Self-Proclaimed Luthier

In 1988 I was studying in Bangalore. On a Thursday afternoon, I visited my brother who was residing in a convent run by Italian priests at Richmond Town, Bangalore. I saw some kind of annual cleaning in the house and, some young boys were busy burning all the waste materials in the corner of the front yard. One young boy was carrying a broken violin to throw it in the fire. I asked him whether I can take it. He said okay, and I took the violin as a great possession. I was so happy to have it, just because it was made in Italy; don't remember what exactly went in my mind.
I had no much idea about violins that time even though I went for violin lessons for a year at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu.

Violin is a 16th-century Italian stringed instrument and one of the popular musical instruments in the world today. Viola is a similar looking instrument, slightly a larger body and played like violin keeping it in the shoulder and chin. Cello and Double Bass and noticeably large and have an endpin that rests on the floor to support the instrument's weight while playing. The Double Bass is often played in a standing position while the cello is played in sitting position.

Coming back to my 1988 story, there were two cracks on the belly of the violin and that is the reason why the violin was discarded. The center of the belly had a big crack; apparently, the glued part of the belly that was made of 2-pieces gave off. Another small crack was on the lower side of the belly. There were no pegs, tailpiece, bridge, strings, etc…

Generally, the backside  and the front side big plate is made of a single wood or two pieces glued together. There is an unending argument among Luthiers, great so-called masters and anyone who owns a violin is that which one, one piece wood or two pieces sounds better. People who own two pieces backside wood claim that single piece backs are cheaper and of poor quality and those who own single piece back often claim that double piece back is of cheaper quality and less expensive. Present day machine made violins come in a single piece back. The instrument that I used in the violin school had two pieces back, however, I prefer the single piece back because of its grain orientation.


To all those who are new to the violin, there are few general information. Violin has an artistically made scroll at the end where four tuning pegs are placed. The neck and the fingerboard is the place where the strings are pressed by the fingers to change the notes. The waist is the narrow part of the main body or box of the instrument. There are two f-holes and a bridge is kept in the inner cut of the f-holes to raise the strings to the level of the fingerboard. In the lower bout, there is a tailpiece where the strings are tied or connected and fine-tuning screws are kept to adjust the strings. In the left side, there is a chinrest and an endpin at the bottom of the instrument to connect the tailpiece. Another important part in the violin is the sound-post, a small piece of wood that is kept inside the body of the violin, connecting the top and bottom plates. The position of the sound-post is very critical in the violin sound, both quality and quantity. The instrument is played using a bow, which is a long stick with hair. The part of the bow, where the violinist holds is called the frog.

Generally, three different kinds of wood are used in all European violins: Maple, Spruce, and Ebony. Maple is the popular wood used for the backside of the violin. It is often said that Maple wood from cold countries is considered good. Due to less sunlight it is said that the trees grow slowly and once felled, the wood dry in a very slow manner that gives a better sound quality. Spruce is often used for the front side of the instrument, often referred to as the belly or soundboard. High stiffness, low weight is the reasons cited for the use of this wood. Spruce wood will have fine vertical grains that appear on the belly of the violin.  Ebony is used for the fingerboard, pegs, tailpiece, and endpin and the distinctive black color gives a desirable look to the instrument. Now a day, Rosewood, Boxwood and Mahogany wood is often used in place of ebony,

Coming back to my 1988 violin love story, I preserved it in the same broken condition for nearly 5 years and in 1993, gave it to my friend, an eccentric musician, who volunteered to do the Luthier's work for me. I had no specific preference for colour or anything, just gave it to him for the repair work. He glued the cracks and painted and gave back to me. When I played the repaired violin, it did not evoked any feelings in me; I did not get any sensation that I am playing an Old Italian violin. The high pitch sound was not pleasing to my ears and my love for violin slowly disappeared.
In the year 1996, when I went to the Philippines for my higher studies, another friend of mine wanted my violin for his daughter. I gave it to him and in the course of time completely forgotten about my violin and my love for this old instrument.
When I came for vacation sometimes I remember the violin and  search at home and I forgot where I left it. However, in 2003 when I completed my Ph.D. and came back to India, I was searched and concluded that I lost it. I thought, I misplaced the instrument somewhere and there is no matter in searching for it. The thought of old violin went out of my mind. In 2004 I went to Ethiopia and came back in 2007.
In 2009, one of my friends called me and asked me "why I did not take the violin from his house"; he told me that it is left unattended in his house. I was overjoyed to hear the news and took the violin from his house.

