World class service in a boutique setting.

As I promised to some, here’s a more complete ru

As I promised to some, here’s a more complete rundown of a job that appeared in my stories a few weeks ago. It leaves on Wednesday.
.
Should this have had a graft? Yes. Was it financially sound to do one, no… some of what follows may seem overly fiddly, or pedantic, or like it might take a ton of time. Bear in mind that I’m set up for, and do well with rapid prototyping of tooling, and digital fabrication. Some descriptions are in the audio.
.
The instrument is an early 1900s American violin. The owner bought it with a broken peg box. I initially suggested just gluing it and installing CF rings, which I still believe would have been plenty. The owner wanted more, so I installed a threaded rod to act like a shear plate. The rod also serves as a mechanical joint. I have previous posts showing a cross section of this. .
.
To drill the hole, I drew up a quickie 3d printed drill guide. Also needing to clamp a sacrificial piece of wood, I modified a C clamp to sit inside the pegbox, and fabricated a clamping caul out of instamorph.
.
Scanned and milled inserts disguise the rod and add some more strength.
.
I hope you find this useful and get something out of it. @theloothgroup #violinrestoration #violinrepair #digitallutherie #3dprinting #jhlviolins

When dealing with 3D scanning and a corrected cast

When dealing with 3D scanning and a corrected cast (or even a thin patch bed like a post patch) you need a way to keep the plate honest with the cast. The two ways of doing that are either with a vacuum bag,
or with a compressible casting medium. For small things, I find instamorph (friendly plastic, polymorph, etc) to be a wonderful compressible material. Putting this out there for the 5 people it might benefit. Description in audio. Cheers! #jhlviolins #digitallutherie #violinrestoration #luthier #loothgroup #cnc #3dscanning #instamorph

“Welcome to Williamsport” was never something

“Welcome to Williamsport” was never something I’d ever imagine saying to a room full of colleagues from around the country, and some of them from around the world. After spending a great deal of energy looking for an alternate location for this summer, in the end my hometown proved that it was more than capable of being incredibly welcoming to the Restoration Workshop.
.
A few thanks are in order: Firstly, to Jeffrey Holmes and Jerry Pasewicz for being partners in crime to make this happen. Coming up with a financial vehicle, setting up payment capabilities, and looking over budgets are the lifeblood of any endeavor. This framework is the best insurance policy any organization can have. A huge thank you to the rest of this years staff - David Orlin, Adam Goltry, Matt Noykos, Eliane Leblanc, Clair Curtis, and Mark Norfleet, your talent and commitment in making sure that institutional knowledge continues to flow. A special thanks to Christopher Reuning and Philip Kass for stopping by and sharing their knowledge. Lastly, a huge thank you to my extremely patient wife, Charissa, for getting her hands dirty and making sure this happened - We did it!
.
The final word of thanks goes to Mark Winkleman and Rebecca Barry from the Pajama Factory. Mark’s business card reads “man behind the curtain.” He certainly has created an Oz. Thank you for taking the chance on weird bunch of luthiers.
.
The Oberlin motto of “everyone teaches, everyone learns” might be better replaced, at least for this year, with Hannibal’s comment to his generals when told it was impossible to cross the alps with Elephants: “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam” - “I’ll find a way or I’ll make one.” #violinrestoration #violinrepair #lutherie #bowberlin #oberlinrestoration #violin #viola #cello #violinbows

Hey @padestrings, I’m not sure what I did to des

Hey @padestrings, I’m not sure what I did to deserve this distinguished service award - I’m kind of curmudgeon, and I literally have a garden gnome outside my shop door holding a sign that reads “go away.” That being said, I’m honored. Thank you 🙏#jhlviolins #padesta #violin #luthier #stringplayer #violinrestoration

