Violins have always fascinated me, and this broken one . . . Well . . . I just had to rescue it. I always seem to have a rescue dog, too. It’s what Sue and I do . . .
I found this violin in pretty bad shape. It seems to be quite old. And it probably was a student violin. The neck had snapped off at the neck joint while it was strung.
The plan is to repair the broken points (the corners on the side) by fashioning new Maple and Spruce pieces that will fit into the broken-off places, reset the neck, fix the ‘purfling,’ and do a hand-stain. I probably will do a ‘burst’ finish because I love that look and love staining by hand.
The violin is a Cremona. I found that Cremona violins are hand-made in several countries. The company is based in Cremona, Italy. This violin was made in Germany. It should be a very nice playing and sounding violin. The label inside says “Copy of Antonio Stradivarius,” meaning they used the Stradivarius template to build the violin. It will be something more than a student violin when I finish it.
That’s a Lacquer finish on the violin that will need to be ‘cleaned up.’ The wood has some nice ‘figure’ that I can make ‘pop’ during refinishing. The violin should look cool and play well when I’m done.
Here are some pics of the refurbishing progress:
Please, please, stay safe. Wear a mask when appropriate. Don’t take any chances with your health and life. And above all, the health and lives of your friends and loved ones. Please be thoughtful about when to wear a mask or not and GET THE COVID-19 VACCINE OR SPEAK TO YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU BELIEVE YOU SHOULDN’T FOR HEALTH REASONS . . .
Love to all,
David T
p.s. Comments are very welcome. You can comment at the end of this article.