I saw the violin in a pathetic condition, no strings, no bridge, almost dead. I thought of giving it to a Luthier to repair it, polish it or paint it or whatever works that could be done. I was also cautious that I should not be looted by some so-called Luthiers, in the name of repair work. I was looking for someone, who is a music lover, who can fix the instrument out of love for doing the job. I inquired through some known musicians, but nothing clicked. So the half-dead violin was lying in my house for nearly 10 years.
In 2019, when I moved to Nagaland my love for music awakened. I took the violin with me and thought of giving a new life to the instrument. I had a close look at the violin and understood that some minor works can solve the issues. I also had a desire to change the color of the violin to a slightly darker brown. So I become a Luthier myself. The semester break gave me some leisure time to dedicate for this new fiddle mission.

One major work that needed was  to fix a small gap in the neck that joins the body.  I came to know that one of the teachers do carpentry work as a hobby and sought his help. He was a bit hesitant in the beginning because I was giving him too many instructions and precautions. However, he agreed to do the job. Once that was done, I went to the shop to buy some spare parts that were missing in the instrument.
Fortunately, the sound post was intact in the violin. Otherwise, I had to look for a Luthier. I would have been looted for that work, as it is the normal custom nowadays in this consumerist society, where everyone is waiting to cheat, loot and make money.
Needed the following small items:
1.    Strings
2.    Pegs
3.    Bridge
4.    Tail-piece and hanger
5.    Chin-rest
6.    Rosin
Unfortunately, I was not able to buy anything except the strings from the local shop. I checked on-line and ordered the things. Meanwhile, I wanted to do some body work like polishing, shining and puffing works; also my intension to change the body colour. I do not remember the original color of the violin. But my friend who repaired it in 1993 did some horrible colouring and varnishing work which did not soothe my eyes at all. I imagined a violin in a slightly brownish color. But it was neither orange nor yellow nor red; a kind of colour combination which was really irritating. So my primary intension was to change the colour.

Read a lot on the Internet but I did not get any specific suggestions rather discouraging comments from many so-called experts that it should be done by a specialized Luthier ... doing repair work in the violin is killing the instrument etc.. etc.. I was also not able to get the suggested varnish from the paint shop. After a few days of reading, learning and exploration from the net and doing some research, relied on my intuition and commonsense.
I bought some ordinary varnish and a piece of sandpaper from the shop (total cost 60 rupees, less than a dollar...). Having in my mind all the cautions, precautions and warning from the netizens I started the Luthier job aimlessly. Varnished it lightly, removed it with sandpaper, applied some of Johnson’s baby oil from my table (in place of mineral oil), all done with a help of an old cloth from my cupboard.
After a mixture of ventures, I realized that a lot of old paint is applied in the body. Slowly I was able to remove it with wet varnish and mineral oil. As I was working slowly and steadily, some contour lines like grains started to appear in the belly plate and I was able to see a pleasing satin glow in the wood, which was soothing to my eyes. The backside of the violin too became very pleasant with the maple figure. The original beauty of the old wood which was hidden under the paintwork started to appear and I forgot about my original mission of changing the colour of the violin. I fell in love with the wood and the original orange/gold colour that emerged.  Instead of the intended gloss finish which I originally imagined, I loved the Satin look that I got when the old paint was removed. The Luthier in me became more involved and forgot many worries that were bothering me at that time.

The violin seems to have had an orange/golden shade as the original colour in the body which slowly started to appear in the satin look. I loved it; it was so soothing to the eyes, I tried the get the same look in the front side too. Day and night did a lot of work manually with my limited knowledge, using hand and cloth as instruments.

I started to polish it slowly and steadily with a cloth and baby oil, almost every day, for a week. When I get up in the morning, the first thing to do is to hold the violin in the hand, do some polishing work with a thin cloth, with one or two drops of baby oil; it would be the last thing in the night also, before going to bed. Once I felt that the violin got a nice satin finish, I want to stop the work. I could feel that the instrument lost a lot of paint and varnish from the wood and the wood became lighter. I stopped the work and waited for the spare parts to arrive. The arrival of the spare parts was delayed due to fani cyclone in the Indian subcontinent. 


Finally, on the first day of my new semester, spare parts arrived and I did not waste any time to fix the parts. The bridge was very tall, and I had a hard time shaping the bridge to the desired height. The pegs were a little big and I had to use some sandpaper to reduce the thickness and after a couple of hours heard the first cry of my violin.
Just like a lady who forgets the pangs of birth when she hears the first cry of the baby, I too went to a higher level of excitement.

The sound of the instrument is loud, pleasant and pleasing to the ears. I realized that the old paint and varnish had spoiled the real sound of the old violin. Slowly started to train my fingers after a gap of 25 years. Every day, the moment I come back from college, take the violin and play it to hear the pleasant sound of the violin.
Waiting for a beautiful name for my violin, may be a Naga name….