Violin Making: A Practical Guide Hardcover – Illustrated, November 1, 2001

Great information. Making a violin isn't all that difficult for a skilled woodworker, but the equation that leads to a fine instrument is complex and somewhat mysterious. This book shines a ray of welcome light into the process.

Being new to violin building but having experience building guitars and mandolin I found this book is just what I needed. Though this book may not dive into scientific data like some more advanced building books do It does have all the info needed to build a violin. Along with some great text it has some great photographs to go along with the details. I enjoy this book immensely.

no one violin building book can stand alone but this one does a good job of trying,it was written by a person who has been building high quality instruments for 40 years so it will at least put you on the right track on where you should direct your efforts on accuireing tools and that in itself will save you a ton of money not buying what you dont need,there are many color photos to help with some of the language barriers as some of the european words used are different than ours,i do believe though that anyone with good woodworking skills could use this as a stand alone book,but would still reccomend it to a novice as a companion to other violin building books to have a more thorough understanding before attempting to build,wood is high for a decent peice,as the supply for decent wood is severly declineing,i would reccomend that if you are serious about building in the future to buy the wood u need now and put it up,it will only skyrocket in the years to come ,best wishes to you as my fist violin is drying now !

This is one of few books that you can take from start to finish of an instrument. I have been playing Cello for 14 years and I also do woodworking and I have always wanted to make my own instrument and now I can. While the books from strobel are far more in depth. This book has the novice in mind.

I am using several different books to get a better picture of how to build a violin. Well this is one of them.

I bought this and the more expensive "The Art of Violin Making". Juliet Barker's book is okay if you just want to build a violin the old way with old tools and without gaining any insight into the process. I read once and put it down. On the other hand, I keep going back to "The Art of Violin Making" again and again, which is much more comprehensive, with a lot more context provided. While it costs much more, for me it was a better value. Of course, neither book allowed for modern power tools : (, but you can improvise once you get the basics.

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.

Excellent book for learning how to build a violin. I also have Bruce Ossman's book and the two of them make a good pairing.

This it the first and only book I read about violin making so far. Having built several electric guitars and violins myself, I already knew the basics, so I found it extremely good to have a practical reference of all the building steps and howtos. First of all, it comes with a lot of measurements for violins, violas and cellos for all instrument sizes; it offers a full list of tools required, and it explains briefly how to build the more peculiar ones you might not have or hard to find. There's a good set of reference pics and sketches, and many tips to help the builder to go from raw materials to a fully formed, nice looking instrument.Guide itself is very good, and you could really tell it's written by an experienced maker, although I have to tell it, it's not for everyone, imho, nor is a guide for a first time builder: the approach is very pragmatic, indeed, and it gives the builder a good set of tips to do the job in the most effective way. It assumes you have kind of a skilful hand already (you shall go elsewhere to learn how to sharpen your chisels), and that you know where every step will end - nonetheless, it does a really remarkable job in telling exactly what to do in a written form.It's a great guide for builders who like the classic construction method, as all the measurements and tips are useful as long you carry on with it.It was not completely what I was looking for - thus the 4 stars - e.g there's the fingerboard width at nut, and the width at the bottom, and you'll have to guess/calculate the others, which is harder if you don't want to replicate a classic violin shape as in my case - but I really enjoyed this reading nonetheless. I do really advise this!

This was ok if you want to sit and read the whole thing before getting started but not a practical get going guide. One major flaw with it is that the print is blurry and hard to read and makes the book look cheap and like it was printed decades ago. Husband happy enough with it but seems to refer to the other title purchased more than this one. Definitely good for evening reading though if you have a more hands on title for whilst working.

This is a beautiful book, carefully written with a light touch and a precise attention to detail. The excellent colour photos and extra little technical details give an impression of the author as someone with no pretensions who loves to share the pleasure of how to create a beautiful instrument. Two things in particular - a detailed description of tools used by violin makers and the scaled diagram of the violin shapes are worth more than the price of the entire book.

It's an excellent book and I wouldn't be without it. Just as a word of warning though, this print run has a problem meaning that all the text is slightly blurred. The publisher is aware (and has been very helpful) and is planning another print run in the coming months.

This is an interesting read, and I don't regret buying it but, really, it is not a step-by-step instruction manual or beginners' guide. If you are a novice, do not buy this with the expectation that it will get you anywhere close to making a violin (or even starting to make one) -- it is far too short on detail for that.