When cutting the ff-holes on my Peter of Venice, I finally reached the point of no return -- my old Swiss "Gold" knife just wasn't doing it for me anymore. I wanted something more incisive, I wanted less struggle, I imagined cutting ff-holes at lightning speed, as if through butter, with barely a whisper of blade slicing spruce ...
I ordered myself a Hock knife, and looked forward to it with great anticipation. Dashed hopes! The grind the blade arrived with was poorer than useless, and I had to spend precious time fiddling with my grinding wheel. Making the handle, however, was a lot of fragrant fun: I dug through my bin of non-violin woods, and came across a piece of rosewood I bought back in the dark ages, when I was still in college. I love making violins, but from time to time it is really great to be able to work without restrictions -- to shape something according to my whim, rather than having to conform to a player's, or other luthiers' expectations.
I wish I could say that using my newly-fashioned tool proved to be everything I had hoped for, and more. It definitely works much better than the old knife, but I work just the same as I did before my new toy arrived. There have been so many times when, adjusting a musician's instrument, I felt that what the musician needed more than anything was either more confidence, or more practice. Did I really need that new knife?
I ordered myself a Hock knife, and looked forward to it with great anticipation. Dashed hopes! The grind the blade arrived with was poorer than useless, and I had to spend precious time fiddling with my grinding wheel. Making the handle, however, was a lot of fragrant fun: I dug through my bin of non-violin woods, and came across a piece of rosewood I bought back in the dark ages, when I was still in college. I love making violins, but from time to time it is really great to be able to work without restrictions -- to shape something according to my whim, rather than having to conform to a player's, or other luthiers' expectations.
I wish I could say that using my newly-fashioned tool proved to be everything I had hoped for, and more. It definitely works much better than the old knife, but I work just the same as I did before my new toy arrived. There have been so many times when, adjusting a musician's instrument, I felt that what the musician needed more than anything was either more confidence, or more practice. Did I really need that new knife?
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