# Adventures in Lutherie



## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*

Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.

The Nut was broken and the floating bridge was missing, but I figured that given time and research I could likely repair the instrument.










I removed the old nut and used its remains to reproduce it in a piece of walnut wood I saved for just such a purpose. I sanded the piece to shape and marked where the string slots will go. Then I glued it on, using Titebond's liquid hide glue. (N.B. The Elmer's white glue was not used for this repair. It was simply on the table in shot.)










Information about floating dulcimer bridges is scarce out there, so I created a prism shaped piece to serve and put small notches where the strings will ride. It's fortunate that there are two marks on the fretboard where the floating bridge should go.

After the glue on the nut dries, I'll string it up and between my musician wife and I we'll set the strings in the nut to the proper height and make sure the thing really works.

I have a book coming in from our library about making dulcimers. I'm hoping that will fill in some blanks for me. I'm wondering what I could use to clean the piece up a bit before we give it back. If it ends up being a good book, I'll probably buy a copy somewhere.


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


"a piece of walnut wood I saved for just such a purpose."
No such thing as scrap! Good save, Dave.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


I have so little real hardwood and I have in mind to build a cigar box guitar, fiddle, and a few more dulcimers. I just hold onto stuff like that. Painted pine and warped plywood is about all I'll willingly throw out.


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## nomercadies (Dec 31, 2011)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


I feel like Hap Shaughnessy on The Red Green Show, but the "willingly throw out" part of your report reminds me of a story. A true story, believe me. I know, I know, there I go again, but maybe you'll like it and find it somehow connected to our woodworking lives.

When I was a student teacher, the lead teacher came in one day sputtering about how ungrateful one of her neighbors was. She was sure it was going to be a deal breaker as far as neighborhood friendships were concerned. It was going to be the finish to what had been a lovely little tradition that everyone looked forward to at the end of a work day.

During the part of the day, when no one notices the sun is starting its decline and before most of the work-a-day people return to the neighborhood, some of the people that were available took advantage of that small window and got together, put up some lawn chairs, and had that first glass of wine.

They were composed mostly of stay at home wives, people that got out of work earlier in the day, and retired people. As far as gender goes, the group was made up of all women except the rather handsome divorced retiree who's driveway and garage opening they used for their outdoor/slightly indoor restaurant/bar.

Ohhh the giggles and stories. Such fun. Everyone looked forward to that happy hour time with good drink and good friends. Real life was waiting for them after happy hour. Maybe each one of them could take turns making some kind of appetizer to pass for the following day? Good thoughts to hang onto as they finished off a bottle while doing chores at home.

"But, all good things come to an end." she mumbled through clenched teeth. The "girls" decided to do something nice to show their appreciation for the man that hosted mini-party after mini-party in his drive. When the light rain threatened, it made them inch into the garage opening. That put a little dampness on the party.

What better way to thank him than to go over some day when he had to be away, sneak into his garage, and clean up all those tools and pieces of wood and trashy kind of things and make the garage into a lovely place to work and play?

They cleaned and organized him. It was perfect, so my lead teacher explained to me.

"And you know what happened?" she said.

I feigned ignorance, due to my very subordinate position. "No, what?" I questioned.

"We arrived as usual for our afternoon gathering. When he opened the garage, he started huffing and actually acted angry! No thank yous. No appreciation. Not even a smile from that man. He was very quiet and actually was kind of snippy. No wonder he's divorced! We're done with that man."

I slumped my shoulders, shook my head, and quietly said, "The very idea …!"

She wasn't herself for several days. Maybe no one learned anything from that series of events, but maybe … me.


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## nomercadies (Dec 31, 2011)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


I'd like to know more and follow your dulcimer adventure. Can't wait.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


*nomercadies*, Sometime in the foreseeable future I will be building another dulcimer. When I do that I'll definitely post many updates here AND I'll make a multi part video of it. YouTube seems to have zero tutorials on making a dulcimer, so I'll be the first.

Your tale reminds me of when I was a printer. I worked in a mom & pop shop and I was in charge of the old pressroom with the metal type and old antique presses. When doing that sort of printing, a craft really, you collect all kinds of its and pieces of wood spacers, index card slices and other seemingly useless bits of stuff. I went on vacation for a week. When I returned, I discovered that someone had 'cleaned up' all my bits and pieces, so I had to start afresh collecting all my little helpers that would speed my work along.

