Progress

Aside from the aesthetics, I had to begin addressing the functional aspects of the actual conversion process. This thing has to go from being a violin to a Hardanger fiddle. You'll likely notice I've left the pegbox alone to this point - it's an engineering problem waiting to be solved, but I've got several ideas. More on that later... I began by addressing the channel through which the resonant understrings will pass - marking approximately 3/32" from the edge of the neck, I used a handsaw to define the edges of my channel.

From what I've read the channel should also be about 3/32" deep - this will be mirrored by a channel carved out of the underside of the fingerboard as well. Both channels together should provide enough clearance for the sympathetic strings to resonate without being impeded.

After an evening's work with a freshly sharpened 1/2" chisel, this is what the channel looks like:

Of course a Hardanger fiddle wouldn't look authentic without the requisite Scandinavian rosemaling style ink designs. This fiddle will be a mixture of multiple designs I've found online - some from instruments over a hundred years old, and some taken from contemporary instruments. Hopefully it will come together as a cohesive whole.

I began in pencil, roughing out the designs:

To be painfully honest, this being my first build, I have made it a priority to use readily available and fairly affordable tools lest this doesn't turn out at all. To that end, I must admit to finding a super-fine tipped sharpie to be sufficient for inking in my designs:

Don't think less of me...