Fiddle Kit

The violin kit far exceeded my expectations. I saw this all-in experience as a sort of correspondence course on how to make a violin, so if I was challenged, the more the merrier. The purfling was my first and turned out well. The instructions were also first-rate. I glued on the neck having gone through all the steps and discovered that I was 1/16" off. With timely, bang-on advice from your technical department, I steamed off the neck, made the fine adjustments and was back on the road. I'm now fine sanding getting ready for the finish. All the woods are quite beautiful and of a high grade so I am looking forward to the final result. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, albeit a bit rocky in places (all down to the vagueries of human skill, not at all the fault of the kit or instructions). An outstanding product.

I have ordered three of your kits and I can say they are fairly simple to build"well at least until you really read up on violin building. The kit itself I will give 5 thumbs and the service 10. I originally bought the kit to prepare for the mandoline kit. I honestly believe that I am stuck on the violin!

My only complaint wood be the purfling channels were rough at the points and had to be filled...but the sound is fantastic compared to the new custom hand built fiddles that come through
my shop....sorry guys but my finish is better too (-: I will build more.

This is the first time that I try to built a violin kit. Your kit is easy to perform, but its sound is surprisingly great beyond my expectation. with much Thanks, Hiro from Toyama

If you are just starting out, this is a great kit to learn the ropes. You might seek other sources of information outside the provided manual, but even if you don't you'll get good results. I chose to French polish the violin with amber shellac which really made the book-matched curly maple back the focus.

For experienced luthiers, this could be a fast track to produce a good quality instrument at an affordable price. You can certainly separate the back plate from the sides and do some additional thinning after performing frequency analysis to tune the plates. There is still plenty of work to be done, but this would certainly save you some time and effort.

I would definitely recommend this kit. I had some minor issues with the first one shipped to me. I contacted customer service and explained the issue and they sent another one out. Completely satisfied and nice to know that there are some places that haven't outsourced their customer service overseas.

I'm not going to rant, rather warn. Check everything when it arrives.

Make sure things fit, that holes are drilled in the correct place, that the neck is not bowed or twisted. If I had double checked everything I would not have started working on it and would have happily returned it for another one (based on the all the rave reviews). My nice winter project has turned into months of doing it myself. On the up side... I learned a lot about making a violin by having to fix or remake kit parts that were substandard.
Did I mention... check everything before you start. If you're not happy, send it back.

You asked for my experiences with your violin kit. I have had the kit in my possession for about a month and just yesterday I finished bending the purfling. I measured the channel for the purfling and the width of the purfling and noted that the purfling is 0.006 inch wider than the channel so I am in the process of widening the channel.

This is a great kit and I enjoy working on it. Because of my other duties, this kit is one of my lower priorities but when I get it assembled, I will order the sandpaper and varnish to finish it. It is then that you will know that I have it assembled. I suspect that it will take until this summer before I am ready for the varnish. Thanks for your concern. I appreciate the challenge.

I built the fiddle for my grandaughter's High School Graduation a couple of years ago. She is an accomplished violinist. It was a huge hit with her, her family, friends and music teachers at the graduation party. Everything in the kit was great.

I took several weeks to complete it, working a few hours at a time. I could not get the sound post set, so a repairman at a local Music Store did it for me & set a new bridge as well. He also buffed out my shelac finish to a nice gloss. When I picked it up, he made my day by saying, "This thing is a CANNON,it sounds wonderful" The only thing I had trouble with was the instructions on fitting the neck, but with careful measurements & cuts(and holding my breath a lot) it worked out beautifully. I do woodworking as a hobby. This was my 1st attempt at building any musical instrument and I learned a LOT.

I would reccomend this kit. Take your time,it is a rewarding project. Go for it !

This kit is a good value. Most of the hard work has been done, just finish it! Components appear to be of good quality.

I recently built two of the Stew,mac violin kits and were very well satisfied with both of them.Thew turned out real good and had beautiful sound.I will give you five stars on the kits.Gilbert