Huon Pine & Tassie Blackwood Violin by Barry Guest

[Baz1000]

Huon Pine Belly
Tasmanian Blackwood Back, sides and neck
Brushbox fingerboard
Plastic purfling from ALS

[woodturner777]

Beautiful build Barry, Regards Bob

[Baz1000]

Thanks Bob. This one (Huon Pine belly) is surprisingly powerful, and not "wooly" at all as I reported with my last Huon pine tops.

Sometimes you just can't pick it. However, I'm really happy with this one.

[mandoman]

Beautiful violin. Any reason for the unusual soundholes? So what did you do different from the others?

Peter

[SawDustSniffer]

nice work , is it from a full size "srad" template ?

[Baz1000]

Beautiful violin. Any reason for the unusual soundholes? So what did you do different from the others?

Peter

Hi Peter,

No reason for the soundhole design except to be different. I have an attitude towards protectionism in the violin world which probably holds me back but I can't help it......or maybe I can! My wife is always telling me to get off the high horse and build only what the marketplace wants, but stubborn is as stubborn does. Ah well, I'll be famous when I'm gone .....not!

Regards
Baz

[Baz1000]

nice work , is it from a full size "srad" template ?

Yes mate, it's a full size Strad pattern with the corners a little blunted in the Germanic fashion.

Regards
Baz

[woodturner777]

Thanks Bob. This one (Huon Pine belly) is surprisingly powerful, and not "wooly" at all as I reported with my last Huon pine tops.

Sometimes you just can't pick it. However, I'm really happy with this one.

Hi Barry, you were just unlucky with your last Huon Pine top as I believe it makes an excellant top from feed back that I receive from customers.

[Baz1000]

Beautiful violin. Any reason for the unusual soundholes? So what did you do different from the others?

Peter

Peter,

Forgot to answer on what I did differently.

So, like others I have built with huon pine, I left 4.5 mm around the soundpost and bass bridge foot, and graduated to the perimeter (3.5 in the lower bout and 3.0 in the upper bout. But this time I thinned the fluting to 2.2 mm. Previously, I have left the perimeter a full 3 mm to 3.5 mm, and the sound was, as I said, a bit "wooly", for want of a better description. This one has power, and you know it as soon as you draw a bow over it. It was like "Whoa, what's that?"

[woodturner777]

I would be interested to see how Celery top pine would work on a violin.

[Baz1000]

Hi Barry, you were just unlucky with your last Huon Pine top as I believe it makes an excellant top from feed back that I receive from customers.

Maybe so Bob. I was always wary of it when I had that cello top collapse in 2007, and I may have erred on the careful side since. In any case, what you said about huon is more than justified with this violin.

On the celery top, if you have a wedge for a violin top, I'd be happy to buy one from you.

[woodturner777]

Barry, Celery top pine in sizes large enough to get quarter sawn billets from have become very hard to come by, but I have managed to source a few large diameter logs off private land that was selective logged this in my opinion is how minor species timbers should be logged, Peter Coombe is going to be getting a soundboard for an acoustic build as soon as possible, let me know size of wedge required for a violin build and I will get one for you.
I was resawing celery top pine billets yesterday for ukuleles rings like the bells of Saint Pauls cathedral. regards Bob

[Baz1000]

Barry, Celery top pine in sizes large enough to get quarter sawn billets from have become very hard to come by, but I have managed to source a few large diameter logs off private land that was selective logged this in my opinion is how minor species timbers should be logged, Peter Coombe is going to be getting a soundboard for an acoustic build as soon as possible, let me know size of wedge required for a violin build and I will get one for you.
I was resawing celery top pine billets yesterday for ukuleles rings like the bells of Saint Pauls cathedral. regards Bob

Bob,

That would be excellent, and I applaud the way you go about your logging.

A violin wedge is 430 X 120 and the wedge tapers from 40 mm to 12 mm. Must be cut on the quarter. If you let me know how much by email, I'll send it by Paypal or whatever suits you. Is that OK? Thanks mate.

[lauciusj]

G'day, My name's Julian but most people call me Jules. I'm a budding luthier and my first project is to be a cigar box style violin using Bunya and Blackwood. I love the warm mellow tones from Bunya timber and believe blackwood to be an appropriate match given it's generally smooth bottom end characteristics. I was wondering whether any of you have experimented with this timber before for violin tops?

[Ball Peen]

Lovely fiddle, Barry. It took a couple of looks to get used to the ffs but now I really like them. The sharp corners are a potential split area but worth the risk and easily fire proofed.

I know the " Whoa, what's this ?" moment. Whenever I'm in town I scour the pawn shops for fiddles with potential. I found one that was obviously, just by appearance, in the wrong place. The D string was the only one close to pitch, I played 3 notes and thought " Whoa, what's this ?" So I paid the $125 and got a $500 bow with it.