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You will need :-
Courage,
The right tools, and plenty of time.
Be prepared to make a lot of mistakes: a faint heart ne’er won the maiden. Have a mistake on me.
If your working on the plates of a new fiddle your making, or you have one completely in pieces you’re lucky! The weights and tap tones will be there ready for the asking (measuring).
I takes me about 10 hrs. per violin to take off the front and fingerboard off a ‘factory fiddle’, modify ** the front and back to appropriate tap-tones and put the fiddle back together. On top of this is any time for any repairs, like a sound-post patch and varnish touch-up: but be warned. This is without having to take the back off the bouts (sides) and glue them back on.
Removing the back can cause a great deal of damage ........., but I have found ways of measuring (deriving) the weight of the back, and also the Modes 2 and 5 frequencies of the free plate while it is still in the bouts with the neck in place.
The Mode 5 of a back plate is reduced by about 15%, but sometimes splits into 2 frequencies up to 40 Hz apart, usually either side of 300 Hz.
Mode 2 of a back in the bouts is only slightly increased, but the neck (with no fingerboard) has a resonant frequency at almost exactly the same frequency, so we have to move the neck’s resonance out of the way!
Get in touch with me if you want to know more.
Use a shortened table knife to remove the front and fingerboard, but do be careful. You are trying to ease the knife into the joint and ‘lever’ the plate off, not to cut into the joint.
I’ve managed to cut myself quite badly doing this on my left hand, as I’m right handed. Always cut away from your left hand, as the knife can suddenly fly out of control as the joint gives way, so using a leather gardening glove on your left hand reduces the risk of a serious wound a lot!
** This is by using the thumb plane(s) on the inside of back and front plates, leaving the varnish intact. Obviously you cannot alter the arching at all with this method.
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