UV rays are great for beans, carrots…and curing violin varnish! Two instruments are in the finishing stages. Please contact Shane if you’d like a call when they’re ready to try out!
Visitors to the workshop are always curious about the process of violin making. Here’s a sneak peek. By the way, Shane has also made a cello and a viola!
Harvest and store the wood…
Violin tops are spruce and the backs, while scrolls and ribs are maple. The wood gets dried for years in the form of wedges and blocks until their shapes are roughed out in preparation for fine-carving.
Tune the plates…
Shane uses time-honoured methods (think Stradivarius!) to carefully thin the top and back plates of the instrument. This ensures their frequencies are ideally matched to produce optimum sound. Each violin is fully assembled to be played “in the white” for sound assessment. After that, off come the strings and the varnishing begins!
Varnish (plenty of time and patience)…
The finish of each instrument reflects many thin layers of various shades of varnish. These are painstakingly sanded between each coat to result in contours of deeper and lighter tones. The final clear coats protect the colour and allow for safe cleaning of the violin over time. Watch for a future blog post on the topic of caring for your instrument’s finish!
The final setup is customized to the new owner…
As with any new or used instrument Shane sets up, he takes the time to refine the bridge shape and location, tweak the sound post, and choose the ideal strings to resonate with the style and ear of the player. Contact Shane to try any of the 20+ new and used instruments currently in the shop!
