The D's are both curing now with what should be all their varnish on. In a month or so you will see them again. About that same time I will begin my next guitar, which is commissioned, but not completely defined yet.
Meanwhile, I am missing the two violins I made for Ben McKee, which were not only my best violin efforts so far, but also better (IMO) than any of the other 25 or so violins I own. Most days I manage to play for an hour or more, so I am trying my luck at making another as good as my last.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Maple back, one in the carving process, and the other scraped and at final thicknesses. My thanks to Al Carruth, who's scraper you can see in the second picture. I have been scraper adept for 50 years, and Al's scraper is easily the best I've used. While it works well for a guitar's various scraper tasks, it has transformed my violin making as it is an enlightened design in that context. IMO, of course.
