Sitting here in LaRoche sur Foron, France, and about to travel to Ancona, Italy, I realize that Cremona is essentially on the way and we have free time. A no-brainer. Ted, Sharry, Dan and I will stop in and take a look at the Cremonese Strad that my last two or three fiddles were based on. It's kind of like cold calling for a salesman-knock and hope. Great adventure.

Currently there are two new fiddles waiting for homes as Lasley & Russ Violins in Downtown Ballard, Seattle. They are the darker two in the picture just below this entry.

Three new fiddles in the drying cabinet. The one on the right is Alafaire, just begun finishing. In the center is Novinha, a Del Gesu model, and on the left is Ela, a Strad model. Alafaire is bound for Italy in the fall.

Just prior to RedDog's European expedition, I'll be moving the shop to larger quarters. Tom, guitarist and banjo operator for RedDog, has a new studio and the violin shop will join him there. This will make the shop big enough so I stop losing things (I hope) and  so that people can stop by to try out violins or play a tune or swap tall tales. Here are two snapshots of the space.

Plates for Alafaire are nearly finished. Once they are attached to the ribs, the purfling will be inlaid, the edges rounded and then blended into the arching.

Alafaire's table. The inside is already hollowed and substantially finished with only a little blending to go. The outside is now matched to the inside making any minor corrections necessary. Out of the original glued up blank, most of the spruce will wind up as shavings on the shop floor.

Italian spruce for Alafaire's table glued up and resting.

This is the back of the most recent Strad model. Already hollowed and with the arches roughed out, it's ready to be planed down to final shape and graduated.

I used to give the fiddles names just before I closed the body but lately, with the lead time on silver tags, I try to do it right away. This one is called Alafaire, a name first seen in Scotland and England in the 16th century.