Completed Viola #2

This is a repeat of a first very successful commissioned instrument. It is small with a body length of only 390mm (15.4″) that is based on an 1830 Guadagnini and the record of that first build can be found here.

I visited Steffen Nowak again in Bristol to select the wood. His selection was a little limited due to Covid but still had some lovely figured sets to choose from. What I ended up with choosing was some well seasoned Bosnian maple from 2011 for the back sides and neck and some Alpine spruce from 1992 for the front.

I am keeping the design the same and the build process for #2 is recorded below:

Wood from Steffen Nowak. 30 year old spruce and 12 year old maple.
Neck blank rough cut out to give it a chance to settle before final shaping.
Spruce blank sawn through
rib blanks
Ribs thicknessed to 1.1mm
Maple back blank resawn before bookmatch jointing
Rubbed joint on back
Ready to glue in the willow blocks
Spruce front rubbed joint
Willow blocks glued into the form
Blocks marked for carving
Blocks carved ready to take ribs
Inside of the back flattened
Front flattened
Front rough thicknessed to 18mm
Back rough thicknessed to 16.5mm
Ribs cut to length and grain patterns oriented
Glueing in the C bout ribs
Gluing in the lower bout ribs
Gluing on the remaining ribs
Marking out the back profile around the ribs using a washer to give the 2.8mm overhang.
Back marked up ready to cut out on the bandsaw
Front profile marked ready for cutting out
Gluing in C-bout linings on the back
Linings fitted to back and levelled off flush with top of ribs.
Back cutout on bandsaw
Front cutout on bandsaw
Rough carving the back with chisels
Carving the back using thumb plane
It’s a long process and the maple is really hard!
Back profile finally finished after days of chiselling, planing and scraping
Started to chisel out belly outside profile – so much easier than the maple on the back
Nearly finished with thumb planes on the outside profile – scrapers next
Temporarily tacking the back and belly to ribs in order to set the edge overhang before marking and cutting purfling grooves.
Standoffs taped to file for finishing the edge overhang
Edges all trued up ready for marking purfling slots
Veneer cut ready for gluing up the purfling sandwich
Gluing the purfling sandwich
Started purfling slots
Purfling slots cut on the top
Purfling sliced up on bandsaw
Purfling slots cut on the back
Purfling dry fitted to back
Purfling levelled off on back before cutting the purflng channel
Finished cutting and fairing in the channels on the back
Finished cutting and fairing in the channels on the top
Carving out the back with gouges
Carving out the inside of the back with thumb planes
Mode 5 309hz – early stage in plate tuning process
Mode 2 – early stage in plate tuning process
Roughing out inside of top with gouges and thumb planes
Mode 2 @ 130.8Hz on belly
Mode 5 @ 260.9Hz on belly
Final contours on back
Mode 2 @ 126.8Hz on back
Mode 5 @ 263.2Hz on back
Marking out f holes
f holes cut
Gluing in bass bar after chalk fitting
Initial mode 2 @ 133Hz after fitting bass bar
Initial mode 5 @ 282 after fitting bass bar
Mode 2 @ 127.1Hz on back
Mode 5 @ 262Hz on back
Mode 5 @ 255.9Hz on belly after bass bar tuned
Mode 2 @ 127.8Hz on belly after bass bar tuned
Blocks carved back ready for glueing on the back
Gluing on the back
Adding the linings on the front after removing the form
Measuring mode 5 frequency (dropped to 227Hz) on the attached back
Blocks carved back and cleaned up ready to glue on the top
Gluing on the top
Box closed up
Neck blank trued up and marked up ready for carving.
Just needto add flutings now
The finished scroll
Fingerboard shaped
neck joint cut
Finished neck and fingerboard ready to glue onto body.
Gluing on the neck
After a couple of coats of Vernice bianca
Finished instrument after 2 coats of Vernice Bianca, 1 coat of shellac and 10 coats of oil varnish.