Violin Making: A Practical Guide

Rating:
Summary: fine, if you already know what it offers to teach you . . .
Review: I think that if a book cannot stand on its own, the reader deserves to be provided with that information. If a book cannot be deciphered by a novice, then the novice deserves that information up front, perhaps included in the title of the book. This book is so thoroughly filled, page after page, with undefined terms and assumptions of existing knowledge, that if you don't already know what it intends to teach you, you may as well give up on learning from it. It will certainly not teach a beginner to make a violin! I got through medical school, yet I can't read this book - I lacked the hidden prerequisites. This book needs a title like "Violin-making for people who know how to make violins." I was very disappointed.

Consider these instructions: "The top of the fingerboard should line up with the tail of the scroll, or the top of the hen's tail on cellos. Allow the width of the nut above this point and draw a line across square to the sides of the block." Nut? What nut? And silly me, I didn't even know that cellos had hens tails! Or this, from a section on rib structure: "The linings may be made from a similar wood to the blocks and a strip of wood can be planed, as the ribs were, to the correct thickness." I wish I knew what the correct thickness was, but since I didn't know that violins had linings, or what a lining is - and I certainly didn't find out here - I will likely have a beast of a time figuring it out.

If you don't know the component parts of a violin, inside and out, and if you don't have a pretty good idea of how to make a violin, I suggest you avoid this book. However, the color pictures are excellent; the descriptions of the maker's weight in stones, rather than pounds, is very charming, but I'm afraid the charm will come as a surprise to the author, who may not yet suspect that many of us have come to use pounds or even kilograms to measure our weight or mass.

I think I am familiar with ignorance, since I have so much of it, especially on this topic, but I had hoped and expected the book would help correct that, rather than simply emphasize its degree. The author looks like a very nice lady, however, and I doubt that she did this just to make her readers feel stupid, although that will be the effect on many, especially those who haven't learned that starting out not knowing anything is the usual situation.

Rating:
Summary: fine, if you already know what it offers to teach you . . .
Review: I think that if a book cannot stand on its own, the reader deserves to be provided with that information. If a book cannot be deciphered by a novice, then the novice deserves that information up front, perhaps included in the title of the book. This book is so thoroughly filled, page after page, with undefined terms and assumptions of existing knowledge, that if you don't already know what it intends to teach you, you may as well give up on learning from it. It will certainly not teach a beginner to make a violin! I got through medical school, yet I can't read this book - I lacked the hidden prerequisites. This book needs a title like "Violin-making for people who know how to make violins." I was very disappointed.

Consider these instructions: "The top of the fingerboard should line up with the tail of the scroll, or the top of the hen's tail on cellos. Allow the width of the nut above this point and draw a line across square to the sides of the block." Nut? What nut? And silly me, I didn't even know that cellos had hens tails! Or this, from a section on rib structure: "The linings may be made from a similar wood to the blocks and a strip of wood can be planed, as the ribs were, to the correct thickness." I wish I knew what the correct thickness was, but since I didn't know that violins had linings, or what a lining is - and I certainly didn't find out here - I will likely have a beast of a time figuring it out.

If you don't know the component parts of a violin, inside and out, and if you don't have a pretty good idea of how to make a violin, I suggest you avoid this book. However, the color pictures are excellent; the descriptions of the maker's weight in stones, rather than pounds, is very charming, but I'm afraid the charm will come as a surprise to the author, who may not yet suspect that many of us have come to use pounds or even kilograms to measure our weight or mass.

I think I am familiar with ignorance, since I have so much of it, especially on this topic, but I had hoped and expected the book would help correct that, rather than simply emphasize its degree. The author looks like a very nice lady, however, and I doubt that she did this just to make her readers feel stupid, although that will be the effect on many, especially those who haven't learned that starting out not knowing anything is the usual situation.

Rating:
Summary: A decent companion to the Strobel books
Review: If you've read some of the Strobel books and feel a bit puzzled or lost, this book may help you some, especially if you are a beginner. The photographs are plentiful and in color. There is some confusing language and glossing-over of points that may be mundane and obvious to an experienced luthier but are baffling yet critical to a beginner, just as in the Strobel books. So, my search continues for more complete and exhaustively illustrated books describing the violin-making process for a complete beginner.

Rating:
Summary: A decent companion to the Strobel books
Review: If you've read some of the Strobel books and feel a bit puzzled or lost, this book may help you some, especially if you are a beginner. The photographs are plentiful and in color. There is some confusing language and glossing-over of points that may be mundane and obvious to an experienced luthier but are baffling yet critical to a beginner, just as in the Strobel books. So, my search continues for more complete and exhaustively illustrated books describing the violin-making process for a complete beginner.

Rating:
Summary: Tennessee
Review: This book is full of color pictures that show how the tools are used, by a well respected teacher of the craft. It is not designed to be a stand alone manual to make a violin. The book is well written and is a great addition to a violin makers library or someone interested in how a violin is made. I highly recommend this book, it is well worth the price.