This is not very interesting stuff, but I was tell

This is not very interesting stuff, but I was telling a friend about this last Friday, and I figured by putting it here, it would make it easier to point someone else to on the future. So, be bored with it. This is a quick way to color a neck using instant coffee. Lots of other folks use chicory in the exact same way. It’s fast, looks good, and nontoxic for the person applying it.
.
AFTER the grain on the neck has been raised and knocked down a few times, and the neck is buttery smooth, apply a very concentrated amount to the bare surface, and give a good minute or two for it to color the wood before wiping off. I then wait about 10 minutes before handling it. Then I give it a good polish to “fix” it in place. Before this leaves the shop, I’ll usually hit the neck again with some 0000 steel wool and then apply Danish oil. Just French polishing is fine, but for people who sweat a lot, Danish or Linseed oil is better. #jhlviolins #loothing #instantcoffee #violin #viola #violinrepairs

This was part of a talk I gave yesterday, I’ll t

This was part of a talk I gave yesterday, I’ll throw it out here in case anyone finds it useful - This is how I align grainlines with the Y axis on my CNC machine on smallish irregular shaped pieces of stock. This is important, because I usually line the grain lines of a scan up with the Y axis for alignment on the plate.
.
1) a machinists parallel with double sided tape.
.
2) the parallel is attached to the stock running with the grain as closely as possible.
.
3)The stock is placed on an mdf spoil board unattached. The lead weights keep the stock in place. Tapping on them adjusts the angle of the stock.
.
4)An alignment pin is placed in the spindle, and the spindle is jogged close to the parallel.
.
5) slowing the rapid down, the pin is jogged to the parallel so that no light gap is present between the pin and the parallel.
.
6)The machine is jogged in Y to the front of the parallel. Adjustments are made by tapping on the lead weights until no light gap exists between the pin and the parallel at both the front and the back.
.
7)A test jog
.
8) two sides of the piece of stock is then carefully marked in pencil.
.
9) double sided tape is applied (or whatever fastener)
.
10) Origin is set and its ready to rock.
#digitallutherie #jhlviolins #cncrestoration #loothing

Back by popular demand, and something new! Positi

Back by popular demand, and something new! Position stamp is $40, shipping is $15. Note taking stencil set is $22, shipping is $6. Combined orders are $15 for shipping. USPS priority. USA only. Please DM me that you one want one, or the other, or both. Please provide your mailing address and your email address. I’ll send you a square invoice you can pay with a card. Supplies are limited, but I can get another run, and I’ll notify you when they are available.
.
At the VSA convention I had a number of people tell me how much they enjoyed using the the position stamp I designed. It was initially designed to put critical information about the set up of an instrument down in a neat and tidy way on a post it note, a notebook, or in my case the envelops I put bridges and posts in when I remove them from the instrument. The redesign got rid of unneeded information, and added positions to mark After length and post diameter.
.
The stencils are made of 3mm thick acrylic, and are all roughly 100mm long. This size was chosen so that they easily fit on a page of a pocket notebook. I have other more involved sheets for marking condition, but I always wanted simple stencils for note taking. The only one that may need explanation are the 6 rectangles. These are an easy way to represent ribs. #notetaking #jhlviolins #violinrepair #lutherie

Single and hoping to mingle: A violin by Wilhelm B

Single and hoping to mingle: A violin by Wilhelm Berthold, Stuttgart 1929.
.
This violin was purchased by it’s present owner on their honeymoon in Germany. But don’t worry, I have permission from their spouse to sell it :-).
.
Tonally it’s very moldable - with the right playing It can growl and sound dark, or it can be squeaky clean and carry nicely. It “feels safe” to play, almost like slipping into an old sweater, or eating grandma’s cooking on a cold day. Has great feedback under the ear with out sounding aggressive.
.
This is also a low BS violin. I’ve been it’s caretaker for well over a decade, it’s had my set up on it for the last 8 years. In full disclosure, it did have a saddle split occur 10 years ago, it’s been holding fine and looking cosmetically great the whole time. #violin #loveforsale #fiddle #violinforsale #stuttgart #jhlviolins

