I've had several neglected/abandoned violins coming in recently that were kindly donated by fellow freegle users. This one, number 10 in my logbook, is the first that actually has a serious problem that may be a bit of a challenge, namely a detached neck. Not only that it has come off, but there is a whole crime scene around it with traces of six interventions attempting to reattach the neck dating to at least four different times. Obviously, all of them appear to have failed. Some have involved serious woodworking skills so I am beginning to wonder if there is any special problem with this neck that makes it impossible to attach it?
Let me take you through the whole story - first the crime scene - a 3/4 violin possibly dating from the 1920s according to a labewl attached to the case:
Then, what I think must have been the first intervention is the replacement of the block on the inside of the violin body to which the neck should be attached (but isn't). Somebody cut a little window in the back of the violin to do this replacement and closed it very nicely afterwards. Alternatively, if the neck was broken violently (as opposed to coming loose because the glue failed) it may have damaged the back of the instrument in this area and it may have needed replacing anyways. Actually my current favourite violin, the one I usually play in folk sessions these days, has the same kind of repair and it appears to have worked in that case without any further measures.
But in this case it didn't work and somebody started drilling holes through the heel of the neck and into the block to insert dowels and stabilise the connection. As the corresponding holes show up in the block, I conclude this happened after the block replacement. Obviously, the first dowel may have been part of the same repair that gave us the new block, or it could have been later. Closer inspection reveals that three dowels were inserted at different times (apologies for the blurred photo my camera refused to focus on this correctly):
The one bottom left came first. Then, after this obviously failed, a new hole was drilled partially through the first dowel, and a second one inserted (top), partially overlapping with the circle of the first. Still no luck. Then our repairer drilled a bigger hole and used a bigger dowel (right) intersecting both previous attempts. Two additional small dowels are found on both flanks of the neck closer to the fingerboard. I guess these could have been just reinforcements to any of the attempts above, so I haven't counted them as a separate repair attempt.
The fourth attempt in my counting only involved glue, as the holes left by the dowels are all filled with glue, so there was definitely an attempt relying on large amounts of glue after the repairs that involved the five dowels discussed.
So, well, all of the above failed, and I am left to wonder why. And what to do better. Will try optimising the fit and using the proper hide glue first, but any suggestions welcome.
Navigation aids for the pirate luthier series
violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up.
violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts. Currently it is sporting a brand new tailgut which I made from an old cello C string.
violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home.
violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) is my new favourite and the one I currently play in folk sessions.
violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a better bridge. Good enough for folk I would say.
violin 10) is the broken one discussed above
No comments:
Post a Comment