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.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Here are some pictures of the finished instrument which weighs in at 522g (without chinrest):


