When is it time for a tune-up?

While instrument maintenance is a subject that we have discussed in the past, it's never too soon for a reminder...

Here at A. Cavallo Violins, we really care about keeping your instruments in the best condition. Players performing on their instruments every day often do not notice incremental changes in adjustment and condition. Therefore it is always wise to have your instrument looked at by someone on the outside.

Here are a few checkpoints:

1. What it the health of your strings? Some strings go dead before going false, and you may have not noticed it over the course of weeks or months. (We sell strings at the same price as all major on-line sellers, and never charge for installation).

A Badly Managed Bridge!!

2. Is your bridge properly placed and straight? Keeping your bridge straight is a skill all advanced players should know. The multiple pounds of downward pressure or a bridge will warp it if it is not maintained.

3. Does your instrument have any openings or cracks? Sometimes even a very small open seam that is hard to see can significantly affect your tone. The smaller the opening, the less cost of repair!

4. Are the fittings in good shape? Fingerboards recurrently need re-shaping, tailpieces can be cracked and the improper length or weight, tailguts can be in danger of breaking, and peg shafts can become warped or out of round. All of these things can severely impact your playing, and are often easy and inexpensive to fix.

We must see each instrument before estimating cost and time necessary to complete each repair. Unfortunately it is impossible to estimate from a telephone call or pictures.

We pride ourselves at having trustworthy repair and restoration staff that includes Mark Womack, Dirk Henry, Cesario Amesquita, and Dane Anderson doing work for us. Many adjustments and repairs can be done by the next day because of our resources.

As always, we recommend a humidifier for your case and never ever leaving your instrument in a cold or hot car.

Peg Tuning Tips

Through the years, both as a violinist and teacher, one daily task seems scary for many - tuning with the pegs. I have personally never approached the task with fear, only as a challenge and necessity. One admission is that tuning with the pegs regularly presented one issue or another prior to knowledge of the following basic tips.

Peg Tuning Tips

• If fine tuners are turned completely down or are loose, turn them to a middle range.
• Inspect how the string is wound onto the peg. The string should be through the peg hole, then be wound evenly towards the edge of the pegbox; be sure not to cram the string against the pegbox or leave space, either of these errors will result in difficult peg tuning.
• As turning the peg, apply inward pressure (push towards pegbox). Monitor the string, that it winds evenly towards the edge of the pegbox.
• Turn the peg slowly, avoiding quick alterations in pitch, as this can cause a string to break.

Properly wound pegs will appear as follows.


There is no getting around tuning with the pegs, it simply takes time and patience to hone the skill. Hopefully these tips will make this daily task a bit less daunting.

-Cassandra General Manager

A Wopperjonged Viola Bridge

A few days ago a long-time customer walked in with a viola that he had deemed as an online bargain viola. Purchased for just a few dollars, including shipping, this viola had served him over the past 3 years. With just a glance, it was impossible for Alex to miss something extremely wrong:


Yes, that is what the bridge looked like... warped, tilted, twisted, any of the above applied to the appearance and stance. The customer did not realize that all of these descriptions made the viola dysfunctional.

As a purchaser, online shopping may appear convenient, especially in possibly meeting budget constraints; however, it has a great potential to turn into a costly investment that may not have any real retail value. The bridge incident is a prime example! It costs about $100 to get a bridge made for the viola between labor and materials... luckily, we dug into our 'Bridge Graveyard' for this customer, simply placing on a 'functional enough' bridge for his needs.

Helpful Bridge Maintenance Tips
(violin, viola, cello, & bass)

• The side closest to the tailpiece should be perpendicular to the top
• The side closest to the fingerboard should be curved, with a small "pot belly"
  
• Generally, the bridge should be placed so the strings are centered on the fingerboard with the inner notches of the f-holes pointing towards the center of the bridge.
• The top edge of the bridge should look straight when viewed from above.
• Over time, due to tuning, a bridge will usually tilt or lean towards the fingerboard. The key is to monitor the position and straighten it according to the angle of the side closest to the tailpiece.
  
• If a bridge is not kept straight, it will warp, creating problems with tuning and tone
• Once a bridge is warped, there is no other solution besides having a new one made
• Adjustments on the bridge tilt should always be made by gently grasping the top of the bridge between strings 1-2 and 3-4.
• The placement of the bridge feet should always be done by grasping the feet. Often, tension on the strings must be partially relieved before moving the bridge.
• Never grab the bridge by the middle or you may break it!

