Violin sound pin setting tool

The sound pin in Zachary's violin was inadvertently knocked over.  There's a tool for fixing this problem, and it is not expensive.  However, it was also not available on short notice, so I made one.

The tool is a 1/8" steel rod set in a handle of rosewood.  To make the tip, I hammered the end of the rod into a spade shape, hardened it, and then ground it to a sharp flat blade.  I then bent the rod to fit the shape of the violin, which is a standard 4/4 size.  Afterwards, I polished the rod, oiled it slightly, and set it in the handle.  The handle was a short segment of a hard rose cane I had taken during pruning, and was shaped on the belt sander.

To use the tool, stab the sharp end into the sound pin (grainwise), carefully thread the pin and tool through the F-hole, and then carefully upright the pin just below the treble foot of the bridge. This took me a few tries, but it wasn't too demanding.  Just make sure the bridge is already mostly in place with the strings just barely tightened before you begin, otherwise uprighting the bridge will surely topple the sound pin.