A Little Bit Art, A Little Bit Science

The top and back of a violin are carved to very certain shapes and thicknesses. In this picture, you can see Rachael’s plane and the paper-thin curls of wood removed as she fine-tunes the graduations— or thicknesses—on a new cello. She knows when the thickness is right from a combination of measurements, the sound of the wood when she taps on it, and the feel of the wood when she flexes it in her hands. The process is a little bit art, and a little bit science, and every instrument is a unique puzzle.