Of interest to Luthiers and others...

[bugbear]

I was watching a factory video, on the making of the famous Hofner Violin bass.

http://www.hofner.com/violin_bass_history

What I found fascinating was that the operations are either jig or template guided machines
or extreme cases of the workmanship of risk. Nothing in between.

The neck is initially cut on a large
4 gang copy lathe, but is later shown being worked by a craftsman with a knife.
Not a rasp, no a spokeshave, not even a drawknife. A knife, like whittling stick in the forest.
The fret cutting is similarly risky.

It's an interesting way to pass 17 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xADoIFoKa0Q

BugBear

 

[MusicMan]

Interesting. It's the same in woodwind instruments. In a big shop the turning (even oval), boring and drilling is fully automated but the final step, tuning and voicing the instrument by undercutting the tone holes (i.e. tapering them so that they are wider at the bottom than the top, and sometimes not circularly symmetrical) is done by hand with a scraper. And you don't want to take too much off .

It has all the appurtenances of sorcery.

 

[NazNomad]

I watched the whole video without blinking.

Whenever I watch luthiery videos, I always discover something new.

Today, I found out that particular bass uses a zero fret.

 

[thick_mike]

I would have sworn the violin bass had an f hole. My mind must have placed it there subconsciously because violin.

Quite a bit of the neck finishing was left out I think. Looks like the guy was using a scraper (or a knife as a scraper) along the back of the neck. I'd be surprised if that was the last step as the neck profile has a huge affect on the playability and feel of a guitar.

 

[Austinisgreat]

It has all the appurtenances of sorcery

As does your sentence! Brilliant! :shock:

Fascinating anyway - thanks to the OP.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[AJB Temple]

Interesting video.
Always disliked the actual bass itself though!

 

[AjB]

Thanks for this.

 

[bugbear]

They also have one for their violins and bows - very similar mix of factory and hand work.

BugBear