Bruce Ossman - Violin Making, Second Edition Revised and Expanded: An Illustrated Guide for the Amateur

Bruce Ossman was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 200 years after the death of Stradivari. Bruce partially attributes his interest in art and music to family members: His mother was a pianist, a grandfather played an instrument called a mandolin harp, and his father was a coal miner who took up oil-painting while recovering from a cave-in. His architect brother also played a part. Whenever the two of them sat down to discuss things, they always made drawings to illustrate ideasa process Bruce still uses. While growing up, Bruce did work harvesting crops on family farms and spent a few summers working deep underground in an anthracite coal mine in spaces too low to stand upwhich may be why his present house has some ceilings 16-feet high.

While attending Penn State University, Bruce took advantage of all the wonderful arts programs. When he heard the Curtis String Quartet play Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, he fell in love with the violin. Bruce graduated in 1959 with a degree in biology.

Mining was too dangerous, so Bruce joined the Army. While serving two years in Okinawa as a radio technician, he developed an admiration for all things Japanese, eventually trying his hand at bonsai. After returning from the service, Bruce taught middle-school science until 1993.

Upon his retirement, he had time to pursue his interest in music. Bruce decided to make a violin after going through all the back issues of Strings and Strad magazines in the West Chester University library. Some of the traditional methods of violin making seemed needlessly complicated, so as he worked, Bruce tried to simplify things. The sketches he made to guide his thinking resulted in the first edition of this book. Since then, a violinist has played the Bach Chaconne on Bruces first violin.

After finishing his first violin, Bruce brushed up on musical theory by learning to play a soprano recorder; then he progressed to fiddling. He found that playing a violin is much harder than making one! But practicing on a self-made instrument was very rewarding and a great incentive to continue on his musical journey. Other hobbies include traveling and woodworking. Bruce has drifted down the Susquehanna River on a homemade kayak, ridden a motorcycle across Europe, and driven coast-to-coast several times. Hes always kept an aquarium, and is a life-long birderhed like to be reincarnated as a purple martin. As an amateur craftsman, hes made such things as a Newtonian telescope, a working model of a trebuchet, and a crossbow. A still-unrealized goal is to build a glider big enough to fly inbut that would probably be a final project.

Bruce has enjoyed getting to know some wonderful people whove started in the great art of violin making. Some have gone on to more advanced levels, and thats even better! (See the gallery on pages 1423.)

Bruce and his wife, Martina, live in Chester County, Pennsylvania, midway between West Chester (the hometown of Samuel Barber) and Chadds Ford (Andrew Wyeth country). Their son and daughter-in-law live in Manhattan.

Reading all of the directions and studying the patterns before starting will give an overview of how the pieces are fashioned and how they fit together.

First, a body form is made from plywood. This mold will be used later when the blocks and ribs are temporarily fastened to it to establish the basic shape of the body.

Next, the main pieces are precut. The parts that can be prepared beforehand include the corner and end blocks, ribs, top and bottom plates, neck/pegbox/scroll block, and bass bar. The pegs, tail-pin, tailpiece, fingerboard, bridge, ribs, and purfling can be purchased ready to use.

Access to a band saw and drill press is useful, but common hand tools will suffice. Since a violin is mostly carved to shape, gouges and a thin-bladed knife are essential. Directions are given for making a carving turntable ().

When the materials and tools have been prepared, the following steps can be followed. They form a logical sequence, but sometimes it is possible to change the order or do several things concurrently:

Body form. The corner and end blocks are tack-glued to the body form.

Pre-shape ribs. The ribs are pre-shaped by laminating thin veneer strips around forms OR by bending thin strips of maple over a heated metal bar (pre-cut maple ribs and electrically-heated bending irons can also be purchased).

Attach ribs. The shaped ribs are glued to the blocks on the body mold.

Trace plates. After the ribs are trimmed, the mold/block/rib combination is used to trace the proper shapes onto the boards that will form the top and bottom plates of the body.

Cut neck opening. An opening is cut into the front block and rib. This is where the neck will be attached later.

Remove body form. The body form is removedleaving the shaped block/rib structure.

Attach linings. Strengthening linings are glued to the inside edges of the ribs.

Cut plates. The top and bottom plates are cut to shape with a band saw or coping saw.

Shape outsides of plates. The plates are fastened to the carving table, and the outside surfaces are gouged and scraped to the proper arched shape.