Maple wood for my violin shoulder rest
The 3d printed version of the violin rest of a previous post left me eager do do more with this subject. The fitting of the 3d printed rest was so good that it gave me confidence to step up this project. The final result is an all wood/brass custom shoulder rest that fits like a glove.
In stead of directly printing the shoulder part, this time I printed a mold of the shoulder area so I would be able to press and glue wooden sheets together. I bought some maple sheets at my favourite wood supplier in Amsterdam and when the 8 hour print was done I started to try to bend the wood. It was a lot harder than I imagined, but in the end I found a way to bend the wood and glue it while fixating the part with clamps.
I then figure-sawed a piece from the part that I thought was both aesthetically pleasing and fitting for the design of a shoulder rest.
To implement the end pieces I used some thick walnut wood I had lying around my hobby cabin and brass tubes. To keep the shoulder rest modular (being able to replace components) I fitted the end support parts with m3 threaded inserts and an m3 screw and ring go from the top trough the main part. I went to the Amsterdam "Openbare Werkplaats" where Remco helped me to cut some notches into the brass rods on the gigantic lathe that is there.
The idea was that the m3 thumbscrews would clamp the rod at discrete distances, therefore these ring shaped notches, but eventually I needed to shorten the rods (my design turned out to be too big and the rest didn't fit the violin) to that the notches were in the wrong place. That's something I learned.
So this is the complete shoulder rest completed with neoprene padding on the bottom. I was happy about the strength, while I am aware of some potential weak areas. There is a pleasant flexibility to the maple wood while it still feels stiff enough. None of the shoulder rest touches the back of the violin to prohibit the instrument from vibrating. I still need to accustom myself to playing with this piece, but I can say that never before was I able to release with left hand from the violin to confidently, the violin is absolutely secured between my shoulder and chin and I don't need me left arm to hold it in place.