So far no one has done anything like that in my workshop, but usually a month after I throw something out that wasn't actually falling apart, I find a use for it-after it's gone.


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## nomercadies (Dec 31, 2011)

Dave10 said:


> *Dulcimer Nut and Bridge Replacement*
> 
> Over the summer my wife came home after visiting a former colleague and brought in an oldish mountain dulcimer. It had hung on the wall at her friend's house and she was wondering if it could be made to play. I'm no expert, but I took a good look at it. It looked to be a genuine mountain dulcimer, not a mere decoration. A label inside says Geoffrey R. Johnson, NOVEMBER 1989. A Google search on that yielded nothing useful.
> 
> ...


There is a thin line between a hoarder and a person that actually needs the things others believe to be trash. I am old and still haven't decided where the dividing line is.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Diving in Again: Mountain Dulcimer*

Heads up!

It's been a while since I built my wife's 3 string mountain dulcimer. I've been promising to make a 4-string for several years. As I write this, I've already started cutting wood. I hope to have it done for Christmas. I'll be posting a build series as well, chiefly because I want to translate it into Esperanto. I'll have to make a hard case for it as well. ;-)


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Diving in Again: Mountain Dulcimer*
> 
> Heads up!
> 
> It's been a while since I built my wife's 3 string mountain dulcimer. I've been promising to make a 4-string for several years. As I write this, I've already started cutting wood. I hope to have it done for Christmas. I'll be posting a build series as well, chiefly because I want to translate it into Esperanto. I'll have to make a hard case for it as well. ;-)


Following along, Dave.


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Diving in Again: Mountain Dulcimer*
> 
> Heads up!
> 
> It's been a while since I built my wife's 3 string mountain dulcimer. I've been promising to make a 4-string for several years. As I write this, I've already started cutting wood. I hope to have it done for Christmas. I'll be posting a build series as well, chiefly because I want to translate it into Esperanto. I'll have to make a hard case for it as well. ;-)


Sounds like you have done some nice work there Dave, but I cannot see the pictures?


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Oops! I'll use it somewhere*

While working on the dulcimer for my wife, I cut the fingerboard too short. It's okay, I have plenty of wood and it was still just a stick with no real crafting invested in it.

But figured I'd put it to good use. I cut the peg head into one end as 'practice' for the real thing. So now I have this fingerboard with a peg head cut into it. It's too narrow for a cigar box guitar. Looking around the internet, I think I can use it to make a 4 string 'tenor' banjo. That should be fun too, but it won't get done until after Christmas for sure. I have an old cookie tin I've been saving for just such a project.


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

Dave10 said:


> *Oops! I'll use it somewhere*
> 
> While working on the dulcimer for my wife, I cut the fingerboard too short. It's okay, I have plenty of wood and it was still just a stick with no real crafting invested in it.
> 
> But figured I'd put it to good use. I cut the peg head into one end as 'practice' for the real thing. So now I have this fingerboard with a peg head cut into it. It's too narrow for a cigar box guitar. Looking around the internet, I think I can use it to make a 4 string 'tenor' banjo. That should be fun too, but it won't get done until after Christmas for sure. I have an old cookie tin I've been saving for just such a project.


It's fun when you can take a-- and turn it into a +++ and have fun doing it.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Miter box for fretting*










[*Above*] Recently I had to cut fret slots on a fingerboard for a mountain dulcimer. I decided to build a miter box specifically for this. A standard miter box is too wide for this and the slot is a bit sloppy for my dovetail saw. I grabbed some scrap plywood which happened to have a decorative edge on it and screwed the two sides onto a bottom piece. This assembly was then screwed onto a wider base piece to allow me to clamp it in place. The whole thing has some weight to it as well, so even without clamping (still recommended) it won't move quite as much as otherwise. I created the slot using my dovetail saw and a speed square and sawed down to just below the height of the finger board in question.



















[*Above*] This is how it is used. Now I just need to find a place to keep it until next time.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Peg reamer and peg shaver*










[*Above*] Always trying to do things on the cheap, made a peg hole reamer using a rat tail file. I broke most of the tang off and inserted it into a hole drilled in a piece of flat steel. I glued it together using JB Weld and it's held up so far with no problems. To use it I drill a pilot hole at 3/16 inch and ream it out to the largest diameter on the tapered file which 1/4 inch. You have to twist the reamer in the direction that will try to force it out of the hole, otherwise it tries to draw itself in and that would just split the peg hole open.



















