There is still a lot to be done, but this is my newest-- a five-string fiddle, of local big-leaf maple, and Englemann spruce. I only have the ground /sealer coat on, and will probably begin varnishing tomorrow.

I hope I can push the color toward the golden range-- right now it is pretty tan on all the maple and very light on the spruce-- I want to balance that a lot more. I also don't much care for the long corners, so I may consider shortening them a little. As I get the varnish on and the saddle, endpin, etc. installed, I will post more photos.

Very nice! Love the double purfling. 

Appearance wise, that is some good looking wood. Guitar players really like Englemann spruce. It is reputed to have an excellent sound, and sound-wise, "opens up" very quickly. Does a Brazilian rosewood fretboard sound better than ebony or boxwood ? Lots of inlay work. You must be very good at doing this.

When I lived in Michigan a luthier told me he spent more time crawling through lumber yards than he did building instruments. Whenever a lumber mill saw a piece of wood graded good enough for a musical instrument, they would give him a call.

That is some very nice looking maple!  Can't wait to see it all varnished up.

Dick,

I have only used Brazilian Rosewood once for a FB...it was on my first instrument, so I really have no pertinent data to offer. Besides, I think it is really tough to get it any more. I have used ebony virtually without exception, though I have used Ipe on rare occasions.  As Ebony becomes more difficult to obtain, we may be well-advised to do some thinking about other woods. A friend sent me some Osage Orange, recently, to try as a FB. It is certainly hard and heavy, but I have not tried it yet.

I hope to begin varnishing tonight...we will see how it looks.

Chet

I had a custom guitar made by a Canadian luthier. He told me that he sometimes take old furniture apart to get the wood. I just sold my old Deering Calico banjo which had a fretboard made of synthetic material. I looked almost like ebony, was just about impossible to wear out, and sounded fine.

This is probably the "golden age" of fiddle making. Compared to the price of top notch banjos, guitars, and F model mandolins, fiddles are cheap. All the better quality instruments I sell more than double in price. I just received one of "woodwiz's" fiddles. If I were a younger man, I would probably custom order a fiddle from you. I seem to have closer emotional ties with custom made instruments.

OK, folks: here it is with some propolis and varnish. Probably three coats left to go. The color in the front and back photos is WAY too yellow, but I don't know how to fix that. The color in the scroll photo is about right, if that helps. :-)

I hope to have it set up and playing by Saturday evening.

its going to look just fine when your done

WOW!  That has to be the prettiest looking back I have ever seen.

Over its lifetime, will it darken up, or will it stay pretty much the same?  Regardless, I like the color.

Also like the long corners...makes it unique-er...but that's just me.  Lovely, sir.

Wow, that's very nice looking! Can't wait to hear how it sounds!

You might want to peek at what Manfio uses to shade his violas. He does really beautiful finish work. I know he uses strong black tea as one of the components to his color.

Luis Manfio uses the tea as a pre-finish stain, then uses one of the Magister system varnishes, as I recall, or something similar. He does great work and sells everything he makes. He also is a great Italian cook, and serves great meals and fine wines to his customers. I'll have to find a way that doesn't involve wining and dining my customers, I think.

He is quite open about what he does, and has spelled it out explicitly in the past, on open forums. I might try his method sometime.

What he does is an oil varnish system. For the moment what I am doing is Spirit varnish.  I started out with oil, and I may go back to oil eventually, but for the moment I am learning spirit varnish. I have also experimented with tea for a pre-stain... also, coffee and other things. I have lots of ideas for future experimentation. :-)

I would imagine the color will change somewhat with age, but I can't guess which way. Most colors fade a little with exposure to ultraviolet light, but wood darkens. Guess I will have to wait and see.

Thanks, all...glad you all like the fiddle. I will post pictures again when it is done.

Edited by - Chet Bishop on 07/13/2012 14:21:54

Looks great--glad that there are talented luthiers turning their attention to the world of 5 strings.

All done!  

(OK...it is as done as it is going to get, today.) I discovered that I had no 5-string tailpieces, so I carved one of Osage Orange...but I think it is heavy enough that is affecting the sound a bit. The real five-string tailpiece (Wittner) will arrive Wednesday. Meanwhile, I evidently misplaced the set of five matched helicore strings I had set aside, waiting for this, so I had to use a set of Dominants plus a Dominant C-string made for a large viola. It plays amazingly well, considering all the goofy set-up issues, but I will defer judgment until the right stuff arrives. I'll have to order more strings, I guess... Anyway, here it is.

Definitely pretty. Love the back and the double purfling. Post some tunes so we can hear it soon!

Well--I'd comply, but I'm not really a player, so I would have to find someone to do it for me. The last one sold to a fiddler in southern Oregon...I know he would be glad to do it, but he is about a seven or eight hour drive from me, I think.

If I can figure out how to do it, I will. Not really very computer-savvy, either... We'll see, though.

She's a beaut Chet. I especially like tha back. Great job. Saw us off a tune er two when strung up.

Thas beeyootiful, Chet. And I'm not a fan of double purfling and fancy wood. You got it right, congratulations.

The Wittner 5-string tailpieces arrived yesterday, so I will install one and see how much difference it makes in sound. Prolly post a photo, too. 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chet Bishop

The Wittner 5-string tailpieces arrived yesterday, so I will install one and see how much difference it makes in sound. Prolly post a photo, too. 

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I love the Wittner tailpiece on my Kogut 5. The fine-tuners come in handy with steel strings (and I don't have to worry about little fine-tuning arms hitting the top).

Yep. The Wittner TP is nice. I installed the new tailpiece this evening, lowered the nut, lowered the bridge, and balanced the afterlength to vibrating string ratio at 1:6. The fiddle sings very well, now. I still want to order those other strings, but honestly, it is really good right now.--I'm not sure I want to tweak it any further.

Chet,

Nice looking fiddle. What are the reasons for you using propolis? I experiment with grounds some and was wondering about that.

I like the color. I like the smell...it is easily soluble in Ethanol, and miscible with any spirit varnish. My teacher uses it for a ground/ sealer, but I find it too dark when used that way. I seal first then apply the propolis for color, then many coats of spirit varnish.

I got the propolis ready to use, from Draper Bee products online.

Chet, Thanks for the info.

Jolie Louisianne

Did I meet you at Michael Darnton's workshop?

Chet

Chet, No, I don't think we have ever met. Hopefully someday. After things settle down in a few weeks I am going to make up some samples using porpolis and experiment some. Thanks

Ah. Ok...must have been another Jolie Louisianne. :-) She was an accomplished fiddler.

Have a good time with the propolis. It comes in a variety of colors, depending on what the bees have been into. Mine happened to be a dark red-brown.