Traditionally, the final smoothing on fiddles is done with scrapers, not sandpaper. A scraper leaves a different surface that’s very easily identified once you’re used to seeing it. There are arguments that sanding the top especially clogs with wood pores and changes the sound of the instrument. I have my doubts about that, but I do like to do things as they’re traditionally done. That said, I woke up this morning and realized I don’t have a curved scraper (and I didn’t feel like making one). So I decided to just finish the rest of Davide’s top with sandpaper.
Here’s why fiddle makers use oblique light
You can see a good bit of unevenness in the arch still. I could spend a bunch of time working it out, but it looks fine in normal lighting so I am going to move on. The point of this guy is practice.
So arching done, I cleaned up the outline with a knife and file. This was a little scary: it would be very easy to break a corner off.
Now just need to carve out the inside of the top.
I had a few minutes left so I drew in the corners for Golia. Next step is cutting the top out.
