Hi inbalance99: all UK coins carry Her Maj on one side too, as you can see in Andy's pic. And she's been steadily getting older over the decades on ours as well. So far though, we've never had a coin or stamp that shows her skydiving with Daniel Craig...



Yo, Andy! Yes, they are little cuties!

And yes, they are the curved bottom type. But no, they don't come from Dave Dyke. I think he sells the Ibex ones? I have a couple of those too, but these are made by the son of a guy at the Cambridge Violin Workshop, and that's where I got them. The tiny one has a 5mm wide blade, which is even smaller than the smallest Ibex plane, which is 8mm. These are significantly more affordably priced than the Ibex ones too, and work just beautifully.

Juliet Barker, head of the Cambridge Violin Workshop, offers these to violin makers there, but I expect their maker would be happy to sell them to anyone else who wants them too. If anyone's interested let me know, and I'll make enquiries.

Cheers - C

_________________

Did you make a violin this year? How was it at the school?

(singing)...wearin' worn out suits with brand new pockets...

Me pockets are empty, but me purse is full
(you name it, it's probally in there!).
Unfortunately, not with money.

_________________
Visit my ReverbNation page @ http://www.reverbnation.com/mcampbell
Thank you!

Hi GTG: they say it takes a first-timer about five to six weeks to build a violin. I've done two week-long summer schools so far, and I'm the slow careful type, so I guess I'm about a third of the way through my first fiddle. Though I'm shadowing my progress on another one at home to reinforce what I'm learning, so I'll have more to show for it by the end.

By comparison, the real guys apparently can hand-build a violin in the white (unvarnished) in about six or seven days. For example, I was shaping my front and back plates and work that took me a day and a half I saw a pro do in well under an hour. Just watching him was the most fantastic lesson of all - worth the price of admission just for that!

Cheers - C

_________________