This year at Folklife on the narrative stage, I will be part of a presentation on practical acoustics, specifically regarding violins. Joining me will be Rick Davis of Running Dog Guitars, who will offer the guitar perspective on the same subject. The hour long presentation will be tailored to whomever shows up and what they, as a collective audience, are interested in talking about. Hopefully we will also have a practical demonstration or two as accompaniment to our dialog; maybe even a diagram.

Warm weather in Seattle, finally. We had spring in January and winter in April. Rosalie has gone to Berkely to live. Fiorenza (left) is at the Ballard shop of Lasley & Russ waiting for a date for the prom. Two fiddles in production and a fiddle and a viola about to commence.

Finally ready to play, Rosalie will travel to Berkeley next week to spend some time in California. More pictures can be seen in the gallery. Tom Collicott and I spent a few hours in the studio today photographing four violins, this one, Rosalie, a Strad model, Fiorenza, and the two fiddles I play. As you can see, Tom takes some very fine pictures.

Recently a larger room became available and this past weekend, we(meaning I) moved into it. With about 40% more floor space, it seems vast and luxurious. You can see the two newest fiddles hanging to the right of the window. Fiorenza and Rosalie, both waiting for fingerboards, setup and a little polishing.

I'm still in the process of finding places to put things, but it's wonderful to be able to move to the band saw without impaling myself on the alignment bolt.

Rosalie, the small scale full size fiddle, is finally ready to set up. Here she is shown hanging out waiting for the fingerboard to be glued in place.

Fiorenza is halfway through the varnish process. The figure of the maple is more prominent now and it's time to put some color on, just as soon as the previous coat of varnish dries.

A closer look.

The newest violin, Fiorenza, based on the "Cremonese" Strad, is in the finishing department (the most dust free corner in the shop).