done.

Done with the first half of the program!
Successfully finished all projects, finals, including a "violin playing test" which somehow, a bachelors degree in violin performance didn't excuse me from?

Anyhow. That wasn't so bad, lets get on with the second semester!

nuts!

cello nuts, that is.

3 more weeks!

things

So, this week has dragged on for other reasons besides the fact that Ebony class is lame and boring. But, it's going well. I finished my saddle, and it was lovely. Started a cello nut, and continued with the maple violin fingerboard. Actually, the maple fingerboard is horrible, and hard, and a pain in the butt. Have I mentioned that Ebony is my least favorite class?

Varnish class has been going much better than it was last time I wrote about it. I am much better at touch up (using the layering method - after Thanksgiving we start trying to master the pigment method, which is better in some circumstances but not all) We have cooked some varnish, using our newfound knowledge of interesting resins. We have.... learned all sorts of neat things about linseed oil. I'm trying to make this not sound boring to y'all, but I'm having a really fun time.

Bow Repair is...interesting. It's once a week, and the lectures tend to be a little ahead of when we actually get to the project. (for example, last week we had a lecture on how to recamber a bow - this week, only one person was to the point of being able to try it. Next week we're off for thanksgiving, so in two weeks, a few of us will have to get out our notes and have to figure out how to do it, all over again.) I am currently almost finished replacing a bone tip plate. (Last week was a plastic tip plate- so much easier than bone!) The class is, apparently, unusually spread out as far as pace goes. But, I'm staying in the front few, so its good.

Violin History. My favorite, really. We had an exam on all of Italy (which was really hard. We had to match makers to what towns they were from, and which instruments they were famous for. Then we had a week off, for veterans day. (Not the whole week off - just the friday, but history is our only friday class)

Hmm, I think that's it. We've got classes next week, and the break for Thanksgiving will be nice. :)

Oh. And I bought some european maple for a violin back (through Ms. Butler, from the VSA convention). Guess I have to make a violin now.

Ebony update.

The other day, a guitar repair student asked what we were working on in our class, because apparently we "never look happy in there."
It's true, we have been working pretty hard and none of it is very fun. Shaping tiny nuts and saddles to minuscule measurements, to her exact expectations is hard. And now we're making a maple fingerboard out of scratch. It's a lot of numbers and things to think about, and there are a lot of things to screw up.

I have to say that Ebony is my least favorite class so far. Bow rehairing was tough, but it was at least very satisfying when it was done right. And since we got good at it, it became inscreasingly satisfying. I suppose since we were just doing the same thing over and over again, perfecting it. Ebony on the other hand, we make one nut,  we get graded, thats it. No practice. We make one saddle. If it sucks, you get a bad grade on it. The next saddle you make from scratch will be probably in a year from now, for a customer, and we'll all be digging through our notes trying to figure out what the heck the angle curve magical tail gut loop groove things are supposed to look like.

Other people in my class feel the opposite way. If you cant fit a tip wedge, you can't finish rehairing the bow. However, if one of your tiny measurements is slightly off, you can generally work around it, depending on what it is. At least for the sake of the class, its easier. But to me, I feel much more prepared to go out and rehair bows than I do to go out and work on ebony. Plus ebony is just dirty and more dirty.

Anyhow, my thumb is doing much better. I had a very clumsy week last week. I twisted or stubbed or sanded off pretty much every loose appendage. Here's hoping this week is better. Stay tuned for a Varnish rant, coming soon!

Injury #2

They say that most injuries from power tools come from being too tired while working (if I may throw a statistic at you, we learned that the greatest number of power tool injuries happened between 1-3pm - after lunch) or overconfidence and not paying attention.
This one involved both. Today I had a tussle with the belt sander and sanded half my thumbnail off.


It sucks.

[edit] for those who really want to see the gory details (not gory at all, quite cleaned up.. and I made it black and white so that it would be friendlier. I'm not going to post it ON here, so it is completely your choice whether or not you want to see it: Here.

