Musical Instruments built by Steve Marshall |
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All dressed up and ready to go. After a lot
of frustration and a couple of false starts with the finishing, I ended up
using a simple polyurethane-based clear finish over a maple-coloured stain.
Not traditional, but doesn't look bad and will be durable. So, how does it sound? Not bad to my ear, but I'm not very familiar with violins, so I don't really know how good or bad it is. Now for the next step - learning how to play it! |
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A whole violin at last, with first coat of sealer applied and hung up in the workshop to dry. The fingerboard will be glued on after varnishing and polishing is done. |
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The mortice cut into the neck block, ready to have the neck glued in. It may look as if it's not the same angle both sides, but it is - honest! |
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The body with the top glued on. Really starting to look violin-like now. |
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Closer view of the top showing the purfling (the black-white-black strip). The channel for this was already cut most of the way around, but it had to be extended out to the points, then the purfling itself had to be cut and fitted. |
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The top of the first violin. |
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Front view of 13-course baroque lute. This was built via an "Internet correspondence course" run by David Van Edwards in the UK, over a period of about a year. It is an accurate copy of a surviving instrument by a builder named Johann Christian Hoffmann around 1750. |
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Back view of 13-course baroque lute |
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A closer view of the lute rose |
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The carving on the back of the lute pegbox |
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Head of first classical guitar |
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Soundhole and rosette of first classical guitar |
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A Flemish harpsichord, modelled on many made by the Ruckers family of makers in the 17th century. This is not the actual instrument I built, because I can't find any photographs! But it is the exact same model. Mine was painted all dark brown on the outside, lighter brown inside, and the legs on the stand were plain, not turned as these are. |
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A fretted clavichord, typical of many built all over Europe in the 17th century. Mine was built in the late 1970s. "Fretted" refers to the fact that one string is made to serve 2 or even 3 adjacent keys, which means the whole instrument can be lighter and simpler. The drawback is that notes a tone or half-tone apart cannot be played simultaneously, but this matters little for the music suited to the instrument. |
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