[*Above*] A fellow Lumber Jock led me to a video showing how to make a DIY peg shaver. It works great and will make my life easier the next time I make tuning pegs. Here's the video [link].


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Peg reamer and peg shaver*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Double Thumbs Up!!


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Peg reamer and peg shaver*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Peg reamer and peg shaver*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I go to make pegs for the banjo (future project) this will be VERY nice!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*And then some!*

There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.

I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


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## SirGareth (May 17, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *And then some!*
> 
> There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.
> 
> I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


Good on ya Dave! What a great way to expand your learning!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *And then some!*
> 
> There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.
> 
> I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


I do have a bit of a learning curve to get over. Fine finishes are a weak spot for me.  Same with repairing them. Luckily, the Obrien guitar channel on YouTube has lots of tips on finishes.


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

Dave10 said:


> *And then some!*
> 
> There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.
> 
> I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


Sounds really interesting work.


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *And then some!*
> 
> There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.
> 
> I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


Sounds great, Dave! I hope it is all you want it to be and more.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *And then some!*
> 
> There's a good chance that I'll be doing a lot more lutherie in the future. Through a connection my wife has as a music teacher, I'll be apprenticed to a music store as a repairer of wooden instruments. I wouldn't call this an absolutely done deal, but very likely at the least. I love the idea of having a unique job and this one could be fun as well. I gotta start binge watching all the guitar repair videos on Youtube.
> 
> I haven't met the owner yet, but he's already excited to have a woodworker on board.


Thank you for your kind thoughts. I should be getting into this just after the start of the new year.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*I'm an apprentice!*

I think today I could mark as when I entered an 'apprenticeship' as an 'Orchestral Instrument Repair Technician'. I'm doing piecework as I learn, but the owner of the shop wants me to be stationed there eventually. It's better for business.

I've got a steep learning curve ahead of me. the better and faster I work, the more I get paid. I'm repairing student rental instruments, so they aren't going to be 'restored' to showroom condition, just made playable again.

I might add that I got this opportunity because of my background in *woodworking*.


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## iamcliff (Jul 4, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *I'm an apprentice!*
> 
> I think today I could mark as when I entered an 'apprenticeship' as an 'Orchestral Instrument Repair Technician'. I'm doing piecework as I learn, but the owner of the shop wants me to be stationed there eventually. It's better for business.
> 
> ...


Gratulojn!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *I'm an apprentice!*
> 
> I think today I could mark as when I entered an 'apprenticeship' as an 'Orchestral Instrument Repair Technician'. I'm doing piecework as I learn, but the owner of the shop wants me to be stationed there eventually. It's better for business.
> 
> ...





> Gratulojn!
> 
> - Chris McDowell


Dankon Chris. Miaj tagoj kiel cxehejma patro estas preskau finitaj!


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *I'm an apprentice!*
> 
> I think today I could mark as when I entered an 'apprenticeship' as an 'Orchestral Instrument Repair Technician'. I'm doing piecework as I learn, but the owner of the shop wants me to be stationed there eventually. It's better for business.
> 
> ...


Well done Dave,
Congratulations !!

I see you have been busy making specalised tools for the job so you should have a head start there.

Go for it!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Simple violin repair*

won't make this a regular thing, but I wanted to post this first one.










This is a 3/4 size violin with a beak in the tuning peg box. The break was clean and simple to fix with glue. Epoxy was used because the break line went Right through a tuning peg hole. One clamp held everything perfectly in place while the glue cured. Just reiterating that these are student rental instruments. The idea is o keep them playable. In this case the repair is nearly invisible, but this will not always be the case.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*How to rehair a bow*










You might not realize this, but all musical instruments occasionally need maintenance. Brass instruments may need a new spring in the valves, pianos might need new felt on the hammers, or a woodwind may need new cork on the stops covering the holes. For the string instruments probably the most frequent maintenance is rehairing of the bow. The horsehair actually wears out from use and an unused bow, kept in its case may succumb to an infection of bow bugs that break the hairs off.

Part of my new trade is to learn how to rehair bows. Luckily there are plenty of videos and pages out there that describe and show the process. Part of my learning process now is to write down what I've learned, thus fixing it in my mind. My dad once told me that a good way to learn something was to teach it to someone else. I've done 4 bows so far, only the last have I felt to be an unqualified success. The pictures you see here are of my first try.



