First day of Ebony Class

Our schedule for the next 8 weeks is very similar to the last four, except that Ebony replaces Bow Rehair. We add an hour of Varnish on Wednesdays, we keep Varnish in the morning on Thursdays and Bow Repair on Thursday afternoons. Friday is still Violin History. 

Today, we fit pegs to a fake pegbox. Hooray!

First blood.

I cut my finger today.

Due to the varied age of my readers, I'll spare y'all a gory picture, but just take my word for how gory it is. (It's pretty gory.)

Here's the story. I had just resharpened it this morning. I mean, really sharp. Like, I could throw it at a tip wedge and it would cut itself perfectly, sharp. So, I was throwing it at various pieces of wood, making all sorts of incredible wedges, and then it occurred to me that my hand was getting a little worn from where it rubs up against the knife, with all my amazing chopping action. Easy fix, I thought. I'll just put a couple pieces of masking tape there to pad it a little. I turned my knife over to do that, when all of the sudden it jumped from my hand, yelled "I'll get you, sucker, and your little dog too!" and chomped off a pretty large slice from the side of my finger. I gasped, and fortunately had a paper towel sitting right in front of me. Then made my first visit to the huge First Aid box at the back of the room.

Actually, in reality, it happened so fast that I'm still not really sure the logistics of it. Somehow it flipped around and got a slice off the inside of my pointer finger. And tying good knots is awfully hard without an index finger. Anyhow, I'm thankful to have all my requirements done for bow rehair class, and now a long weekend fall break, which I will spend roadtripping to a faraway place to see people I have not seen in a very long time. :)

Monday we start ebony!

the bow gods smile, and so does ms. butler

I got two "attagirls" today. :)

The bow gods are smiling on me once again

I had a really discouraging day yesterday. I felt like I didn't get anything done and may as well have stayed in bed and not gone to school, which is what I was tempted to do anyway.
Come to find out today that it was the bow that was the problem, after redoing it for a THIRD time and not being able to figure out why it wasn't working as well as it had been before, when I know that I'm not doing anything horribly wrong. (better each time I redid it, so at least I got the extra practice. But I was fixing the wrong problems)

Anyway, today was much better, I finished the problem bow, and completed two more. I'm almost finished with the required bows for this class, which is good. We have to do 10 rehairs. The first bow we rehair three times. Then among the next few, there is a french bass bow, a german bass bow, a Glasser bow, and a few other violin bows, and then whatever we get the lowest score on she makes us do another of that. I have completed 8 so far, and the class goes on for another week. (Until next wednesday)
Unfortunately, to get an A in the class, you have to get several "attagirl" (or attaboy if youre a boy) bows in a row, which no one has done. She grades them out of 60 points, on every aspect of it, and an "attagirl" would be 58/60. (Closest I have gotten is a 56 - yay me!) But, the majority of the class is hanging out in the 40s. But there's hope for me yet - after the 10 are completed, we just practice on violin bows until the end of the mini-mester (wednesday). So, plenty of time to earn an attagirl grade.

Rehairing bows is like working with small children. They each have their own quirks, and some of them are easy and loveable; some of them are monsters and you want to kill them, and you are relieved to give them back when you are done with them. Endlessly frustrating when its wrong, and endlessly satisfying when its right.

whalebone wrappings and leather grips

Mine :)
This is a bow that belongs to a school somewhere else in this state, that had a tag on it saying "needs new grip." It had no grip, so it was perfect for this assignment. I chose it out of a large, sad box of many dusty and broken bows. I made it pretty, and then once I was finished, I was told to mark on the tag "grip completed." I put a smiley face next to completed, because I felt happy about it. Also I was the first one done, which always makes me feel good about myself.

Optimism

“Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!”  -Oscar Wilde

More bow commentary.

Learning to rehair a bow results in a smattering of emotions that range between satisfying and endlessly discouraging. 

I finished my second one today. My grade improved, though not as much as I would've liked - I fixed the things I did wrong on the first one, and didn't do as well as some things that I did successfully on the first one. Meh.