Randomness from the last six months: When I do th

Randomness from the last six months: When I do that thing we all shouldn’t do - lie in bed and stare at our phones instead of actually sleeping at night, I’ll put jobs or processes into tiled photographs. I think I just like the order of it, it’s neat and tidy in one place, where as in real life it’s kind of messy. The rest here are just just musings.
.
1)Wee corner replacement on a violin with adherence problems to retouch varnish. Seedlac ended up being the answer. I think it’s easy to talk about retouching in a way that appears like there’s a magic bullet. Most of the time it’s %+*{}= up, taking it off and finding what works/is acceptable.
.
2)Scan and mill job to fix “Voldemort” damage on a neck. I put this on Facebook a while back… it’s still satisfying.
.
3)My heathen tendencies to do cello bridge legs with a file. When I posted this in my stories, I got a lot of “I do it the exact same way” comments. Right on. I’m gonna get a die filer, or a pin router, or just set it up on a fixture and do the CAM to do it in the cnc someday. It’s low on the list, but saving my hands is important.
.
4)An unfinished job to fill in interlocking bushings. There might be more on this later. It’s off with a friend, who’s doing everything else to it and a whole lot more.
.
5)a “quick” neck reset. The neck was hanging on in the mortise by very little. I made the deal with owner that I would try to be as economical as I could. My punches on my time keeping app were 4 hours total. Came out okay….
.

6)Another neck reset, this was the thrill of just barely making the button. I planned for it, but it’s hairy right till the end.
.
7)This past summer I had to deal with the same troubles as every parent of small children or of special needs kids have to do when they want to keep working and have to be near their kid. I put an @sjobergsworkbenches bench in my kitchen. Not ideal, but I made it work. Sjoberg, thanks for making a sturdy small bench!
.
8)Working inside my house meant that I now had a “Supurrrvisor.” Nice guy, smelled like tuna. #jhlviolins #violin #cello #violinrepair #violinrestoration #lutherie #loothing

Available, and looking for a good home: 2003 David

Available, and looking for a good home: 2003 David Van Zandt violin… where do I begin? Tonally, it’s pleasantly caffeinated and muscular, with a nice bottom end giving way to a lot of clarity up in god’s country at the end of the E string. If you know how to use arm weight well, it will give you whatever you are looking for. If you are going to mash it, it will still behave and give you everything it can. It’s ballsy, and I’m a fan.
.
From a violin mechanic’s perspective, this is an extremely low BS violin. No issues, made with attention to detail, out of solid materials with out being fussy. Straight varnish with loads of character.
.
#jhlviolins #loveforsale #violin #available #violinist

People keep mentioning this from my stories, so I

People keep mentioning this from my stories, so I figure I would put it here..
.
This cello was in for a neck reset and new board. It previously had a T nut, and the last person to install the T nut honored the step off of the board area and kept it. I decided to do the same..
.
A lot of razor blades are very square once you go below the “handle.” I rigged up a scraping guide using a machinist’s parallel and a small Kant twist clamp on a nut blank in a vice and went to town creating the step.
.
Usually I don’t chalk fit nuts, however in this case I wanted to see how it was fitting.
.
Tape… we don’t use enough tape. It can be wonderful for making quick templates. Goes with out saying also great for protection. You either need to remove a lot of stickiness, or use low tack below it when using it for protection.
.
Usually with T nuts, I try to do the refinement off of the instrument. I find I can work tools in a way that I can’t when the nut is on the instrument. Especially the flat (or hollow) on the front of the T nut. #deeznutz #nuts #jhlviolins #cello #cellorepair #cellist #loothing #luthier

Going through old photos this morning, this is a p

Going through old photos this morning, this is a pic from 2012… I don’t have any meaningful pics of the outside, so you’ll have to trust me that it’s a Heron-Allen del Gesu model. Quite a decent violin for his second attempt as the very modest “study no. 2” would suggest. Heron-Allen pattern violins show up from time to time, usually not far from where they were made. Often, they end up being nicely made, a lot of the people with the gumption to make it through Heron-Allen were in the tech jobs of the day: Machinists/tool makers, pattern makers and mechanics. I wonder what they would have thought of the internet? And, would they be arguing on maestronet? #violin #jhlviolins #booklearning #oldfiddle #selftaught

