stunning inlay work

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I would not do this on a straight accoustic instrument as I think it's not going to produce a good sound no way no how but, what this chick did is mind bendingly good work with or without a good tone - and of course it was what the customer wanted.
>>>http://www.mimf.com/archives/hopkins_snakefiddle.htm<<<<<<
Had I not seen this brave girl's work I'd have opined that it would never work, too much, too big, too loud, and all on too small an instrument.

It is quite lovely.

That literally makes me want to try something that loud and dramatic. Of course on an electrified model. And then there are furniture ideas too.

[Larry Cooke]

Cliff,

That is most impressive indeed. I agree, I wouldn't want it on a player but for one that's going to be displayed it is awe inspiring for sure.

Wish I had that kind of patience and talent...

Larry

[Doug Shepard]

You aint kiddin. There's a ton of work that went into that. I wonder how much it would really affect the tone though?? That recon stone stuff is pretty thin. In other words - if she'd just routed out the cavities and didn't fill with inlay, I wouldn't think the tone would be affected much. Would just adding that thin layer of inlay on the outside of the sound chamber change it all that much?
It's a bit too gaudy for my tastes though too, but you've got to admire the effort that went into it.

[Vaughn McMillan]

That is indeed some impressive inlay work, Cliff. Thanks for the URL. That Doug Kershaw posted a compliment to the maker is a pretty nice acknowledgement.

Doug, in answer to your question about the inlay changing the tone...most acoustic box instruments are surprisingly sensitive to changes in the resonance of the box. (A piece of duct tape on the face of a violin can affect the tone, for example.) I'm pretty sure the inlay would mess with the tone, but as Amy pointed out in her write-up, it looks like this violin was going to be used amplified. With the right pickup, the body modifications probably didn't change the sound much.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

Oh, my...that's a lot of very hard work!