Stay tuned for three and four tomorrow. 

I got a decent grade on my rehair! :) She said that it would not go out of a shop, but that it was very good for a first rehair. And all my hairs were straight. Hooray!

Also, she had a migraine and we had a 3 hour lunch break.

Also, I made a successful leather grip!

Today is a good day. :)

First hair.

Well. Today I finished my first rehair.

It's not very good.

But, we've got about a dozen more to do before the end of the class, and plenty more practice after that. I am not too discouraged - it is holding together, and I'll probably get a decent grade on it. I suppose it's not bad for a first try, either.

Wedges, man. It's like washing dishes. You gotta do it. And even if you're good at it, doesnt make it much better.

Today is better than yesterday.

Ok. I feel a lot better about wedges, and now I'm pretty awesome at them. 

My cold is worse though. 

Pleh. 

I'll admit

I'm a little downhearted about wedges. This is the first thing that I havent totally rocked, and it makes me sad.

For those who are not in the luthier world, let me explain that bow hair is held in pretty much by wooden plugs in wooden holes. Unfortunately for we luthiers, the wooden holes are not square or in any very sensible shape, but in any case the goal is to fit a tiny piece of wood to go into a tiny hole, and thus secure the hair. So, if the wedge, or plug, is poorly done, the hair wont stay, and the player will be grumpy because their bow hair will explode all over them during a key moment in their concert.

So, learning how to shape these tiny pieces of wood is delicate and frustrating, and we all quickly realized why no one really wants to make a living rehairing bows. It's really a pain in the butt.

But: I have completely dominated knots, and tomorrow is another day.


Also I have a cold.

False Alarm!

So we didn't get to wedges today - we were all pretty burnt out, so we just sat though a lecture on bow materials and other interesting things. We will continue with wedges and things of that nature on Monday morning.

Then we had varnish class for two hours.

Then we braved the rainy outside to go eat at Taco Johns, which brightened the general mood considerably!

Then we had three hours of Bow Repair, in which we each took apart an old bow and cleaned it out and made sure the eyelet worked properly, and if it didnt, we replaced it.

I intended to write a lot more words about today, since so many new things happened, but my brain is full and done for the day.

Tomorrow, Violin History, and a second day working the Jenny Lind Bakery. Hoorah!

Bows.

We tied lots of knots today.
Tomorrow we shall cut many tiny wedges.

Bows and Buttons.

Yesterday was the beginning of the real repair program - the four weeks prior to that was all in preparation. We do bow rehair 7 hours a day, three days a week for the next month. I expect we'll get pretty good at it. Lisbeth stresses the reality that if you are good at rehairing bows, you will always be able to put food on your table. Bow rehairing is... a lot of things to remember. And there are a lot of ways to mess things up. So. Mondays through Wednesdays are complete and solid rehair class. Thursdays are divided into Rehair, Repair, and Varnish Class. Fridays are still just Violin History in the morning.

One of the nice things is that the violin and guitar students have now parted ways. The violin program is much smaller (about 18 folks to the nearly 40 guitar students), and we are all finally in the same room. So, no more split sections and running around between classrooms for each different thing we have to do. It's more intimate, and the pace is quicker.

In other news, my violins that I am halfway done varnishing are starting to look like real violins, and they are looking quite lovely. What I don't like is the varnish is finicky so I tend to make the same batch to use for all three of them - and in doing so, they are all three coming out about the same color. I think next coat I put on I will head them in different directions. I'm looking forward to my varnish class, where I will learn more about the why and how instead of just the actions of doing it.

Bow Rehair class is tough - there are a few people who made it through the first four weeks but may not last too long into this section. Tomorrow we will tie knots until our hands fall off!

FYI

Rocked the exam. Hooray for the rest of the day off!

The end of the first mini-mester!