I haven’t ever owned a button puller, and I find

I haven’t ever owned a button puller, and I find the design of the commercial version lacking for delicate buttons like this one. Usually, I just put on a glove with rubber padding and I can usually yank it. However, in instances like this where the button is severely stuck, I do this. I think I told @roziedeloach about this years ago, and that I would photograph it the next time I needed to do it, so here it is!
.
The button area is protected with cling film so that the instamorph (polymorph, whatever you want to call it) doesn’t stick to the varnish. Two globs are placed on either side of the button with two pieces of dental foil between them. This keeps the instamorph from sticking to itself. The pieces are formed so that there are flats on either side, and are allowed to set. Instamorph, like other thermal plastics, shrinks as it cools. This means that there is room for future compression.
.
For button pulling, I use channel lock pliers, and I put low tack tape down and then blue tape to lessen the chances of accidental antiquing. You can put a great deal of force on button. #jhlviolins #loothing #violinrepair #luthier #instamorph #endbutton

I posted this in my stories a few weeks ago, and I

I posted this in my stories a few weeks ago, and I mentioned it to a friend the other day. Perhaps others will find it useful, so I’ll put it here…
.
I left for Oberlin with a cello needing endpin installed. I had a day after getting back, and it’s a bog standard Haide cello, should have taken no time… except the supply house sent the wrong size endpin collar. I had asked for large, and they sent medium.
.
I was out of prepared cello endpin bushing stock, and rather than prepping stock for the lathe, I decided I could draw it and mill it much faster.
.
If you do this, Fusion 360, and probably other CAD software do extruded body tapers as an angle taper and not and an included taper. I got the number shown by measuring large end of my cello reamer, the small end, and the length. I then used an online calculator because I’m lazy :-). It should go with out saying, but length of the bushing needs to be longer than needed to accommodate for swelling and hydraulic lock.
.
The center hole hole was done with a secondary sketch rather than the hole command. Mostly because I had considered extruding it as a tapered hole and machining it as a flipped part… which is something to consider if making batches of these ahead of time. If the end pin hole is centered, a pre-tapered internal hole would make reaming go much faster. #digitallutherie #cello #endpin #cnc #fusion360 #rolandmdx50 #jhlviolins #luthier #loothing #violinrepair #jhlviolins

“Is it the place? Or the people?” That’s th

“Is it the place? Or the people?” That’s the question I kept asking friends this past week at the @oberlin_restoration workshop. I’m most certain the answer is it’s the people…. I had an immensely good time last week, and I learned a tremendous amount from everyone. Thank you to all of the participants for being stellar, and to Jenelle Steele @jenellesteele and Claire Curtis for being tremendous partners in crime. Also, a special thanks to team @omopodcast for stepping up and taking care of some special tasks.
.
I also had the great privilege of teaching along side my biggest influences: Jeffrey Holmes, Greg Sapp @zopp54 , Eliane Leblanc @elianeleblanc , and Matthew Noykos @matthewnoykos . You are all exceptional at what you do, and I’m grateful for all of you. Thank you! #oberlin #violin #violinrestoration #violinrestorer #cello #viola #loothing #luthier #cellorestoration @violinsocietyofamerica

The last two weeks have been rather Michigan-centr

The last two weeks have been rather Michigan-centric:
.
Starting on Sunday, April 30 I gave a lecture at the request of @peterlynchviolins for the Michigan Violin Makers Association. The talk centered around two topics - making money as an independent restorer, and additive/subtractive digital fabrication processes for violin repair. The MVA always has an impressive list of guests for their zoom lectures. I highly recommend reaching out to Peter and becoming a member.
.
A week later I travelled to Tecumseh, MI to work with Jeff and Sarah Holmes on getting some new equipment up and running. It was great to spend time in Jeff’s shop, he’s been a friend/mentor/teacher of mine for well over a decade. I’m grateful for all he’s done for me over the years, it felt good to give back. Sarah is soon going to be a force to be reckoned with.
.
I then Travelled go @grand.rapids.violins to see @matthewnoykos . Matt had a job he needed to get done, so it was mostly hanging in the shop. We did manage some hijinks in a kids play house at local brewery. #michigan #jhlviolins #violin #tecumseh #grandrapids #violinrepair

