This page has useful, thorough descriptions of common jobs and components used in the everyday maintenance of instruments. Do you really know what goes on when you surrender your instrument to your favorite repair person? Some shops are more forthcoming than others; we consider it part of our service to describe in full the work that we do. You may read the entire (long!) text, or jump quickly to an area of interest by clicking on these bookmarks......

Instrument Maintenance

Bridge            Dressing, Fingerboard         Nut             

Restoration Overview  

  Saddle          Peg          Cracks

Bow Maintenance

Rehairing    Horsehair   Tip plate       Recambering       Winding & Grip

RESTORATION OVERVIEW

We have a fully equipped workshop in which we can perform the most exacting restorations. Instruments are painstakingly taken apart in order to reinforce damaged areas, or replace damaged pieces. The utmost care is taken to reassemble, and gently touch-in the varnish to blend with the original finish. We're often asked if a damaged instrument "will ever be the same", and this is our response. It's not unusual for a damaged instrument to actually sound better than ever after a careful restoration! It gives us the opportunity to secure blocks, linings, and other items that might well loosen over decades of playing. We often see tiny open seams and other problems that players never quite seem to find time to have done, and only when a major problem occurs -with the chance to remove the table- can things be cured.

This is not to suggest that we are eager to open instruments. Conversely, every avenue is explored before a decision is made to take off a top!

Here's a brief description of many everyday repairs. Do you really know what's being done when these terms are mentioned? The following will give a better understanding of what we do, and perhaps just how involved these tasks might be.....

BRIDGE

The cutting of a new bridge involves selecting a new pre-cut blank of a width and type to correspond most appropriately to the instrument. The bass bar, "f" holes and arching determine the choice. The feet of the bridge are the two parts which touch the top of the violin, and it's imperative that these match the curvature where they sit. The job of the bridge is to transmit the vibration as cleanly as possible, and this even contact is critical. The bridge must stand correctly, and a general rule has the back face sitting about perpendicular to the top of the violin at that point. Look carefully at the side profile, and you'll see the arching of the table starting to go down toward the saddle. This makes the bridge look as if it's leaning back just a bit, but it's normal. The front face of the bridge is then thinned appropriately, and gently tapered down to a thin ridge at the top. The fingerboard end is referenced to mark and cut the final height, and the whole is planed, scraped and/or sanded to the final dimensions. The heart of the bridge, the wings, the feet thickness etc., are at the discretion of the craftsman, and will vary wildly from restorer to restorer! Finer bridges receive a light coat of button polish or similar, and perhaps a stamp of the shop to complete the task.

DRESSING, FINGERBOARD

One of the most overlooked problems with stringed instruments is the condition of the fingerboard. It has been determined over the centuries that a gentle, even concave curve be followed along its' length, to allow clearance and free vibration at every note. (This of course is in conjunction with the obvious convex curve of the end-view profile). We are constantly amazed at new instruments that have rippled and warped fingerboards when held in the light. Even some "professional" new makers overlook this necessity!

Why is it important? With an older instrument, just imagine a metal coated string constantly barraging a piece of wood on a daily basis. The organic material, usually ebony, loses the battle and succumbs to depressions and tracks left by the strings. Eventually, the string will start to slip into one of these crevasses, instead of sitting cleanly on the surface, and a slight "blurring" of the sound occurs with false notes slipping in. OK, crevasses sounds a bit extreme, but it makes the point! In reality, professional players compensate unconsciously for the odd note here and there, but when it gets too bad, we're consulted.

The strings and fittings are removed, and we usually show the customer what we're talking about. To contrast the problem, a quick light rub with "0000" finest steel wool puts a matt sheen on everything except the pits which stay shiny and very apparent! The correction involves re-establishing the correct curve, and carefully planing, scraping, sanding and polishing the surface. The utmost care must be taken to use all tools on long, even strokes so as not to end up with "hills and valleys" again. Small blocks are sometimes used to maintain the final steps.

Although it can be a messy job, it's one of our most pleasing tasks because of the customer feedback on completion. Crisp, clear articulation, and a renewed ease of double stops are the result of this task.

