Visiting How Violins

I visited www.howviolins.fi today. I had contacted the keeper of the shop a little while back to see if I could buy some wood for the next cello as I had forgotten to order the blocks and the linings when I bought the rest of the wood for Cello #2. I also asked if he would have a moment to give some feedback on this first cello I built so that I could learn from my mistakes and improve on the next one.

It was a pleasure to meet Guy and spend a little time with him in his shop. He gave me honest and critical feedback on the cello. He had quite a lot to say. The neck is too large/thick and doesn't quite have the right shape, the ff-holes could be larger, the arching is not consistent, the fingerboard is curved the wrong way, the sound post is all wonky... But it was not all gloom and doom. I had done many things fairly well, and he commented that is a good effort for my first instrument. That was of course nice to hear.

He had 4 concrete things which could still be improved on this cello to get the most out of it. The sound post should be set properly, the bridge could be improved (though he did say that it was actually pretty good already) and the curvature of the fingerboard should be fixed and the neck needed working.

I think I will attempt some of these myself. I will try to do the fingerboard. I knew already that it should be a little hollow. It had made it straight, and at the time I was too afraid to mess it up so I left it straight. It has now apparently curved the wrong way. This can cause a buzzing sound when the strings do not have enough clearance from the fingerboard. I think I will also work on the sound post. Other than being crooked it was also too tight. It will be a good exercise to try to properly fit the sound post. I maybe lost my patience last time. It is not all that easy to put the sound post in and out and know what to do with it to get a good fit. I probably gave up a too early.
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My plan is now to do those 2 things and then take it back to Guy and let him finish it off. I want to give it a try myself as I want to learn this stuff, but I also want to get the best sound out of the cello.