Violinmaking Tools

There are so many tools that are needed to make a good violin. I remember asking a salesman from a violin supply shop one time for a complete list of tools I needed to make a violin, so I could go ahead and buy everything at once. He kind of stuttered in his reply, and basically said he’d get back to me. He never did, and it’s no surprise why - it’s not at all easy creating a list of all the tools you need for a violin. There are so many different factors to consider, such as, “What is your budget? What quality do you seek? Do you prefer Japanese or Western tools? Do you have any experience with woodworking? Do you know how to sharpen tools? What tools do you already have? To what extent will you be making a violin from scratch? Will you buy some pre-carved items like scrolls? And the list goes on… In fact, there might be over a 100 individual tools used in the making of a violin, just as a guess - maybe more, maybe less.

With that said, I love tools, probably too much. I collect them, and I also like experimenting with different methods and different tools. This does become time consuming and costly, however. But in the end, I feel that I’m getting a better life-long education with this approach. In this section I will discuss some of the primary tools used in the process.