The first four weeks are over tomorrow! I finished all of my tools today, a day early, so the only thing I have to do tomorrow is go in at 8 for the Basic Materials final exam. I'm a little more confident about it than I was about the midterm, especially the wood identification part - everyone did so poorly on that section in the midterm that we have spent a lot of time on it this week, and it's a lot better now. (should be anyhow :) I'll update you next week!)

Hooray! so, exam tomorrow. Violin history on friday morning. New job starts friday morning! Aaaand we start on bows on monday!

Classes

Here is the long-awaited post about my classes! The reason it took so long is that I have so many words to say that even a post about the classes was a little daunting.

For the first 4 weeks of the semester, we have classes to prepare our tools and get to know some basics before actually working on instruments. We are past halfway through this mini-mester, and at the beginning of week after next, everything will change.

8am. Basic Materials. This is where the violin folks get to have a class without the guitar folks getting in the way. We learn about trees and wood and density and things like that. We just had a midterm yesterday- Half was a written portion, part of which was knowing the scientific names of different types of wood. The other half was it was: 15 blocks of wood. We had to identify the wood, the cut (transverse, radial, or tangential), and any figures on it (birds eye, bearclaw, etc). It was intimidating. But it's all very good to know.

9am-12pm. Power Tools. This is actually just half of one class officially, "Introduction to Tools", but they divided us in half - half of us does the power tool portion in the morning, the other half does hand tools. In the afternoon we switch.
The power tools class is cool - who goes to school and has an entire class on using bandsaws, table sanders, drill presses, jointers, planers, and table saws? We have little projects that let us practice using these tools, making jigs and things for future projects.

12pm-1pm. Lunch. Hooray! Every Wednesday at lunch there is a jam. And today we played rummy. I have a lovely circle of friends forming, each of them is quite cool. Stay tuned for Minnesota adventures with said friends. (should that go on this one or the floating violin? hrm! conundrum! probably floating violin)

1pm-4pm. Hand Tools. This is where we really get into the nitty gritty, literally, of sharpening our tools. For the last two weeks, we have flattened, ground, sanded, and honed our fingers to the bone. It's really not been bad, though - she gives us enough assignments at a time that we can rotate through the projects depending on what we're tired of. It's a little hard for my one track mind to multitask; I tend to want to focus on one thing til its done, and then move on. I'm a serious to-do-list-checker-off-er. But, if I spent two days straight flattening a scraper, I would go crazy. So it is good to have other projects to do in the meantime. The only deadline is the end of the mester.

We can see the end of these two classes. We have the rest of this week (which is tomorrow) plus Monday through Thursday of next week to get everything done, and it is certainly doable. Some folks will probably end early. If they do, they just get the rest of the week off. I am closer to finishing my hand tools than I am my power tool projects - but they have intentionally given us a lot of time to finish things. There are only a few tools for 60 people to use, and they don't want people rushing to finish a project on a power tool they are new at, and end up hacking off a finger in their hurry.

Friday mornings we have Violin History, and that will continue for the rest of the semester. This class is really my favorite. It is all so interesting, how the little details, and the things that are going on in the world, and the changing musical styles, and the art movements, all work together and affect each other, and grow off each other. I love to see how the f holes change from Andrea to A&H to Nicolo Amati. (I also love Nicolo's corners! So pretty!) I love to hear stories about how the unrest in the French people because of the many kingly switchovers in a short number of years helped in the first large order of string instruments by Catherine de Medici, for Charles IX, and the paintings of his motto, Pietate et Justicia still on the backs of those instruments. Also I'm excited for a field trip in the spring to go see those particular instruments because they are right next door in South Dakota! I wish it were more than once a week. I look forward to Fridays, because all we have is history class, from 8-10 in the morning, and then we're done, and it is the weekend.

In a couple weeks, we start Bow Rehair and Bow Repair classes, as well as a class on Varnish. History will continue, and I will keep you up to date all the way along!

