Building a cello mould by hand is tedious work. I put my CAD and my CNC milling machine at the service of your project to save you time and precision. These molds are made in several glued and screwed parts: the birch plywood parts form the contours of the mold and the Tricoya slats guarantee the flatness and geometric stability of the whole. Of course, each mould comes with its set of 4 templates to trace the blocks: Upper block, Lower block, upper corner and lower corner. These templates are laser cut from black and white laminated plastic and marked with the master's name and mould for identification. As an option, you can also get the 6 pressing wedges to effectively and precisely glue the ribs against the blocks. As usual, I offer you the choice between a “Geometric” or “Asymmetric” layout, depending on your project. To understand the difference, see the page:
Sketching technics
I propose Two types of moulds
– The thin mould: with a total thickness of 40 mm. Made up of two parts of 40 mm birch plywood connected and stabilized by two Tricoya slats. It is the cheapest and quickest to build. It has the advantage of offering plenty of space for glueing and shaping the linings. Its relatively low height makes it more suitable for people who are confortable with rib bending process and don’t struggle with ribs squarness against the mould edge.
– The thick mould: with a total thickness of around 60 mm (adaptable on demand). Made up of four parts in 12 mm birch plywood, connected and stabilized by four Tricoya slats (two longitudinal and two transverse). It offers total and ultra-precise guidance of the ribs for a perfect squarness. On the other hand, it is more bulky and more expensive to manufacture.
About the design of moulds and templates:
It is carried out in CAD on the basis of reliable elements provided by official sources. Tracing the mold of an instrument does not consist of stupidly tracing the contours of a photo or reproducing a 3D scan, it is a complex operation which requires weeks of work and which sometimes resembles a real police investigation. The shapes are never interpreted, I strive to preserve the original character of the instrument in its smallest details, but it is still necessary to know how to distinguish what relates to mechanical distortions suffered by the instrument over the centuries, from possible repairs or modifications, and what on the contrary, relates to singularities voluntarily created by the master.
Learn more about
Sketching technics
In order to chose your ideal instrument model, you can refer to the moulds data table:
Moulds data
Your favorite mould is not in the list? Please use the Contact form to let me know which model you would like me to add.
Contact
You would like to check the mould layout before buying it? Buy and download the corresponding dxf/pdf layout
Moulds layouts
