My latest cello.

[benji]

I don't make bows. That's a whole other art.

[funcrusher]

i played violin and viola for 12 years growing up...and all i have to show for it are crooked fingers...i always wished i had nicer instruments so now i buy nice bikes

that is a nice looking cello!

[Vancouverdave]

I am a bike mechanic with some modest brazing and machining skills, have made a couple of dozen reasonable steel bike frames. My wife is a violinist and violist and through her I have learned open-mouthed awe at the craft that is luthiery. Watching the guy who made her viola cut the groove for purfling--man, any part of making a bike frame is like a cave man chipping rocks by comparison! Nice 'cello, by the way!

[Paul Jacobs]

I am a bike mechanic with some modest brazing and machining skills, have made a couple of dozen reasonable steel bike frames. My wife is a violinist and violist and through her I have learned open-mouthed awe at the craft that is luthiery. Watching the guy who made her viola cut the groove for purfling--man, any part of making a bike frame is like a cave man chipping rocks by comparison! Nice 'cello, by the way!

It is a very nice 'cello and I am grateful to benji for showing it and starting this discussion. I don't agree, however, that making bike frames is at the other end of the spectrum of manual skills. While not a luthier, I have been making musical instruments for 43 years, see https://www.velocipedesalon.com/foru...tml#post857109. I have also been an eye surgeon for 38 years, a retinal surgeon doing operations where deviation of a fraction of a millimetre can leave someone blind. I have also been making bike frames for a few years. I have never cut a purfling channel by hand but I have done enough woodwork to appreciate what is involved. When I am making a bike frame I do not feel this is easy compared with operating on someone's eye or compared with making a woodwind instrument. I devote the maximum care and attention to the job in hand (making a bike frame) just as I do with my day job (eye surgery). I am sure the best builders, for whom making bike frames is their day job, do exactly the same. It may be possible to make a bike frame that works by using a relatively low level of skill but I feel that those working at the high end of handcraft, be it luthiery, silversmithing, gunsmithing, bicycle frame building or surgery, have a lot in common and are all working at a similar level.

[thomas]

Just reading this makes me so jealous of all of you who can play an instrument well. If I could live my life again, I'd learn to play the piano and cello well. I noodle around on the piano, but am very limited. My wife's parents met playing cello and they have a couple in their home still (they're in their 80's), and have offered one to me, but I don't think I could do it justice.
There is something about making music that to me is like speaking to God. It is an amazing form of expression.