Violin Making: A Practical Guide

no one violin building book can stand alone but this one does a good job of trying,it was written by a person who has been building high quality instruments for 40 years so it will at least put you on the right track on where you should direct your efforts on accuireing tools and that in itself will save you a ton of money not buying what you dont need,there are many color photos to help with some of the language barriers as some of the european words used are different than ours,i do believe though that anyone with good woodworking skills could use this as a stand alone book,but would still reccomend it to a novice as a companion to other violin building books to have a more thorough understanding before attempting to build,wood is high for a decent peice,as the supply for decent wood is severly declineing,i would reccomend that if you are serious about building in the future to buy the wood u need now and put it up,it will only skyrocket in the years to come ,best wishes to you as my fist violin is drying now !

The book is written with experience and passion for the instrument and craft. The descriptions and photographs are clear but I don't think sufficient to allow an inexperienced woodworker to make a violin. I'm supplementing it with other sources.

Great information. Making a violin isn't all that difficult for a skilled woodworker, but the equation that leads to a fine instrument is complex and somewhat mysterious. This book shines a ray of welcome light into the process.

This is one of few books that you can take from start to finish of an instrument. I have been playing Cello for 14 years and I also do woodworking and I have always wanted to make my own instrument and now I can. While the books from strobel are far more in depth. This book has the novice in mind.

I bought this and the more expensive "The Art of Violin Making". Juliet Barker's book is okay if you just want to build a violin the old way with old tools and without gaining any insight into the process. I read once and put it down. On the other hand, I keep going back to "The Art of Violin Making" again and again, which is much more comprehensive, with a lot more context provided. While it costs much more, for me it was a better value. Of course, neither book allowed for modern power tools : (, but you can improvise once you get the basics.

Being new to violin building but having experience building guitars and mandolin I found this book is just what I needed. Though this book may not dive into scientific data like some more advanced building books do It does have all the info needed to build a violin. Along with some great text it has some great photographs to go along with the details. I enjoy this book immensely.

This was a wonderfully informative book, but is a little too technical for beginners. It is great for the photographs though.

I am using several different books to get a better picture of how to build a violin. Well this is one of them.