From Primary Data to the Bench

A Well-Informed Apprentice at the Machine

This service exists to give violinmakers of the highest caliber consistency across models and more time to focus on the fine details. Consistently cut plates open up avenues of choice and offer more ways to appreciate the form and function of a given geometry.

1. Primary Source Material & Clean Geometry

Every instrument model begins with primary data: CT scans, casts, and caliper maps. Cross-sectional slices taken across upper, middle, and lower bouts are unified into smooth, continuous NURBS surfaces.

There are no mysterious algorithmic black boxes here. We do not sell CAD files or computer drawings. To us, parametric models are strictly the digital tooling required to cut clean, repeatable physical parts on our CNC spindle.

2. The Range of Completion: Tailoring Machine Work to Your Bench

Different makers have different ways of working. Our machining adapts directly to where you want the machine to stop and where your hand begins:

• Level 1 · Arching with Oversized Outlines: Some makers just want a very nice arch cut out with extra material around the outline to fit multiple models, varying rib garlands, or custom corner overhangs. We also offer a series of Stock Arch Models with oversized margins ready for flexible bench fitting.
• Level 2 · Cut Outlines & Purfling Channels: Others want cut outlines and purfling channels pre-routed, eliminating hours of preliminary gouging and perimeter sawing while leaving the delicate edge cresting, fluting, and purfling miters for hand tools.
• Level 3 · Graduations & F-Holes (±0.05 mm): Others want full internal graduations and soundhole f-holes cut directly into the plate to within ±0.05 mm tolerances, leaving a uniform 0.3–0.5 mm allowance for final acoustic voicing, scraping, and flexing.

3. 3D Volume Calculations on Every Cut Plate

Every cut model that leaves our workshop comes with its exact 3D displacement volume (in cubic centimeters) calculated directly from the CAD manifold.

By correlating this exact volume with the raw weight of your seasoned spruce or maple blank, you determine the precise bulk density and mass distribution before taking your first scraper stroke. This gives makers of the highest caliber an unprecedented acoustic baseline across instruments.

4. Centuries of Context · A Single Point of Contact

Our greatest asset is understanding centuries of context and being a single point of contact who takes the process from start to finish. You work directly with Ben Pearce—a craftsman who has both built violins at the bench and engineered high-level production design and precision fixturing for industry leaders including Bourgeois Guitars, Eastman Strings (the largest orchestral string instrument manufacturer in the world), NS Design, Buscarino Guitars, and individual makers across the globe.

At the end of the day, this service is a very well-informed apprentice for a profoundly reasonable price. You gain the time to focus on graduation voicing, edgework, purfling miters, varnish, and setup, backed by machine repeatability, with a mutual NDA available whenever you want one.

We never sell CAD files or distribute customer geometries. Confidentiality is optional: makers who want their projects kept fully private can sign our mutual NDA, and we never publish maker names without written authorization.