Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Violin

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Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Peg Box Top and Bottom

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Peg Box Top and Bottom


The instrument below – a 5-string electric instrument made from Curly Maple from Oregon – is one of the more creative and challenging designs that a player has asked me to make. The player, who lives in the U.K. asked that there be a piece of orange-dyed Birch going around the instrument and up the back of the neck, finally ending in two points. The orange inlay was to be bordered on each side by a thinner ribbon of black inlay. The fingerboard – ending in a “V” shape – the tail piece and the chin rest were all designed by the player, and I made them by hand, according to his drawings. The “snail shell scroll”, inlaid with black in a “Fibonacci curve” is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the instrument, and one that the eye is drawn to. The wood, selected for its complexity of figure, had a few beetle holes in the original piece of stock. Later, when cutting the instrument out, I discovered that the beetles had a bit of a feast in just the section of the wood that was to be the lower back of the instrument. I sent the player pictures of the beetles’ work, and we decided to use the wood as it was. This is a very unique instrument, and I learned a great deal during the process of making it.

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Front

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Front

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Side

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Side

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Scroll View

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Scroll View

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Lower Left Bout

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Lower Left Bout

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Back

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Back

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Scroll

Oregon Curly Maple Electric Five String Scroll