The fingerboard is under constant duress and is a part of the violin that needs occasional maintenance. Just like changing oil or replacing break pads on a vehicle, violin fingerboards are re-workable and replaceable. This article will cover the maintenance portion – planing of the board. Materials Needed label stickers curved sole block plane or apron plane small hammer nut knocker opening knife (dull knife […]
A neck reset is a common repair for most shops. In order to do the job properly, a thorough knowledge of the materials and processes involved is required. Because the subject is too large and difficult to comprehend in one sitting, I will be splitting the article into multiple parts. In this first part, I will […]
A silver wrap is a classic bow adornment that adds some weight to the bow to help adjust the balance point. Our goal is to make a beautiful, shiny, tight, and even wrap that gives us all the right measurements. Materials Blue masking tape Scale Pencil Ruler (both inches and millimeters) Spool of Silver wire […]
Carving a violin bridge is hard, but it’s also fun. I love doing it. This is one of the more artistic tasks a violin restorer does on a daily basis, and doing it well is a great challenge. It’s also something that takes much repetition to progress. The more bridges you carve, the better you can […]
A headspline is a common way to repair a bow that has been irreversibly broken at the tip. Once the bow is glued back together, a piece of pernambuco is inserted crossgrain to help support the glue joint from coming apart. Tools and Materials Thin Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Toothpick sharpened into a paddle Mini straightedge Lathe […]
As published in the IPCI Book. The following article describes a procedure we use in our shop to repair a broken tongue made of ebony. When this procedure is successfully completed, the grafted tongue will be as strong as the original and the repair will be virtually invisible. This procedure is not appropriate for tongues made of […]
Every instrument intended to be played needs a set of well-fit and properly functioning pegs. Otherwise, you cannot correctly tune the instrument. Here at Triangle Strings, even our standard rental instruments receive one of the two peg fitting techniques detailed in this article: fitting pegs into pre-drilled peg positions on a new instrument and fitting new […]
An eyelet is the threaded brass piece in your frog that allows your bow to be tightened and loosened with a turn of the button. When a bow is unable to be tightened, it could be caused by a number of factors and a stripped eyelet is definitely on the list of usual suspects. […]
Sound post cracks are very common in the long life of a violin family instrument. When repaired properly with a sound post patch, the instrument can continue to be a reliable tool beyond your lifetime and perhaps even improve its tone. Materials and tools Block plane Sharp knife Wide gouge with tight sweep Sharpened pencil […]
Even though you can buy a fingerboard blank from your supplier, it is not ready to be put on the instrument. A little prep work is involved to get the blank ready. In this article I will cover the method I use for preparing a new fingerboard. MATERIALS AND TOOLS -Fingerboard blank -Block plane with […]