Other interesting things to note:
-Out of 60 people in the violin and guitar program combined, I am one of only 5 females. All 5 of us are in the violin program.
-There are surprisingly few actual violinists in the violin program. I look around for strings to play with, and it is harder than I expected. A handful of violists, and one cellist.
-Part of the tool classes is standing in line for our work to be inspected. People complain about the waste of time - why can't the teacher make rounds, and then the time we spend standing in line we'd be getting work done? While I agree it might be more efficient, I enjoy standing in line - it is the best way to talk to other classmates, and see how other people are doing their tools, and see what progress and joys and sorrows are happening, instead of just talking the few people on either side of your bench. I wouldn't change it.
-Something that bugs me, also, is people who grumble about the way we are being taught. There are a few people who are convinced that whatever experiences they have had before the class, learning quicker and easier ways to do things, is quite superior to the ways that Ms. Lisbeth Nelson Butler is teaching us. 22 years of teaching this stuff, I'm pretty sure she knows what she's doing! I am annoyed at the people who don't learn new things openly, and act as if they should be the ones teaching. I am not paying you, little 18-year-old-away-from-home-for-the-first-time, to tell me a better way of doing things. Do it whatever way you want on your own time!

Overall, I am very much enjoying all of this. If I could commute to the Caribbean to play the violin for money in the evenings, then life would be perfect.

P.S. This blog is attached to floating violin, but you still have to follow it separately, so please go up to the right and push follow so that I know I'm not just writing to a brick wall! :)

Welcome!

Welcome to my luthier blog, an offshoot of the floating violinist! The point of starting a new blog is simply to keep all my nerdy career writing contained so that people who only want to read about my personal life and adventures can stay on the floating violinist and not bother with chisels and sandpaper and f holes (and those who only want to read about what I’m learning at luthier school can stick to this blog, and not have to bother with things like curtains and lemon pepper bread and cow-clouds) And needless to say, those who want to stalk my life in its entirety can just keep up with both blogs.

I think of my luthier world as a little bit like leading a superhero life. Not many people do it, or even think about instrument repair on a daily basis, so when I first tell people what I do, they are mostly surprised and interested and have no idea what it involves. I spend the day sharpening chisels and being a glasses-wearing, coffee-drinking, knife-welding superhero, and then return to my normal life where no one knows that I have the coolest career ever, unless I tell them.

When we are young, we all have a dream of what we want to be when we grow up. An astronaut, cop, fireman, teacher. People who know me pretty well know or assume that I’ve wanted to do music my whole life. But before my whole life (before age 11) I wanted to be a surgeon. (there was also a brief intermission of criminal justice thrown in there that lasted about a semester – I blame it on the napoleon complex, I really just wanted to carry a gun and be taken seriously. But I digress.)

I wanted to be a surgeon, when I was very young. Then I wanted to be a violin teacher. Then I wanted to be a violin performer. Then I went back to wanting to be a surgeon – this time, a string instrument surgeon. What all of that turned out to be was just a large enjoyment of fixing things and making them better, and therefore making people happy.

Luthiery is very much like a mix between being a doctor and an auto mechanic. Fortunately, if you make a mistake in “operating” on an instrument, you can fix it – it may take longer, but if you mess up, you haven’t killed anyone. (this is why I say it’s a safer version of my 5 year old dream)

But, as much as it is like doctoring, it is also very similar to the life of an auto mechanic. With my car trouble and not knowing anything about cars, I found myself on the other side of the counter, feeling strangely like the customers I had helped every day at the violin shop. This complex piece of technology that I use every day and can’t live without has suddenly started doing something funny that I don’t understand.

Violinists and car-owners take their expensive and complex technology to a shop where people know about those things. The instrument owners don’t know what's wrong, or if they do, they generally have no idea the steps to fix it. They only hope that the repair person is 1. Good at what they do, and 2. Won’t screw them over and charge them for things they don’t need, or charge them too much too much for the things they do need. There is a lot of trust required of this instrument and car owner.

So. Here’s what I do. I’m in school right now, about two weeks in, learning lots and lots of cool things. I won’t post everything I do on here, but I will keep you up to date with the interesting parts. Stay tuned!