In the end, be aware of your bridge. If you are uncomfortable adjusting the bridge, take it to a good violin shop, there should be no or little charge for this service. Also, be a smart consumer when finding online bargains.

Here's to straight bridges!
You will play in tune more easily, and the fiddle should sing!

Weird String Instruments: That Crazy Bettie Paige Double Bass ;)

I always love it when we have non-classical musicians stopping by our shop. The other day, we had a a double bassist that dropped off his instrument for a new bridge. He was in a rock-a-billy band with a very interesting bass. He painted the bass in a mixture of black, green, with a gold finger board white tape decal.
At first I thought the strings were made of plastic. I had crazy thoughts of skipping jump rope in the basement with them but a closer look revealed these were Kevlar strings. Wow!

The bass player told us that he was having problems with his bridge standing up straight. One day, the bridge snapped. In his attempt to mend the situation, he nailed the pieces back together and held the pins in place with electrical tape. Alas, he told us, it just didn't sound the same:)

And here's the kicker...The back features a "pin-up" of a model resembling Bettie Page. Oh yea, you rebel double bassists! After we finished the repair job, he did mention about possible getting a new head stock with a skull from King Double Basses.

BBC NEWS | Magazine: How to Repair a Valuable Violin

Damaged Areas on David Garrett's Violin

1. Cracks running vertical and around sides
2. Cracks near f-holes
3. Two sound post cracks on the top
4. Bass bar crack
5. Neck Repair

"If someone has a liver transplant, who are they? A Stradivarius violin with one rib of the six replaced is still a Strad. That said, the necks of all Stradivariuses are relatively new as these wear out - and they are not intrinsic to the sound."

-David Morris (Director of Restorers NY J&A Beare)

Check out this short interesting article about repairing a recently cracked 1772 Giovani Guadagnini violin. Guadagnini instruments rivals and if not matches the master works of a Stradivarius. The article describes the circumstances under which the violin was damaged and whether or not an extensively repaired instrument can be still claimed as one of the great maker's works.

Inside Repair Job: Opening Violins

Our latest repair project involves taking off the top of a violin and cleating together an extended crack from saddle. It's a common one that we see on the tops of instruments and can be properly repaired good knowledgeable hands. I would discourage any amateurs that think a quick filling of the old epoxy and wood color can bring the instrument up to par ;)

Besides the crack that needs to be repaired, the one aspect of the job that customers get worked up about is when they hear that the top needs to be taken off (note: not ever crack means a top removal but for this particular case it did). Opening up the top can seem like a traumatic experience for the musician that's standing by to watch. It's kind of like a family standing by to watch their family member having open heart surgery.

In reality, under the guidance of trained professionals, removing tops are generally not a difficult task in repair. After all, string instruments are designed to come apart at the seams under seasonal stress.

[Opening up the Violin Seams]

How are the tops of violins removed? First the hide glue between the seams need to be opened up. Lester draws out a syringe from his tools and shoots it up with a low concentration of alcohol. The needle's small droplets are carefully shot into the seams. After a few minutes, you can start to hear a crackling noise from within the instrument. The seams are opening up.

[Spreading open the top]

Then pressure needs to be applied to lift the top from the seams, usually with a tool acting like a spreader wedge. A little bit of alcohol and a little bit of pressure is applied on and off through out the whole process until finally the wedge can fit between the top and seam. Then more of the same as the wedge makes its way across the seams to lift the entire top off.

Good luck on opening the rest of it Les! He'll be happy with this little repair job bonus after he's done:)

Violin Bass Bar Repair: Open Heart Surgery at your Local Violin Shop

As I'm busy upstairs filling out online orders, the guys keep working on repairs downstairs. Openings and seams of instruments are the norm with the cold winter weather but the amount and frequency of these instruments checking in made the place seem like a hospital ward. I became the receptionist/nurse that had to quickly diagnose or take information from the visitors. The downstairs benches became bed space for any who were admitted.

