Cello repairs on the numbers outweigh violin repairs, proportionally speaking. This is especially for student instruments. They are small enough they can be carried about by students, but large enough that it’s a bit clumsy to handle. One of the most common causes of injuries is the humble chair, against which a cello leans and inevitably topples when left unattended.
The most common injury from the toppling is the neck break (which I discuss on my Cello repairs page ). The challenge for student cellos is the fingerboard, which is often attached with “white glue” and thus more time consuming to remove and more likely to leave some scaring.
Its desirable to remove the fingerboard to pin the neck across the break to give it further strength. However it is often necessary to undertake if there is a screw placed there at the time of manufacture (common among some student brands).
Where this screw doesn’t exist, pinning through the fingerboard helps substantially reduce the time to repair…and thus the cost. While a ‘no-no’ for traditional instruments, its widely considered acceptable for student grade instruments though.
Whats best for the cello repair is highly variable dependance on factor like
- The presence of the screw or other reenforcing,
- The glues used in manufacture,
- How clean the break is
- How high the break is on the neck root.