This is a video I made over a year ago for a frien

This is a video I made over a year ago for a friend… another friend suggested I share it at large this morning. You can use tube water colors as a ground, and to disguise joints on neck heels, and use successfully on ribs. Any place where reflection is your friend… #jhlviolins #violinrestoration #loothing #violin #watercolor #retouching #necksetting #loothgroup

I was looking through pictures for a friend for a

I was looking through pictures for a friend for a lecture I’m giving at the end of the month, and I came across this which I already sort of shared years ago, but I find it satisfying to remember, and the first pic is one of the favorites on my phone. Maybe someone will get something out of this.
.
I needed to replace a large segment of previously already replaced purfling. The existing purfling was 1.8mm wide, and used pear for the whites. I didn’t have veneers to either make a whole replacement piece, or to do the 3 strips method. I did have 2mm wide purfling. So, I set about making the absolute crappiest version of the purfling pulling jig I could. I then cut the black off of one piece, thinned out the whites on an another and glued the whole thing together with tightbond 2. The white stuff on the first pic are the creamiest bits when you first open a can of plastic wood. It’s excellent for extremely fine fill. The bleeding of the blacks was accomplished with a staedler pigment liner pen… which also works well for “hand drawn purfling.” #jhlviolins #purfling #cello #violinrepair #violinrestoration #loothing #makingdowithwhatwehave

I’m super stoked to have just been gifted this c

I’m super stoked to have just been gifted this cloth bag by @johnmuaxp . Up until an hour ago, I had no idea that one of the largest producers of hide glue in the US was based in my town. From 1907 till 1950 the Keystone Glue Company produced hide glue, and it’s byproducts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employing 90 people, an article from 1933 lists 4 million pounds as a cumulative production. Since doing the glue episode of the @omopodcast with @doranviolins , it’s a subject I’m stuck on…. #williamsportpa #violin #hideglue #stickysituation #luthier #madeinpa #jhlviolins

Random Sunday morning photo dump that might be ent

Random Sunday morning photo dump that might be entertaining: .
.
1)Cello neck reset from late last year, looking at it this morning for the encouragement that they look like crap until the very end.
.
2)Reprorubber, a metrology grade casting rubber. Shown here with a very anachronistic touch probe scanner from 1999. This is the mortise area of the same cello from the first pic. The touch probe is kind of fun because it’s kind of set it and forget it. Come back 2 hours later to a point cloud of the object.
.
3)My favorite way of dressing down smaller patches. The split will go to the bottom of the kerf.
.
4)I never liked using a wedge/closing clamp set up to glue ribs back on to upper blocks. I might work on a commercial version of this at some point.
.
5)Fresh baked cast. Yum… it’s useful to bake a cast at low temps for many hours when you need to use a cast as soon as possible. Makes the house smell like wet hot clay though.
.
6)little tear out replacement sequence on a sweet Bailly violin.
.
7&8)Before and after block replacement on the violin that’s in my previous post. Before doesn’t do it justice for how much of a gap existed between the top and the block. Probably the reason for sinking projection.
.
9)A jig I made to glue shoes onto cello neck roots. Turns out the cello version is kind of universal and lazy me doesn’t have to make one for violin.
.
10) modifying a clamp. I try not to be afraid to modify a clamp. Can mean the difference between easy clamping and struggling. #jhlviolins #luthier #lutherie #digitallutherie #violinrepair #photodump #violin #cello #whatsonyourbench

Load More... Follow on Instagram