Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2025)

I'm making a violin. I've been a programmer for just over 25 years, and recently decided I wanted to leave the profession. So I'm planning on attending the Violin Making School of America in the fall, and my project before then is to build a violin myself. There are some good in-depth video tutorials, as well as some famous books on the subject, and I'm planning to pair up with an amateur luthier in my town. The tonewood I purchased just arrived!

Yes! That's a very good objective.

I am too studying a lot and trying to build one from scratch. It has been very humbling and enlightening experience, something that AI will never replace ;)

Kudos sir, and best of success. Check Maestronet (Luthier section, ie, Peg Box) for insightful comments and suggestions.

Which tutorials and books?

I have this book. It's fantastic

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Violin-Making-Chris-Johnson/dp/...

"The Art of Violin Making" that the sibling comment mentioned is very good and is often referred to as "the Bible" of violin making.

"Violin Making - a practical guide" by Juliet Barker is also very good

I purchased the DVD series "When Trees Sing" by Peter Paul Prier (he was the founder of the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City). The DVD series wasn't cheap but it was worth it.

There is also an online course by Lucas Fabro, https://www.lucasfabro.com/en/online-course/, that I know is also very highly regarded. Fabro also has a number of free YouTube videos that are great to just get a feel for what's involved.

The Strad has a whole series of posters (https://www.thestradshop.com/store/product-category/lutherie...) with scans and measurements of famous violins to serve as templates.

International Violin, https://www.internationalviolin.com/, sells a lot of lutherie tools and is where I bought my tonewood.