Restoration of unlabelled violin, probably Northern European Factory InstrumentWinter 2018/19
(Later re-thicknessing work completed June 2019) |
Completed violin
|
This violin came to us with very little. When it arrived in the workshop it only had a fingerboard and very poorly fitted set of pegs! In addition, its seams were open in multiple places and it had some small splits in the front.
The fingerboard had four grooves at the bridge end which needed removing. Shooting the fingerboard, which had been covered in thick black paint, revealed a beautiful red hardwood fingerboard underneath. We made the decision to retain this feature and match the other fittings to suit. Given the unusual colourings of the body of this violin, we felt the red wood fittings were a pretty (or perhaps 'marmite'...?) addition.
Full set up and testing of the instrument revealed that it had quite a boxy, closed sound. General consensus within the workshop was that this would open up with playing however, given the weight of the violin, we felt that thicknessing work to the front of the instrument would not be time wasted. Inspection through the button hole had already revealed an integral bassbar which probably also meant the front was thick and crudely carved, as is quite often the case with mass produced factory instruments.
Sure enough, removal of the front revealed just so! The front plate was as thick as 6.6mm in some places and weighed 103g. After noting down the tap tones we removed the integral bass bar and re-thicknessed the front plate. We then fitted a new bassbar and glued the front back on.
The fingerboard had four grooves at the bridge end which needed removing. Shooting the fingerboard, which had been covered in thick black paint, revealed a beautiful red hardwood fingerboard underneath. We made the decision to retain this feature and match the other fittings to suit. Given the unusual colourings of the body of this violin, we felt the red wood fittings were a pretty (or perhaps 'marmite'...?) addition.
Full set up and testing of the instrument revealed that it had quite a boxy, closed sound. General consensus within the workshop was that this would open up with playing however, given the weight of the violin, we felt that thicknessing work to the front of the instrument would not be time wasted. Inspection through the button hole had already revealed an integral bassbar which probably also meant the front was thick and crudely carved, as is quite often the case with mass produced factory instruments.
Sure enough, removal of the front revealed just so! The front plate was as thick as 6.6mm in some places and weighed 103g. After noting down the tap tones we removed the integral bass bar and re-thicknessed the front plate. We then fitted a new bassbar and glued the front back on.