The top photo shows the tip of the bow. The bottom one shows the frog. You can see how many of the hairs have been broken off. Aside from the annoyance of the flapping hairs, an instrument won't play well without the majority of the hair on the bow intact.










After releasing any tension on the hair by loosening the frog the hair is cut, but leaving a tail on it.



















The silver colored ferrule is removed with a pliers and the piece of bicycle inner tube. Under the hair is a triangular spreader wedge which must also be saved. Spreader wedges are probably the most perishable and most easily replaced part in this process.










There is also a little sliding piece that covers the hair where it sits in he frog. This can be a pain to remove. It's not supposed to be glued, just held in by friction, plus the ferrule.



















With everything removed you can see the hole or channel where the bow hair goes. You can also see how the hair is bound by string to rest in the hole. You can also see the little pieces of wood which were the tiny plug that held the hair in that hole. I ended up making a new plug, a skill I definitely need to get better at.










On the tip end there is a similar hole and plug thought here the hair just fold over the plug and has no ferrule nor sliding cover.



















Here one end of my new hank of hair has been bound. Actually one end came bound, so just put some wood glue on it. The very end is then touched to a candle flame to minimize how much hair is beyond the binding. Scissors just can't get as close as burning can. I put the bound end into the tip end and replaced the little wood plug.

Something I learned while doing the other bows is that the hank of hair one receieves is a little bit more than one needs. Taking a part of it away and rebinding it helps a lot with getting that plug in. Forcing the plug with too much force an break the tip off.










Next the hair is wetted and combed out so that there are no tangles and the hairs are all parallel. I clip a series of wooden clothes pins on the hair to keep it flat and aligned and together. The hank is cut to length and the end is bound. I've found it useful and easier to use small strands of copper wire to bind the hair.










The wire is readily available from stranded extension cords.

IMPORTANT! Put that ferrule on the hank of hair BEFORE putting the hair in the frog.










Put the frog on the bench to insert the hair and plug. The hair will just be too tight to do it while it is on the stick.



















The frog is held on the stick via a long screw that fits in a threaded nut inside the stick. The nut is on the under side of the frog.










The frog is put back on the stick and the sliding cover and ferrule are put back on.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *How to rehair a bow*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


*Handy Tip*: If you have bows of different sizes to re-hair, start with the longest bows. If you botch things up and need to use another hank of hair, the one you 'ruined' can likely be use on a shorter bow. Violin bows are the longest, except for full size contrabass bows I believe, but they get coarser hair. I've done a few bow re-hairings recently and am progressing nicely. Best gig ever!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Just a glue-up-du-jour*










This poor cello had a slit in its face and part of its top had separated from the ribs. Today I felt confident enough to try repairing it. It is curing until I get to work tomorrow.


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Just a glue-up-du-jour*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You have advanced quickly, Dave!


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Just a glue-up-du-jour*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


be great to see it back making music.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Just a glue-up-du-jour*
> 
> 
> 
> ...





> You have advanced quickly, Dave!
> 
> - CFrye


Aside from learning some of the procedures for repairs, I think the biggest obstacle I had to overcome was the idea that these instrumenbts were sacred objects that could not be disassembled and put back together by us mere mortals so to speak. To me, only high priests called Luthiers could do such operations.

But now I've come to understrand that these instruments are basically oddly shaped wooden boxes, and that in some cases they are made to fall apart rather than break. That's why certain glues are used in them. Slowly I'm learnuing the secrets.

I've had to take up my fiddle again as It was suggested I should be familiar with the instruments I'm repairing. That's another ball of wax.


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## Just_Iain (Apr 5, 2017)

Dave10 said:


> *Just a glue-up-du-jour*
> 
> 
> 
> ...





> You have advanced quickly, Dave!
> 
> But now I ve come to understrand that these instruments are basically oddly shaped wooden boxes, and that in some cases they are made to fall apart rather than break. That s why certain glues are used in them. Slowly I m learnuing the secrets.
> 
> - Dave Rutan


Dave,

I believe you will find that the idea is to be 'take apart' rather than fall apart. All with the goal of repair. There was significant violin (might have been a Stradivarius) that if I remember correctly made it's way into the Appalachians many years ago. It was damaged and repaired by the Appalachian owner and a skilled Luther was able to restore it many decades later because the 'repairs' were 'undo-able'.

