How I did it: I began by reading Bruce Ossman's book :Violin Making for the Amateur" - it gave very clear instructions. I modified the design to make it a travel fiddle, or pochette. I blogged the whole experience on my blog - http://fourstrings.wordpress.com, and detailed some of the steps on 43Things too.

Lessons & tips: Don't be afraid to make a mistake - most mistakes are fixable. A violin is basically a box with a handle - some poepl even make them from cigar boxes, so just aim for a basic instrument, and then improve on later ones.

Resources: Bruce Ossman's book "Violin Making for the Amateur" was very useful - very clear and well illustrated. I also managed to get a spare neck from a local luthier - from an irrepairable instrument. And I bought tuning pegs and tailpiece from a music shop to complete the instrument.

Oct 09, 2008, 07:21AM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer