I watched the neighborhood kids walking to school carrying backpacks nearly as big as the kids themselves, and realized that the summer is gone, at least on the calendar. In the last few days before Labor Day sounded the death knell of the season, Beth and I acquired a little haven on Lopez Island and I'm looking forward to building a little shop and a little cabin and eventually living the Island lifestyle.

The economy continues to be unfriendly to this shop but hope springs eternal and we look forward to finding homes for a few instruments this year.

Work on cellos continue. The picture below is of a bassbar glue up on a Bulgarian cello that turned out, when it was opened up, to be more of a kit that had been tacked together with glue than a finished instrument. All the linings have/had to be removed, reformed or replace and re-glued. It would have been quicker to build one from scratch.

Note the caul/pads added to the Alberti clamps to spread the load and adapt to the curve of the plate.