Violin Making: A Guide for the Amateur [Paperback]

Bruce Ossman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565230914
• ISBN-13: 978-1565230910
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Violin Making - A guide for the amateur, February 27, 2000

By 

Front to Back (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Violin Making: A Guide for the Amateur (Paperback)

Being a true amateur - I have begun building a violin making this book - having never even touched a violin - it will be an interesting experience. My rating of the book - is that it is quite good, so far. It would benefit from some actual pictures to go with the dialog - as it would be nice to see an actual picture of what you are trying to build rather than a rough sketch. The book is dependent on rough illustrations to guide the amateur. The templates are very good but you do need to 'smooth' some of the templates to match the final violin shape. Not all the components are there, for example the tail piece for securing the strings is not mentioned at all, as is the Bow, so I assume these items need to be purchases separately. Before you start it is best to read the book right through - otherwise some of the steps given earlier on in the book make no sense - in this regard it would be helpful to give a hint as to why "you must do it this way" - anyway overall it is a very good book.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Depends on your goals, October 19, 2001

By 

Andres Sender (N. CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Violin Making: A Guide for the Amateur (Paperback)

This book is directed, not to the amateur violin-builder who admires and aspires to emulate the fine craft of violin-making on a modest scale, but rather to the 'amateur' in the sense of someone who is less interested in immersing themselves in the craft and more interested in building a fiddle at all, somehow.

If you are the type of person who is affected by concern about how to do something 'right' (i.e. following some variant of traditional or professional practice) than this is the wrong book for you and you should invest in Johnson/Courtnall if you can at all afford to (really, never was money better-spent), otherwise Strobel and/or Buchanan are better choices.

On the other hand, if you just want to get a fiddle built with as little fuss as possible, and without minding taking some shortcuts here and there, then this little book will certainly encourage you on that journey. The approach in this book requires fewer tools and less acquisition of new skills, and goes out of its way to ensure the reader is not daunted by any high-fallutin' ideas of high craft, just go to it and get it done.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Watch out for the drawings, December 12, 2007

By 

John "john" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Violin Making: A Guide for the Amateur (Paperback)

This book offers a step-by-step explanation of violin making on a basic level but the drawings are not to be trusted: on the mold plan the right lower block cut-out is one-eighth inch lower than the left. I discovered this after making the mold and noticing that something just didn't look right.
I believe this book gives a rough outline of the violin making process for someone who has absolutely no knowledge, but if you can afford it, the Johnson/Courtnall book is the most thorough available. Harry Wake's book is good for someone interested in using power tools but for the traditional (hand tools) method Johnson/Courtnall is the best.