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(7 votes) 
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so I will ditch the plastic end pin and tuner pegs.
Plan is replace tuner pegs with :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4pcs.....4575wt_936
Being for Ukulele they will probably be small enough.
And replace the end pin with :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-.....755wt_1022
If I can source any chrome chinrests or other parts I may look at putting them on too - Black and silver Borg violin !!
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They make machine heads for violins too. they can be pricey but if you really want the look it is probably best to get the right product.
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Yeah I seen the prices of genuine violin ones - eeeek !!
The whole point of the project is just a cheap bit of fun prototyping. Maybe if it works out it may be worth repeating with a decent violin and proper violin machine heads.
Look what I'm paying for the violin - that wont buy a decent machine head and if I kill a decent priced violin its a disaster - if I kill a violin most people look down on as firewood - no problem I just buy another one.
Thanks to the internet indulgences are cheap these days, saves me having to kill a junk shop guitar for parts anyway 
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I like the idea. You could chop off the head and make a simple guitar type head and glue it on. I'm still trying to work out the sides on my oak fiddle. No one thinks it will work out either.
experiment away......
One problem you might find putting thoughd tuners on is splitting the peg box. As it is the peg box can crack easy enough but with pitting four screws into each side is pushing it. Make sure to at least predrill the screw holes and make sure you grind the ends of the screws off where they come through so they don't break the strings.
The end pin is a pickup?
Honorary tenured advisor
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Man!!!!!!!!!
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@ eoj02 - I like that idea but head replacement will be a last resort at the moment if it all goes horribly wrong (which is likely - that's half the fun). Good luck with your oak fiddle too.
@ Kevin M. - Yeah the peg box is real cheap scrap softwood - might drill all the way through a fine hole then use wires to secure instead of the screws. Oh and yeah that end pin is a pickup - just not sure yet how to secure the piezo transducer so it doesn't rattle around inside the volin.
@ Barry - BLACK FRIDAY ! Way cool name dude ! Now I know at least you understand how I can chop and pimp up my fiddle because you've first hand experience of the quality of this item. It's screaming out to be something else! :o)
Thanks to Barry I will now always call these violins Black Fridays......
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It is cheap enough. Get it and hotrod the crap out of it! LOL
I wouldn't chop off the pegbox and scroll right away though. Always time for that if you decide you don't like them later. Instead, glue in some pieces of wood to strngthen the box and give something solid for the screws to grab into when installing the machineheads. If you later decide you want something more like a guitar headstock, you can always go for it then. For that matter why even have a headstock or pegbox? You could mount a block back behind the bridge to attach the tuning machines to and put the strings in backwards. That sort of arrangement is used on some electrics, so really you don't *have* to have anything up past the nut other than a bit of hardwood or metal to hold the ends of the string. I'd still take the easy route first and maybe just reinforce the pegbox with a couple small pieces of hardwood to get it up and playing faster. You can always go more extreme later, if you choose.
But it sounds like a fun project.
If the cable is long enough on that endpin pickup set, I'd snake the pickup up through an F hole and glue it to the front of the bridge. Better yet, glue it to a thin piece of hardwood or metal that you can attach to the bridge to allow for changing bridges later.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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@ DanielB - Thanks - some great ideas for me to look at - strengthening may be the way to go but I love the idea of ditching it all together and putting the machine heads at the other end.
I'm still unsure about the pickup - a cable coming out of the end pin may not be so comfortable when playing (unless I get my neck pierced and feed the cable thru it LOL).
If I go with a redesign and ditch the pegbox and then I may go all-electric with it and use other pickups - the sky is the limit.
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Think it through, pagdorf..
If you do ditch the pegbox and maybe the scroll entirely, and put the tuners on the rear.. then you don't actually need an endpin. Because you don't need a tailpiece. But the jack/pin could still look good mounted someplace on the instrument that would make sense for a place to plug in.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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LOL yeah if I ditch the pegbox I can mount it anywhere - the problem I was referring to is if I keep a 'traditional' type then the cable would be annoying. Still I have to wait a bit to see. I just got an email from Hong Kong saying they have posted the machine heads. Wonder how long the post from Hong Kong takes ?
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If you use a cord that has an angled end like this..
ie=UTF8&qid=1340197752&sr=1-40&keywords=guitar+cable
...you could still use the jack-pin where the endpin normally goes on a violin. That would only be slightly longer/larger, and I doubt it would be all that noticeable when you were playing.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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@ DanielB - You are a genius ! Straight up man - problem solved !! Thank you 
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Oh, and pagdorf, don't worry about anybody that "looks down on your violin as firewood".
My electric, they can't even use for firewood. Because it is pretty much all made of assorted plastics. Well, the bridge is wood, but I think that is about it. 
(Before anybody points out that plastics do burn, I'll point out that they also usually often release assorted toxic fumes when burned, so it would still have it's revenge. LOL)
But hey, it holds tune (without peg drops or etc), the action is decent, and I get some good sounds out of it. I like how it looks, plays and sounds. That is what matters, and that is what matters with the hotrod violin you are building. It is all that really matters.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Wow ! that violin look REEEEEAAALLLLYYY nice !!! I bet it plays nice too. Will keep this blog updated with pictures once things arrive in the post and I start building.
p.s. Who cares what people think of my creation - if I did I would just buy a conventional varnished wood violin and play classical music all day with my nose in the air.
What's the difference between a violin and a guitar? 2 strings !!!
People pimp cars, decorate houses and even tattoo themselves - why? because its fun ! That's what life is for - living ! My motto - be the banana ! He is just enjoying being him !
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you guys are sick... very sick... and you might need some professional help....
Yes, even YOU Daniel.
Don't forget to send or post good sound samples... This sounds like fun! 
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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ESPECIALLY me, cdennyb! LOL
You would not believe some mods I have done to instruments over the years or some of the things I have built instruments from. I wish I had pics of some of them, they would truly affront some people. 
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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OK just a quick update :
'Black Friday' has arrived. Plastic endpin removed and binned. Strings stripped off ready for working on.
I have acquired a resin skull like some people use as tops on car gear shift sticks so I will be cutting off the scroll and replacing it with the skull.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4pcs.....4575wt_936
have also arrived from Hong Kong. The peg box is too small for them really so I will either build it up with scrapwood so they fit better - alternatively I can drill a hole for the string about halfway down them. Will give it some thought.
I will add some pictures when there is something worth putting on to look at 
)
Sorry if this is taking a while but I am also going to work and have another project on the go building myself a 4 string Irish Tenor Banjo.
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Much awesomeness!
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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