Violin Repair, Common Violin Repairs and Embarrassing True Stories

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Common Violin Repairs and Embarrassing True Stories

By: Mark Landson

It can happen to you...

I have some funny stories of accidents I've had with violins. Well, they were funny in hind sight! But at the time not so much. I'll tell you some later in the article, but first some good info on some common repairs that you might need, and how to find someone good to do them.

Finding a Violin Repair Shop

If your violin (or viola or cello) needs repair, the best thing to do is to find a good luthier (someone who builds or repairs string instruments) by asking trusted professional musicians in your area who they have work on their instrument.

Unless your instrument is worth only a few hundred dollars, you never want to take your instrument to be repaired at a general music store, where they sell guitars and keyboards, etc. Sometimes these shops repair the instruments for middle school and high school music programs, but the quality of the craftsmanship is generally going to be a lot lower than a good luthier who specializes in only violins, violas, cellos, and basses.

Cracks and Open Seams

Open seams can develop when weather, temperature and/or humidity change rapidly and the wood of the instrument expands or contracts in contrary ways. An open seam is when one piece of the instrument comes unglued slightly from another at a seam.

Open seams are normally fairly easy for a trained luthier to fix. Most times the instrument can be glued without taking apart the instrument. It's very important that you NEVER attempt to do this yourself. The luthier uses a special glue which will not damage the instrument (hot hide glue). It is important that you catch it as early as possible, so that it can be fixed without further problems. Most professional violinists check their instruments periodically for open seams by knocking gently around the sides of the instrument. Many times you can hear the change in sound from a glued seam to an open seam.

Cracks are a more serious development in an instrument. If a crack develops along the grain of the wood on top, sometimes it can be repaired without removing the top. If the top does have to be removed, it is a much more expensive repair. The most difficult cracks happen in the area where the sound post sits, or the bass bar. The sound post is the area of most tension on a violin, so if a crack develops there, it can both seriously affect the sound quality and of course the value of an instrument. The quality of the repair job is extremely important to the future value of the instrument in everything that is done to an instrument, so if the instrument is valuable, you'll want to get a quality luthier to work on it.

Broken or Chipped Corners or Scrolls

Both of these accidents I'm sad to say have happened to me personally! Many violinists have had the misfortune of coming down hard with their bow, and the frog catches a corner and it tears it right off! Ouch. If this happens to you, make sure you save any pieces of the corner you can find. They may or may not be able to be used in the repair. In my case, the luthier constructed a new corner of different wood, and it was done so well, you can't even tell!

On the scroll, I once had a terrible accident with my violin where I actually stepped on it! Oooh, that hurt! Word to the wise - don't EVER put your violin on the floor. Especially when you are horsing around with your little brother. OK? Lesson learned the hard way. Miraculously, the crushed scroll was reconstructed, and in the end, you could only tell it was damaged if you looked very close.

These two repairs really show the value of a high quality luthier to repair your instrument. In both of these cases, the instruments were fairly high value violins (over $10,000) and the repair quality saved the value of the instrument.

Hopefully, you'll never have that happen to you, but if you do, try to calmly pick up the pieces!

Mark Landson is a violinist, violist, and composer. He has left his viola beside his car, and has lost passports in more countries than most people have visited. His new classical chamber music group, Neo Camerata mixes classical technique and artistry with an updated stage production and original music. Check it out at www.NeoCamerata.com.

Mark Landson contributed this to The Violin Space.

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