Well, at least close. RedDog arrived in NYC beginning on the 17th and ending on the 18th (Tom was the last). Cremona was  very intense; standing in the still, humid air of a small room filled with nine or ten Italian violins from the 16th and 17th centuries (mostly) ignoring the discomfort while trying to see everything for as long as possible. A really charming Guarnarius filius Andreae caught my eye. Dan said he wants a copy of it for his next fiddle and I concur. We walked through the narrow streets of the old city, ate memorable food and took a picture on Via Del Gesu. I will put up some pictures when I find them.

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.

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.

A friend who lives in Italy asked for a violin to be made which will be presented to his friend, a resident of California. This is the table blank of Italian spruce waiting to be glued up. The lights warm the edges prior to applying the hot hide glue.