin playing is a real special skill.

[caption id="attachment_235" align="alignleft" width="168" caption="Lacquering the violin (minus f/bd)"][/caption]

I am in between making guitars at the moment, so as we are on Easter holidays, I remembered I had been carting around this partly made violin for a lot of years. I got stuck into it and added the purfling, joined the neck to the body, and made the fingerboard. I am doing the lacquering before I add the fingerboard. When I looked inside the ‘f’ hole, my business card inside was dated 7/84,  so I’ve been trying to keep the bits of wood safe for 26 years! It’s truly amazing I had no dings to fix up. My middle daughter is learning the violin (3/4 size), so one day she may have the opportunity to try this one (4/4) out.