Violin Forum/Message Board

[John Cadd]

This is a restoration subject .What is the best action to take when the inside surface of an old violin is a disgusting mess? The general surface inside was like a half started job of gouging the wood with clear gouge scoops running down and a "bassbar" crudely carved out of the surface itself. Too short and thick at the bottom end and thin at the top .The outside ,varnished surface was completely normal for a violin. One ripple in the upper bout was smooth outside but ragged and rough inside . The label inside referred to A&H Fr Amati but the date was 200 years too late for them . It`s a long pattern and a bit narrow in the body .The inner surface of the back was smooth and professional in appearance . This violin was given to me by my sister after the previous owner had passed away and left them the house . The bow inside the case was a very nice French model by Nicholas Duchene which works really well .

[Michael Darnton]

That's basically a bottom end German factory violin. They look really nice on the outside and bad everywhere you don't see. I'd also suspect it doesn't have upper corner blocks.

The right approach is to replace the bar with a real one if you can smooth the top in that area without getting too thin. It's good to have it smooth around the post, too. The rest doesn't matter, though you can thin it if/where it is too thick. All of the roughness won't hurt the sound.
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[John Cadd]

Yes the parts out of sight had been left very untidy .Overall the thickness was mainly just over 5 mm with a patch in the upper bouts at 2.3mm . The glue holding the top on was far too strong .I made sure to clean all that off .And there were no corner blocks but the linings had been very neatly fitted right into the corners . It seems to indicate a mental state to have such a sharp cutoff between outside and inside . Maybe it was a desperate way to stay in business . Internally the ripple in the grain had chipped out near the edge and a square 1/4 inch had been glued in sideways to put the edge level . The rough sawn surface that meets the ribs was a clue to cutting corners .
This violin has been in my house for years and it was a fill in project so close to getting my cochlear implant fitted . I had a chance to repair the old case too while it was near the bench . Handles and hinges can be revived or replaced using a rivet gun . The aluminium rivets split 4 ways inside to spread out and hold the papier mache material . I also mended an aluminium ladder with this thing .

[Michael Darnton]

An acquaintance of mine whom I only see at concerts said his cochlear implant was such a good thing that concerts sounded better afterwards than he could remember them ever sounding before. Amazing tech! Hope yours went as well.
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[John Cadd]

Thankyou .The implant was activated 6 days ago , and today the first adjustment to volumes was done. Amazing amount of sound compared to almost nothing a few weeks ago . I had no drawbacks from the surgery. No pain or taste effects . Just some vertigo that may peter out . I bought a bandurria as a distraction before this. I had to sort the strings out and get the pegs working smoothly . The tone is very sweet . Last week it was tinny . I made it into a six string instead of 12 string . I don`t like strumming . I was busy repairing 4 cases that needed hinges and handles .

[John Cadd]

Getting back to the bassbar I must have invented my own version as the Page 223 in the Heron Allen book only had a clothes peg version so I ignored that .
My version runs all the way round the plate .This is made of 3/4 inch plywood. There are two padded (cork) contact points . One for the outer surface ,and one for the top of the bassbar.At the right side both ends of the flexy plywood frame can be moved apart .using your right hand fingers only . Pressing the ends apart allows positioning , and releasing gives the clamp pressure without any sideways pushing . These are lightweight and need no screws .
Using these with hot glue in place is unlikely to be difficult or slow .
Work out the shape ot the ends to suit your hands . Thumb and first two fingers are all you need .

[John Cadd]

I happened to see another pair of A&HFr Amati violins with exactly the same varnish colours and shading .One had the same label down to the same year 1695. They were from an old auction and guess what ,they had an estimated price.Both the same .£10 to £20 .I bet they both had horrible tone like the one I took apart for the belly and bassbar .
They could be turned into good working violins as they are old wood and too thick as they stand .

[John Cadd]

The soundpost was fitted today and I had new strings ready .The bridge already fitted .New strings need a layer of rosin to kick start them . I got the G and D fitted and they started to sound right .When I put on the A string and E string I found it very hard to hear them. Maybe my implant needs to use some of it`s AI ability to tune them in . It may be a sad thing that will not happen . Certainly the D string has a "voice" that will make appealing music . How can I describe that ---Hopeful and Sad at the same time .My idea to buy a Bowlback Mandolin and a Bandurria before the implant was good as they are easy to hear .Especially the Bandurria has a great tone .
But I wanted the top E string to sound good . It`s a Pirastro .Steel with aluminium windings. They always sounded very clear and pure . Maybe I can tune it in with my mobile phone .

[John Cadd]

The new strings I fitted did me no favours as they all have a metallic edge that my implant is fighting against .But the overall feeling is the strings are quite well balanced . Today my audiologist said the A and E strings will become more normal as the new implant adjusts . The settings on the implant were adjusted for the 3rd time .Each stage is progress and the implant mapping moves higher for loud sounds on the screen . And sensitivity to quiet sounds moves lower . The A&H Amati copy with the unmistakable Stradivarius soundholes is becoming a proper violin with out the massively thick belly .
Close behind this repair is a Medio Fino French violin . Measuring through the soundhole the depth of the bassbar is 10 mm . The belly is 3.5mm in that area .I edited the next sentence where I was wrong about bassbar depths. The Medio Fino was spot on .To me that felt like some instant amnesia setting in . I had already fitted a bassbar following the dimension charts on the net .Then very quickly forgot it all a week later . This Medio Fino is the same depth all round the ribs .No taper at all . I don`t know how that affects the sound . Maybe it was to give young students a better chance with shorter necks .
The fascinating sight with this violin is the mother of pearl inlet dots on the fingerboard (all in tune by the way ) and lots of wear and tear in the ebony from sharp fingernails that dug in deep and made grooves and deep scratches on the top and sides of the board .A sure sign the instrument was worth playing ..Edward Scissorhands .

[John Cadd]

Some confusion arose while fitting these 2 violins that had not been played for years . I neglected the nuts and some grooves left no clearance under the strings. I was blaming my implant because the A string sounded so bad . When I checked the nut I padded under the string temporarily and then the sound came right .I had blamed metal strings and wondered why gut strings were just as bad . So this was less than 2 months since the implant fitting . The hearing tone quality is rapidly improving . Even though a room full of chattering is hard to cope with the instruments are all coming good for me .