Hi Irv, I used school theme books to record everything I did to an instrument. That habit of writing down everything has been helpful to me and of course some of it was a waste of time. I have a page in the book for listing different strings, first impression and lasting impressions. Because I swapped strings a lot, I saved the packages and wrote on them the date and the violin the strings went on, then the date they came off, etc.

I name my violins with names starting with different letters so that I can label parts easier. Vanessa's bridges start with V1, V2, V3 etc. Same with Jane J1 and Maggie M1. Each bridge is stamped with this identifier (could have been penciled or inked except that I blacken each bridge with a sharpie)(you could mark on the bottom of the bottom arch of a bridge). With pegs I used a birthday candle and sidewalk chalk to adjust the ease and "stickiness" until I got good at it, then I bought the lipstick peg compound which is so much better and easier. I used a loop of thread through a straw to place the sound post until it was very easy to get it right, then I bought the tool, which makes it super easy to do the job. I bought a set of miniature files at harbor freight which I use a lot. I bought a set of nut files from china for $3 that work. On making my chin rests, I went to hobby lobby and bought a block of balsa wood, drilled 1" hole, then cut the block into 4 pieces each with half hole. I then used very rough grinder disk or belt to shape the chin rest, put it on the violin, feel for the part that my face or chin did not touch and sanded that part away. Then gouged out the dip in the rest until it felt good. I then had a model of what I wanted so I got real wood to make a rest. Though the balsa rest does feel soft. I saved the sawdust from ebony and rosewood in small bottles for later use if needed.