I got a chance to head down and see what the "doctors" were up to. While the cellos were all waiting in line, a big open heart surgery of a violin's bass bar was in progress. I snapped a few shots of the inside to to find that the back has to be patched a number of times from previous repairs. Not only that, the top also had some open seams that needed to be closed. The inside of this thing was really a mess and the sound post was chewed up. But the biggest problem was carving a new bass bar so it would match the top.

Alex first has to start out with a block of spruce and plane it out.
Then, he has to use a smaller finger plane to get the curvature of the bass bar lined up with the top.
The bass bar in its correct position.

Eastman Bass Neck Repair

We've recently had more referrals for repair jobs than in the past.

This one is a Eastman quarter size double bass that came to the shop.

It's neck has come loose and we're trying to set it back in place.

Cracked Violin Bow Repair

This is a repair I haven't seen performed. A customer brought in one of his bows for rehair and we discovered there was a small crack in the middle of his stick. With the customer's permission, we proceeded to mend what had already been damaged.

Normally, I'm the one that blogs about the repairs and projects but I'm certainly no expert on this subject. Leave it to the repair man Lester to explain. However, he's always tied up with repairs and still computer illiterate;) That's why I thought it might be better for this entry to have some selected excerpts from our conversations at the bench.

LK: I'm going to be wrapping it with this silk. What you do is keep do is wrap it with this silk and try to keep it nice and tight...wrap it a little before and past the crack. That will help it and... help it, prevent it, the crack from growing, and getting worse and breaking the stick.

CHG: Where did you learn how to do this repair, up in New Hampshire?
LK: Well, not formally in a class but I learned it from a girl up in school. Yeah, it's a very basic simple repair.

CHG: So you have all the silk winding on here holding the crack in place, but I mean what's that going to really do? Are you going to put a splinter in it? Or are you going to heat it?
LK: You wrap it up and then you glue it.
CHG: That's it?
LK: That's it.

AR: $495 bucks! $495 bucks!"(At this point, I get distracted as Alex is in the background raving about an eBay item that just sold. We both just ignore him.)

LK: Now the cracks have no where to go, if you tie up the cracks.
CHG: Does it really strengthen it?
LK: It doesn't but it prevents it from breaking it. (At this point, Lester has glued his fingers together.)

LK: Oh that one's glued.
CHG: Now is it impossible to get any of that off?
LK: What?
CHG: The glue
LK: Nah.
Debonder fluid to the rescue.
LK See now Chris, what I'll do to make it "pretty" (in a high pitched voice) is once the super glue dries and then I can get I'll take a file, a fine file, and then a sandpaper and take a micromesh, and it will be really polished, really smooth.

Alex on Leave: Learning Violin Graduation Technique

The two boys are left to defend the fort as boss Alex has taken a short leave of absence from the shop. He is down in Georgia to study up on graduation techniques with master violin maker Stephanie Voss.

I'm no expert on the technique but I think graduation has to do with scraping, planing, or cutting down the layers of wood inside the instrument. From what I've heard, it's a delicate procedure that needs to be taken with caution. Why? There's the ethical issue of messing with the violin maker's work. There's also the problem of compensating the instrument's structural integrity for better acoustics.

Alex will fill me in on more about this technique and his experiences down in Georgia. Maybe a photo or two perhaps?

String Repair.com: A Smart String Business Website

We know that we've been a bit delayed on posting some of our repair work and projects but we will get to to them soon. We've had plenty to document with the camera but just haven't had the time to post. The best repair work that's come in this week is a piece of an 1/8th size violin scroll that has broken off from the peg box. Will show you the damage!

Speaking of repair work, we'd like to point a shop website out there that's doing similar things to what we are doing here on the blog. That is, photo documenting their repair and restoration work.

The website StringRepair.com was started by Upton Bass String Instrument, Co. The company is more known for its work on string basses but they also deal with other instruments as well. It has a main website but cannot house and format their portfolio of repair work photos. Thus, StringRepair.com was created.

The website has tabs for each string instrument repair that you might be interested in. Each on has big detailed pop out photos, even some in x-rays, and the latest completed repair projects. It's a good thing they included a bow section as well, as this is often the one area that a player can protect himself from bad practice with a little bit of knowledge.

Other tabs on the site features their repair staff. A quick glance at the bios will not only tell you if they have received training, but describes which method they have been schooled in for repair. You can even find out what it takes to become a repair man in the FAQ's.

