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Violins & co

Repairs

Repair & Restoration

Using recognised repair techniques, acquired through many years of experience and continuous exchange with other professional makers, I am able to provide optimum care for your instruments and bows.

Every repair is discussed in detail, based on which you will receive a quote. The aim of every repair is to preserve your instrument and maintain or even improve its sound.

Great care is taken in setting up your instruments for optimum sound and easy playability. I only fit hand-planed soundposts and bridges made from selected and seasoned tone woods. The correct curvature of the fingerboard, even string spacing and reliable pegs are crucial for good playability.

LÖSCHEN The wolf tone is an undesirable acoustical phenomenon that occurs in many bowed stringed instruments, most famously in the cello. It happens when the pitch of the played note is close to the natural resonance of the body of the instrument. The result is a disturbing warbling or stuttering noise, sometimes a note is almost unplayable. I have a repertoire of options for minimising or altogether removing the effect.

Work on bows includes re-hairs with best Mongolian hair, silver and leather lappings as well as renewal of head plates and screws.

I also offer a repair service in Braunschweig .

Major repairs and restorations require a lot of patience and take time. I will be happy to provide you with a suitable instrument while I carry out the work. Deciding on a big repair can be somewhat unnerving, maybe the following examples will convince you that your instrument is in safe hands with me.

Examples of my Repair Work

Bass bar crack on a violoncello

After it had been dropped accidentally the front of this cello from the Vogtland region, dating from around 1940, suffered a crack along the bass bar. The length of the crack corresponded to the length of the bar.

In my workshop the top was taken off and the bass bar removed. The crack was glued in several steps without the need for a plaster bed to correct the arching.

The crack was fitted with studs to stabilise it and a new bass bar was fitted, housing the studs. The instrument was obviously once varnished quite vigorously. Varnish had run through the sound holes into the interior. Different intensities of ground and colour varnish layers are clearly visible.

Viola – Restoration of the Table

This pretty little viola, probably from Mittenwald dating from around 1800, had undergone extensive repairs on the front in 1924 according to a repair label found inside. Some repairs were not sustainable for the instrument and had to be improved.

New cracks had formed next to and under a poorly fitting, large sound-post patch, as the straight edges of the patch ran parallel to the annual rings, introducing further weak points. In addition, the instrument had largely lost its sound due to an excessive number of cleats.

Making a plaster cast is essential for fitting a sound post patch. Cracks can be glued without causing distortion and patches fitted while the table rests in the plaster cast, as the top is held exactly in shape.

Equally, the plaster cast serves as a device for attaching clamps. Firstly, all the cracks were cleaned from the outside and inside of the belly, then glued. The front is hollowed from the inside to receive the oval shaped sound post patch and the patch is now read to be glued.

The patch has been glued and is now ready to be shaped down to the same thickness as the surrounding front. A considerable number of cleats have been removed and were replaced either with lighter, thinner wooden studs or were lined with oval pieces of parchment. All supports are staggered to avoid potential stress lines along the grain of the wood. This allows the viola to vibrate freely again.

Double bass – Extensive repairs of damage from the past

When double basses get knocked over, the damage is often considerable. Many luthiers are reluctant to repair these large instruments, while amateurs sometimes mend them improperly. I am happy to have basses in my workshop, as I play the bass myself and have an affinity with them.

Removing the back revealed old cracks, some of which had reopened. The area around the top block was unstable and the heel cap was completely missing. The adjacent rib also showed considerable damage, with cracks across and along the grain. The restoration of the top bout began with a plaster cast before it was carefully removed.

The cracks in the wood were gradually glued in the plaster bed, then the rib was reinforced with a veneer from the inside and returned to its place. The inside of the back was stabilised by fitting small patches in the area of the upper block.

The whole area was then fitted with a patch including a new top button.

Double bass damaged during removal

During removal the bass fell front down onto the edge of a table, causing old cracks to reopen and new ones to appear. A break across very irregular grain caused particular problems. After the top was removed, I was faced with a five-piece jigsaw puzzle.

As the damage was fresh, all the pieces fitted together well. Prior to gluing I joined them together with various clamps and stabilised the edge with a strip of plywood. The outer cracks could now be glued.

To repair the break across the grain, I mounted the parts with their edges on a flat board. The break was supported from behind with a partial plaster cast and a wedge and aligned ready for gluing.

Gluing the old crack was more difficult as its edges were heavily stained with retouching varnish and it would not close completely. A shaving was glued in to take up the gap. The bass bar had to be removed in order to glue the crack using auxiliary blocks. After gluing, a partial plaster cast was made and the crack along the wavy grain was stabilised with an oval patch.

The finished result still shows the old crack as a dark line, but the other cracks are no longer visible.

Violin with soundpost crack and double bass bar crack

During an orchestra rehearsal, a music stand fell onto the bridge of this violin, causing a sound post crack and a two cracks along the bass bar.

After the top plate was removed, the cracks were carefully levelled and a plaster cast was then made of the front.

The bass bar was removed and the two bass bar cracks were glued inside the plaster cast before gluing the sound post crack and fitting a sound post patch. The bass bar was fitted, the cracks supported with cleats and the bar glued to house the cleats. The instrument was ready to play again.

Converting a Double Bass into a Violone

A four-string double bass from around 1880 was converted into a six-string violone on behalf of the client.

First, the neck was removed. Using a 1:1 scale drawing, a new neck with space for six wooden tuning pegs was carved to fit the ratio of the body.

After completion of the pegbox with scroll, the neck foot was fitted into the top block, the fingerboard glued and the neck shaped to suit the musician.

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Repair Service in Braunschweig

In co-operation with the Musikhaus Schulte in Braunschweig I offer a repair service. You can drop off your instruments and bows at the Music shop from Monday to Friday from 10am to 7pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm.

On Wednesday afternoons you can meet me there by appointment from 4pm to 6pm. Please contact me before Wednesday 2pm by calling +49 39421 68846

Musikhaus Schulte
Leonhardstraße 17-18,
38102 Braunschweig

Phone: +49 5 31-88 92 78 97

Parking is available directly in front of the shop windows of the Music Shop, to the left of the building or in Marthastraße.

Musikhaus Schulte
Leonhardstraße 17-18,
38102 Braunschweig
Germany

+49 (0)3 94 21-6 88 46

sonare@freenet.de