A previous customer approached me about trying to save his Grandfather’s old violin. it was pretty badly broken … the top, the sides, the tail block … all broken. The owner said his grandfather bought the violin a hundred years ago and the sentimental value was such that they were hoping to save it. How could I not try?It looks not bad on the surface, but upon closer inspection … yeesh. See below. This indicates major structural failure I suspect. I can tell the tail block is broken, and the body is also coming apart. Here I’m pulling the back off to see how bad it is, and find a way to rebuild it. It’s definitely fragile. The top is split badly (previously glued up, but no longer holding) and that tail block is a mess. We also have this happening with the top of the violin. With some backlighting you can see this mess. Step one of the rebuild is to repair the tail block. Glued the split with high strength cabinet makers glue and clamp it tight. Pretty seamless. Next use some heat, steam, and a razor blade to remove the old glue from the top crack. Will try to close it up as best I can and then reinforce it from the inside. Long piece of ultra thin spruce glued in with natural fish glue. I prefer fish glue to hide glue because it is has high initial tack and long working time. I also put a couple of precautionary cleats just under the “F” holes to prevent any further splitting. Now to repair that part of the side that was broken at the tail block. Used a small spruce dowel to bridge the gap and give some backing to re-adhere the side piece to the tail block. Looks like that when the glue all dries. Quite solid now. Take some photos of the label before reassembling. Re-glue the top to the sides where it had come apart. Reassembly with fish glue, clamps, and guitar binding tape. This tape is not regular masking tape, it has a lot of elasticity and works almost like a bungee to squeeze it together while the glue dries. Back together and solid. Not as one would call “pretty”, but it’ll hold. Ready for the reveal. Thanks for looking.
Awesome repair! I’m sure your friend was really happy. Question, I fixed a guitar top with a wide crack, not as wide as the violin, with a spline that I made from fir. Was that something you considered?
It was an option, but it came down to the “silk purse / sow’s ear” analogy … with all the damage to so many different parts of the instrument, it was never going to be cosmetically pretty, and it would most likely have made no different in sound. No sense wearing a tuxedo jacket with a comfy pair of ripped blue jeans. Thanks for following my blog!
General Guitar Works 
Awesome repair! I’m sure your friend was really happy. Question, I fixed a guitar top with a wide crack, not as wide as the violin, with a spline that I made from fir. Was that something you considered?
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It was an option, but it came down to the “silk purse / sow’s ear” analogy … with all the damage to so many different parts of the instrument, it was never going to be cosmetically pretty, and it would most likely have made no different in sound. No sense wearing a tuxedo jacket with a comfy pair of ripped blue jeans. Thanks for following my blog!
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