The next instrument that I am starting to work on is a baroque violin, inspired from a smaller (body length of 341mm) violin made by Andrea Amati in 1566. You can see a picture of it below. In this picture the instrument has been set-up as a moden instrument, but the instrument that I am going to make will have a complete baroque set-up with gut strings, fingerboard and tailpiece made out of pear-wood and pegs made from boxwood.

This week end there was a violin making exhibition in Montreal. It was a nice event and I was able to meet many other local makers (from montreal and around) and musiciens who came to try the instruments. You can see more pictures of the exhibition here.

The viola has been varnished. On the following pictures you can see the viola on the left and my first violin (antiqued) on the right. The first pictures show the viola before gluing back the fingerboard (removed to help varnishing the instrument) and the last picture show the viola finished with the fingerboard and setup done (the chinrest has not been added yet).

The viola is fully assembled. After cleaning it I am now able to start the varnishing process.

All the parts of the viola are now complete. I have to put it all together and assemble the instrument now.

The viola plates arching is done. Below you can see the top and bottom plates ready to be hollowed out. And the second picture show a detail of the upper corners with the purfling and the bee sting.