Build fiddles!
What's it all about?
Primarily it's about satisfying curiosity. Until you build a musical instrument the process of making one is a mystery. Even after you build one many of your questions remain unanswered.
After following the plans and instructions for a few months (or more!!!) you suddenly have a familiar looking box with strings stretched across it. Despite the time it took, the change from a pile of carefully made parts to a playable instrument is sudden.
It looks just like the one you've been playing, only there is no varnish on it and it sounds funny. Tinny, whiney, harsh but strangely resonant. You fiddle (pardon me) with the sound post. You have never actually had to set one before and now getting it right is very important. On my third try I found where this soundpost wanted to be on my fiddle and it started sounding really good.
WOW. I though my first solo in an airplane was a fantastic experience. It was, but hearing music come out of a fiddle I built and hearing it sound better than what I had been playing and realizing that it was just the beginning, since fiddles break in with use!
I was, and am ecstatic.
The scroll of my first fiddle, with the ribbing of the next one as a background. The clothespin on the extreme left is holding the unglued lining in place. There are several other clothespins, whose shadows can be seen at the top edge of the picture.
