martes, 21 de febrero de 2012

What to expect from a Stewmac fiddle kit

As I wrote a few days ago, the kit that I received from Stewmac.com wasnt what I had expected. Here´s what I got.
Some decent woods, 2nd or 3rd quality. Some flaming in the maple, a big black spot on the soundboard that can be seen on both sides and also a bit of runout on the lower bout. But in general wood that will sound. No problem there, and I didnt expect anything better.
And now to the not so good part. Both the top and the back was warped. Just some 3 - 4 mm each one, but not good at all. Besides, the sides were not square to the back. and in total, the top didnt fit very well to the back and sides part. There werent any "overhang" left. A violin/fiddle shoul have its top and back plates "overhanging the sides with 3mm.....
Worse even. The plate graduation was very uneven. This I expected.. But I didnt expect the plates to be TO THIN. Some spots 1,9mm is to thin and it makes graduation an enormous compromise or to say, impossible. Bad, just as well is the inner linings.. Look at the photo. VERY poor workmanship. And even worse, very thin. the total thickness of the sides and linings were under 2mm on some spots.
Besides that.. well, a flatsawn neck... and the rest ok..
Is this ok.. No... I contacted Stewmac and they promptly accepted to replace the kit. BUT I refused, because I wasnt in the mood for struggling with Spanish costum one more time. This kit took me 3 weeks to get through (and a lot of money) Besides, why another kit. The workmanship is so poor that I couldnt expect anything better and Stewmac has shown me that final control from their side is nonexistant, so I decided to stay with this (darn) kit.
After some days in my humidity controlled workshop, the top straightened out. And the back and sides, I left on a humid concrete floor for some days and then it became almost acceptable...
So here we go, building will start. It´ll be a fast one. I dont have to much respect for this kit and I want to play...
A lesson has been learnt. I´ll continue buy my little things from Stewmac, but they´ve taught me that they are no better than mr. whatever seller on Ebay

1 comentario:

  1. Que pasa?

    I am interested in the outcome, particularly regarding graduating what wood was left...

    Thanks

    Murray
    Holland, MI, US

    ResponderEliminar