Being impressed with the site, we had to contact somebody at Upton Bass to see if they similar blogging goals in mind like ours. We did get a response back from them saying:

"...I never intended stringrepair to be a blog...but honestly I started it before there were "blogs"! Originally it was just a way to keep owners informed of what we were doing to their instruments. It evolved...and it is still fun to go in and write about the repair process once completed."

[Eric Rene Roy, Luthier]

Technically, String Repair is not a blog like us but the goals seems to be relatively the same. In our blogging goals post, we hoped that this blog could be a " tool to educate" and "create debate". Perhaps this Q&A from their site sums up what we feel is so great about them.

"Q: Why is Upton Bass GIVING away all of this information?

A: Although pictures can speak 1000 words...pictures do not give you the years of hand & tool skills that must be acquired through professional training and daily practice to complete these repairs. What we can demonstrate in 100 pictures might actually take a year to complete. Some key steps are sometimes omitted or shown from distracting points of view. Not every repair is as cut and dry as we present it...and sometimes we debate as a group the best possible way to achieve the results we are striving for while taking into consideration many different factors. Our goal with this site is to create an informed instrument owner who is aware and appreciative of the amount of work and training these repairs take, and hopefully to ultimately entrust us with the work they need."

[www.StringRepair.com.faq]

We're glad to have found another shop that's adding a layer of transparency and education to the string business. Typical small violin shops try to represent their business practices by posting estimates for repair, maintenance fees, and some educational or bio information to bolster the credibility of their repair work they do. These guys have taken a step further by actually showing how your money is spent for the service being performed and educating customers.

Related Posts & Links:

• Self Congratulatory Post & Blogging Goals
  
• StringRepair.com

Cello Repair

A rental instrument came in the other day, and the mom wasn't worried sick about its condition. The player it in a soft padded case, but manged to drop the cello bridge impacting the ground first. The top of the cello now has a significant crack.

Thank goodness for the insurance and maintenance policy, as the two of them drove back home with a different cello.

Meanwhile, we're trying to fix this guy up!

A little instruction by the boss on clamping process. Some hot hide glue used to fill the cracks and specially designed clamps to hold it in place without getting clamp marks all over the surface.

The dove tailed corner blocks need to be scrapped off of excess glue.

Now, despite the back and cello all in tact, it needs to be stabilized while the top is off being glued. Otherwise, the potential for its sides and back to warp. Two pieces of wood are held parallel to another while another set of clamps are used to hold the body in place.

A view from inside from the endpin.

-chg

Head Plate Underwraps

Les has just about finished on this bow. He currently has the bow under some tight winding.

As of now, he's trying to fix the camber on another bow. It was pulled out of a bath of nitric acid and left to dry in some sunlight. The bow is otherwise in playing condition.

Frog repair

Playing catchup with repair work is what Les does when he's not making bows. This week, 4 bows came to our shop from another dealer, all with peculiar challenges for Les to deal with.The most challenging repair was what appeared to be a routine bow rehair. A disturbing problem arose when Les tried to pull the plug of hair from the mortise. For those of you not familiar with bow construction, a quick description:

"The bow consists of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and frog (or nut, or heel) at opposite ends. At the frog end, a screw adjuster tightens or loosens the hair. The frog may be decorated with two eyes made of shell, with or without surrounding metal rings. A flat slide usually made of ebony and shell covers the mortise where the hair is held by its wedge. A metal ferrule holds the hair-spreading wedge and the shell slide in place."

(Bow Construction, Wikipedia)

The slide covering the frog was SUPER-GLUED. It was a real botched repair work. We can only speculate that the previous bow restorer didn't know what he was doing or thought it wasn't worth the trouble for future repairs or rehairs.

We brainstormed some ideas to get the slide to come out. The frog had alcohol, then some debonder shot into its crevice with a syringe. Les even dangled the frog by a thread in a container of above hot water, in hopes of the vapor releasing it. Eventually, he had to chip away at the old slide. The pearl on the slide was chiseled away into pieces before he could gouge into the mortise and create a new one.

Here's his work in progress.

Amazing that even got the slide off! The only trauma to be seen is a fracture near the edge of the slide.
-chg