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Completely off topic.  This is a violin bought by my mother’s great aunt in about the 1870’s and brought to America when she immigrated.  There is a tangled web of murder and a hanging that shrouds its past.  It was broken about 70-80 years ago and ended up in my closet.  After taking it apart and installing 32 cleats, it is back together.  I am currently taking lessons for fun.  It has a beautiful tone.

That is impressive, what does the label say?  Does it have real purfling? I took fiddle lessons 10 - 12 years ago, mostly to learn Cajun music. I did a large share of my lessons in Louisiana.  Good luck with the lessons, hang in there!

I practiced working on a local High School dead cellos before working on my violin.  The cellos shown were purchased in the 1940’s.  The new cellos they purchased are imported and made of plywood lacking the resonance of these rescue instruments.   I ended up repairing five in total studying crack repair techniques as I went.

My wife leads an "Instrument Petting Zoo" for our local symphony.


She has been quite an expert at repairing string instruments.

She has 7 violins (including the smallest Suzuki Violin), 2 junior Cellos, a junior Viola and a junior classical guitar.

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Looks like you did a great job restoring the violin - very well done! It takes a lot of skill to correctly repair a stringed instrument especially a violin as a small mistake can ruin the sound. My grandfather, a retired stationary engineer at our local steel plant and a rough, hard drinking guy to boot retired and went down to his tiny basement workshop where he made nine beautiful and sought after violins......amazing I thought. All his forms and clamps and handmade planes and everything else went to my niece's husband who makes custom guitars so it's all in a good place. Keep up the good work as it will be hugely satisfying down the road.

Bonjour,
It is possible to reconcile music and model making