In a couple of day’s time, a report is to be handed down to our Premier of  Qld, as to the reasons why our lives have been turned upside down, and our livelyhoods destroyed. My guitarmaking  has been put on hold for 6mths while I attended to making our home liveable. It has been a massive task, and I could not have done it without the help of friends and relatives and tradesmen. While my home is liveable again, there is still much to be done, but now I am getting my guitarmaking workshops in order. With the help of [...]

[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.