Violin Making Wood... hidden in wall or house for 50 years...
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...Several years ago, a lady called me and asked if I might be interested in buying some violin making wood. It seems her mom was getting her home of over 40 years ready to sell, when the workmen discovered four sets of violin plate wood hidden in the interior wall of her house. She remembered years ago that the builder of the home had told her husband that if they 'ever tore the house down, they would find some violin making wood in the wall'.
...That was all they knew about the mystery wood; however the story intrigued me and I purchased three sets of the wood from them, along with the violin mold and one neck block. This wood had been aging in the wall of this house for over 50 years!
...This is the daughter of the home owner and her husband with the wood they uncovered from inside the wall.
   As you notice, the plates were carefully cut to outline shape, three tops and three back plates.Later we discovered that each set of plate was cut out by one member of the family who used to live in this house. {The dad, the mother, and each of the three boys, then 5,6, and 8 years old.}
   I selected what I thought were the best pair and several years later began to shape them into a finished violin; in effect, completing anothers violin project.... but what was the story behind this mystery?
...This home in Kiezer, Oregon had violin making wood hidden in its interior wall for over 50 years until uncovered recently.
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...The top and back plates in finished outside condition. Notice how shiny the surface is. There is no finish applied yet, this is sanded in 16 steps up to # 12,000 paper.
...These are the finished plates of one (of the three sets of plate wood) set which I used for my Opus # 20 violin.
...The one piece top plates are of very even medium width, very well aged spruce... ideal for instrument making; a makers dream wood!
...However, there is another similar set of Birds-eye maple and the remaining set is of plain maple (all these plates are one piece and aged for 50 years under ideal conditions) which should neverthless should also make a fine sounding instrument.
...If you would like to be one of only three possible 'mystery violin' owners, please let me know of your interest...(one is sold already, so only two are left, and I am currently 6/2006, making the last birds-eye maple violin.)
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The rest of the story...
...After the newspaper publicity about the 'mystery violin' and the free public concert given by violinist Ron Kilde, I was contacted my a man who knew the whole story. His dad was a project guy and he read up on violin making and decided that each member of family should make a violin along with him as a family project! This man was only six years old and still remembers the dad taking the family on a long drive in the family sedan to pick out the special violin making wood and bringing it home. His dad rigged up a band saw and then each member of the family cut out their own plates. (The three boys were 5,6, and 8 at the time.) The dad began work on his violin having the boys help him. They got his violin well along when he had some heart problems which forced him to stop work. Eventually he sold his partially completed violin locally and they stored the rest of the project wood in the back of the linen closed in the open studs of the wall behind a book case. Eventually the wall was covered and the violin wood left inside, where it remained for 50 years until the third owner of the house uncovered the wood when the wall board was removed during renovations.
...Two of the boys and their wives, as well as the present lady of the house who found the wood (and her daughter and husband) were all present to hear the violin concert given on the finished violin that had been started so long ago. A good time was had by all. One last part of the story is that the young lady who purchased the violin (after liking what she heard in the finished product and having watched the progress of the violin during construction) had been looking especially for a birds-eye maple violin!
modified 12/2020
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