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Monday 9th March
Toby has rearranged the shop!! When I arrived this morning I found out he'd been here all weekend reorganising and cleaning up. This is looking serious... he's even scraped up all the old glue that was on the bench around the glue pot. And that big spider web in the corner of the ceiling has gone (I'd actually become quite fond of that spider).
But worst of all, my bench was pushed over against the back wall and there was another new bench right beside it!!
I told Toby that I really don't see why we needed to take on anyone else – especially some inexperienced beginner still finding her feet. He did point out that Bianca wasn't exactly a novice, having already won two silvers and a bronze at various violin making competitions. Well, of course anyone can win medals if they put their mind to it... it's just that I’ve always been too busy trying to earn a living to waste my time entering some glorified beauty contest for violins.
Wednesday 11th
Just finished the purfling on my 'Betts' Strad model. Particularly happy with this one – I think I did a very nice job with the corner mitres.
Toby and I have been puzzling over an interesting violin that came in for appraisal last week. Looks like it might be Italian from mid 1800s, but the label is almost eaten away – we can just make out a first word starting with L and then another that could be Ra_ or Ro_. Might be Rossi, but neither of us can quite place it. I might take it around to Brian Cohen and see if he has any ideas.
Monday 16th
Bianca started work today... well, she arrived anyway. It took her all day to move in. I thought she would just have a few pieces of wood and a tool roll, but she turned up with a car load of electronic equipment. Even Toby looked a bit startled. I asked her if she was intending to make violins or launch a space ship. She just smiled sweetly and said that these were now essential tools for any modern violin maker… in fact she thinks anyone who doesn't make use of them is still working in the dark ages (I only hope she doesn't get her wires crossed or we'll all end up in the dark ages!).
Toby showed her the violin we have been puzzling over. After a brief examination she confidently told us that it was a late example of a Ludovico Rastelli from Genoa, although he probably had help from his daughter, Vincenza, a talented female violin maker.
I had another look at the label and I suppose she could be right. Still think it might be worth getting a second opinion though.
Wednesday 18th
Toby and Bianca spent most of the morning discussing his 'Ole Bull' scroll – Bianca actually convinced him that he'd gone too deep with the fluting, so he's decided to scrap it and start a new one!… at this rate it will take him all year to finish the instrument. She also looked at my violin and said "Ah yes, it's a difficult model this, but you’ve almost managed to get the corners to work."
I was noticing today that every time I moved away from my bench Bianca would turn off my desk lamp! She kept mentioning something about carbon footprints. I really have no idea what she’s talking about… I haven’t been working with ebony at all. Anyway, next time she left her bench I turned off her computer for her.
Friday 20th
Beth Hurley called in today to return my violin. She finally has the Pedrazzini back again from the latest round of repairs and she brought it in to show me what they'd done. Bianca went into raptures of course… treated it like it was some long lost cousin.
She spent ten minutes telling Beth how lucky she was to have it, what a wonderful maker Pedrazzini was, etc etc. Eventually Beth said to her, "Actually I'd much rather be playing Mr Potts's violin – it has a beautiful sound and is far more responsive. It’s just that the orchestra I'm working with now insist that I use an Italian instrument". (Wonderful!... couldn't have been better. That really took the wind out of Bianca's sails.)