This is not something I'd normally do, indeed some might consider it sacrilege, but I'll post here anyway so you can all criticise me if you want. I might
Some time back I acquired a couple of bowlback which had nice enough bowls, but otherwise had too many issues to be worth rescuing. Time to strip them down to just the bowl and turn them into new(-ish) instruments.
This is very much a back-burner project, so progress over the last several months has been glacial, but there is at least a little to share now.
First up is an F DeMurada bowl, the paper lining has been soaked off (there was a cloth or gauze lining under that which also went), and new maple lining fitted, and yes it's a little untidy round the back of the bowl, but still much less so than the original lining which was clearly fitted by someone who had as much difficulty as me working to that shape! Plus this all experimental luthiery here folks
The old loose softwood tailpiece block has been replaced, and some new chunkier kerfed linings added too. I'm hoping all this will strengthen and stiffen up the bowl a little while keeping it nice and light, but we'll see I guess.
While I was at it, I cleaned up the outside of the bowl to see what I had to work with, looking not bad at all, but there's some old, day-glow white, filler here and there, which may well cause me finishing issues later on.
The new neck has had a bit of work too, here with Golden Age tuners being test fitted:
That's all for now folks, no idea when the next instalment will be, but I think I'll probably just have fun experimenting with this one.
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