All Trade Secrets articles
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: An innovative varnish recipe
Johannes Jacobs presents a method for making and applying both the ground coat and an emulsion varnish
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making cochineal-coloured lakes
A guide to creating a rich, warm red pigment for varnish preparation
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Camouflaging a patch using a veneer
An innovative and intricate method for a taxing problem in restoration
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Final scroll refinement
Some notes on finishing off one of the trickiest parts of the making process
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Even split, even grain
A simple method for joining plates with even grain orientation
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a paper template for a scroll
A procedure that allows for accurate reproduction as well as being a stimulant to creativity
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Extending the reach of metal F-clamps
Making wooden jaws for a lighter, safer long-reach clamping alternative
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Cutting the f-holes
The traditional method adopted by the luthiers of the old Mirecourt school
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Home-made tools for violin making
A range of innovative implements made by hand from carbon steels and high-speed steels
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Fitting a marquetry inlay
A guide to adding a unique, personalised touch to an instrument front or back
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Creating neck graft sockets – part two
The second of two articles shows the completion of this intricate and sometimes tricky process
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Tips for tricky bow rehairs
Practical techniques to overcome common challenges in bow rehairing
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Replacement of pearl eyes in a bow
Sarah Bystrom shares a method for a common task in bow restoration that respects the intention and style of the maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade secrets: External crack repair using silk
Sharon Que provides an innovative solution to a common – and tricky – repair problem
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Varnish retouch
A method for layering pigments and shellac to reproduce the exact colour and thickness of an instrument’s varnish
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: The ‘Doratura Cremonese’ ground method
How to make and apply a ground coat with a deep golden yellow colour
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Using Baker-style mechanics on a double bass
How to fit these brass pegs, gears and tuners, as used by English bass makers in times gone by
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Carving a ‘Hill-style’ saddle
Care and accuracy are needed to make a two-piece ebony saddle – in this case for cello
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a Parisian-eye ring
A step-by-step guide to this intricate part of bow repair
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: A tool to measure string tension
How luthiers can create a device to find the optimum tension of a string – and a few good reasons to use it