Iain


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Bench Puppy and Tiny Wedges*










I needed a place to use a chisel to cut small wedges out of maple for rehairing violin bows. The benchtop has a piece of carpet on it and I didn't want to damage anything anyway. I made a small bench dog to give me something to push against and cut into without worry. It's made with a scrap of oak that I had. The cleats are just glued on but are holding up fine.

The wedge I msade is the small bit of wood with the dot on it just at the corner of the chisel. I believe it's a 1/2 inch chisel.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*A few shots from my day*

I've been going through the 'bone pile' in the shop, looking for specimens that I think I have the ability to repair. The best way to learn is to do, and since these were actually already in the scrap box, how could I possibly goof anything up? My boss once said to me that if I goof something up, we'll just take it apart and fix it.

These first two shots are of a 3/4 violin that had a missing corner on the upper left C bout. The top of violins is spruce, IE the same stuff that 2×4s are made from. I had previously cut some pieces from a 2×4 for such a purpose.

First thing is to make the edge straight. In this case I was even able to save the perfling on the edge. I took a piece of my spruce and edge glued it to the violin. I held the joint together with painters tape.

After it dried, I cut much of the excess away and carved it to shape using my pocket knife. I brought it to final shape with sand paper. sorry I didn't show the rest of the process, but it's basically just doing my best to match the finish and make the patch invisible.



















Below is just a clamping job holding a crack aligned while the glue dries. I made the clamps myself as is noted in my lutherie tools series. [link]


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Bass-ic Clamps*










Lately at work I've had to venture upwards and do some work on Double Basses. It's mostly been just restringing and such, but today I graduated again.

Today I cut my first bass bridge. It was just a 3/4 size bridge, but it was still a bass bridge.

The other thing was that I had to glue an open seam in the bottom of a 1/4 size bass. I discovered that my cello size spool clamps were too short and had to improvise as seen in the photo above.

Below you see two of four bass sized spool clamps that I made tonight to start my collection in that area. Each spool clamp consists of a threaded rod with a nut at one end. Onto the rod is placed an end block, two 1 inch lengths of plastic tubing, a second end block, a fender washer and a wing nut. The tubing helps protect the edge of the instrument. The 1/4 inch threaded rod is 12 inches long which I believe (hope) is long enough to use even on a full size bass. Time will tell.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Bass-ic Clamps*
> 
> 
> 
> ...












Not my picture, but this is how spool clamps are usually used.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Chipped cello edge*










Part of my job as an or hestral repair tech is to try and repair damage to the rental instruments. A chip like the one shown above is sort of dangerous since it presents a rough edge.










This is repair though, not full museum restoration. In this case I took a piece of similar wood and cut it to fit in the gap, oversize.










I carve the patch to match the level and shape of the missing piece as best that I can.
Then I try my best to blend it in with the surrounding area. Sometimes I'm more successful than others.


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## Oldtool (May 27, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Chipped cello edge*
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Nice repair Dave, tight fit and great color match. I've tried a few repairs and the hardest part for me is the color match. Looks like you nailed it.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Dave10 said:


> *Chipped cello edge*
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Nice work!


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Dave10 said:


> *Chipped cello edge*
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That's a superb job. Good grain match, color, everything.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Chipped cello edge*
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I got lucky with this one, but thank you all.


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## pjaromin (Nov 28, 2007)

Dave10 said:


> *Chipped cello edge*
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Nice work, Dave. Keep up the posts.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Methusela*










I resurrected this 1/2 size violin that I pulled from our bone pile. It just needed everything aside from the scroll, neck, fingerboard, and body. I scavenged parts from our used items, including a set of strings.


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## SirGareth (May 17, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Methusela*
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Wow Dave, you are really getting some challenging instruments to repair. Do you have a "before" picture? Do you do any restoration to the finish?


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Methusela*
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> Wow Dave, you are really getting some challenging instruments to repair. Do you have a "before" picture? Do you do any restoration to the finish?
> 
> - SirGareth


Sorry, no before shots. These 'bone pile' rescues I generally work on between the 'paying work' in the shop. The instrument looked pretty much as you see it, though a bit more forlorn.

Unfortunately finish restoration is not one of my strengths. I wish I could intern with a furniture refinisher for a while to learn the secrets first hand.


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