violin repair Archives - Fiddler Dan Violins & Workshop, Brisbane

Violin patch repair

It is not uncommon of the life of a violin for a chip to occur, often mild it might only need sealing up , or some light dressing (scrapping or sanding) to remove splinters than might catch and then seal. Sometimes its large enough that a piece of replacement timber needs to be provided , ranging from a small sliver through to a largish piece. If the original piece is available and in good condition it can often be refitted. Many times though, more timber may need to be removed first to ensure there is a clean surface to attach to, and then a new piece inserted attached. The challenges here are numerous,

– Good attachment is need for structural integrity in relation to the stress this part of the instrument is under.

– Matching of the timber type and grain (this is often particularly challenging with very fine grain lines on the top plate lining up for example) and ensuring strength around critical regions like the neck root

– Finishing to match the existing surface finish, colour matching and depth in particular are challenging on fine instruments; where pigmentation and dyes are as individual as the instruments.

– Budget. The time required even on a small chip can be significant and as a result these repairs can be expensive.

Approaching each repair with an understanding of the value of the instrument, its future needs, importance of preservation and budget available normally present with a range of options. For school instruments and approach of functionality over appearance, but on a budget is acceptable. For fine instruments though, taking into account its value, and doing nothing that can’t be reversed are an important aspect of a repairers obligation to not only the owner but also instrument.

Flood victim revived – A violin restoration

A little while back this lovely violin came to me in many pieces, in a case that was in just as many pieces. It is a treasured family violin that had just gone through its second Lismore flood.

As restorations go this was one of the more memorable and not without its challenges. As became clear this was the second time it had been back together, featuring the good the bad and ugly of repairs in years gone by. There were some other types glues used, that had to be removed and an end block needed to be replaced.

It was held together with flyscreen and staples, and various tinted finishes applied that were not always a perfect match.

One of the challenges of a restoration is somewhat idealogical. I’m not there to fix, but instead to preserve, so there is a fine line here to walk, especially with the idiosyncrasies of any instrument and how far back to take a previous repair. In this case the violin had a least a few round of repairs, evidenced by the cleating style, replacement of some of blocks with Australian hardwoods and some more agricultural style repairs

Fortunately I was able to dialogue with the owners and make decisions along the way in accordance with their wishes and budget! If the violin was to be played regularly I would have updated the running gear, but as a display piece and a part of family history retaining the orginal components for example the tail piece and pegs maintained the authenticity in accordance with their wishes (and could still be played). If a future generation decides to use it for playing these can easily be switched out then. My motto , if it doesn’t need something done to it in the near term, then don’t do it.

Heres a few pics from the restoration, I started with the case and again one of the challenges was not to bring it back to sparkly new, but to restore it without changing it, so only a light cover of spirit finish on the parts that needed it was used, rather than redoing the entire case i felt was the best fit.

One of the challenges with the wood for both the case and instrument was removing the mud from it and then working with pieces that had differentially warped, that even with re-bending were a little un happy about returning to their former form.

Still it all came together quite nicely and was a pleasure to work on.

There are plenty of restoration videos on youtube if you want to see what goes into it

Whats in a Violin bridge? and getting more from a Gliga

Taking a student violin bridge through a bridge replacement and then a string replacement and then hearing how the sound changes. In general a harder ( better quality) bridge brightens an instrument so here is a bridge intervention on my sons violin.

My son has a Gliga I for a while, Gliga’s are his weapon of choice so the upgrade from a III to a I was always going to happen. Probably I would have liked to find him something else, but violins are a very personal thing, and he is a visual creature so I suspect the look and authenticity of a Gliga is a really important factor for him. Gliga’s have a reputation for being almost works of art and his Gliga I is no exception. To my ear it’s always sounded a bit muted, and a woody tone is a comment more than a few make about the Gliga’s (see my Gliga violin review). One of the reasons for this is the bridge it comes with as its thought to be a bit on the soft side. So I lashed out on a more expensive bridge an Aubert Mirecourt Deluxe and also some brighter strings. I think there is a progressive improvement in the sound.

I’m going to do a bit more on the bridge next to lighten the weight and maybe a sound post replacement as well….

Have a listen if you like… listen as the changes are introduced and then go back to the original …its about 4mins of your life you might not get back though 😉 (just skip through to the playing bits if you like)