NUT

The nut is the small rectangular block that sits at the top of the fingerboard, directing the strings into the peg box. A correctly fit nut should blend seamlessly with sides of the fingerboard, and stand just high enough above it to accommodate the string slots. Much has been written about the merits of nut profiles, but for us a rule of thumb might be that the string sits about one half of it's own diameter above the board. Too much less, and a buzz occurs. Too much more, and unnecessary pressure is needed to compress the strings. A new nut requires the old one to be removed; more often than not, someone has chosen a somewhat stronger glue than needed, making our job harder! Once done, a new piece of ebony is offered to the site and marked accordingly. The top of the nut should be cut to guide the strings as smoothly as possible down into the peg box with no harsh angles. This can take the form of a soft curve back and down slightly, but can vary from restorer to restorer. We still favor a quick stroke with a soft pencil in each slot to allow easy slippage of the string at this point. With regard to the slots, these should be equidistant from center of string to center of string. We have seen some instruments (particularly cellos) set up with accent placed on equal distance of the gaps between strings, accounting for the different gauges, but it's not what we've found to "feel" right. So much of this business relies on the confidence and ability of your favorite restorer; there is no "correct" way, just the alternatives from the many schools of violin making and restoring over the centuries!

PEG

Such a small word for such an important component! We see many poorly fitted peg sets - especially on student instruments. In a nutshell, it's a tapered pin in a tapered hole, and the two have to be the same taper. We see rounded pins, faceted pins, wrongly cut holes, white wood pegs painted black, .............the list goes on.

A professionally fit peg should be of a hard material, most usually ebony, but sometimes rosewood or boxwood. The French used rosewood for decades as seen on fine older instruments. Top of the line European instruments used intricately carved boxwood, but still ebony is the primary wood for this job. There is seldom an opportunity to "fix" poor pegs by adjustment. Re-establishing tapers with new fittings is the most efficient and warrantable method. 

The scroll is examined for the best approach, often requiring enlarging the holes slightly to make them uniform. Only the absolute minimum amount of wood should be removed to achieve the objective. If the holes are already too big, the job requires peg bushings to allow the smallest profile peg to be used again. Bushings are inserts of wood or shavings into each hole, and require specialized knowledge beyond the scope of these notes. The work is time consuming and expensive, but necessary for the longevity of an instrument.

Once the appropriate sized holes are made, the pegs are cut to fit in a shaper. This looks like a large pencil sharpener with two, three or four holes to shape the peg to exactly the corresponding size. Care is taken to burnish the holes in the scroll, and the pegs are tried in the holes and gently turned until marks appear. The high spots appear shiny, and can be scraped gently until a perfect polished band appears around the peg at the points where the scroll makes contact. A bearing agent is used to ease the smoothness of the peg turning, while still allowing it to stick in position when required. This can be a sensible proprietary compound such as the Hill peg compound, or some awful homemade concoction described in violin lore often incorporating chalk and wax.

The ends of the pegs are softly domed by sanding and polishing so that the tip simply fills the exposed hole, not protruding. Each peg then has a small hole drilled appropriately to accept a string, and the work is complete.

SADDLE

The saddle sits on the edge of the top of a violin, acting as a bearing for the tremendous load from the tailgut of the tailpiece. The small strip of ebony (mostly) evens out the load across the endblock area, and elevates the tailgut enough for the tailpiece and any of it's fittings to clear the top of the instrument. The shape of the saddle is quite elegant, and takes a skilled hand to cut correctly. It should blend with the profiles of the violin, and allow the tailgut to make the direction change smoothly.

Wood moves. It expands; it contracts. Therefore, a tiny gap at each end of the saddle is not only permissible, it's common sense. In the absence of this, the pressure can build around it enough to split the top under the tailpiece - a very costly repair. For the purists, a soft black wax can be rubbed in to make it look smoother; this simply oozes out under pressure when the going gets tough. But why? it's only a tiny gap after all, and it's for a purpose. In our geographic area, it's frankly stunning how much an instrument "moves" or "creeps" as the seasons progress, and the humidity level changes.

CRACKS

          Although the word strikes terror into a player’s heart, it’s most important to know that an instrument moves by contraction and expansion routinely. In the world of cabinet making, allowances are made all the time for such movement, with certain joints able to creep just a little, seasonally.

          Not so with violins. We glue on a back and a top, all the way round with a perfect joint, and expect it to stay intact! Generally, with careful humidifying, the wood will stay about the same size and not give trouble. Difficulties arise when an instrument is exposed to moisture, then quickly dried in another environment, and the wood fibers try to tear. An example would be in winter time, when a violin is carefully stored in a home with both heat and some added moisture from a house or room humidifier. All is well until it’s taken to a school or church hall where scant attention is paid to humidity. The instrument quickly loses its moisture content, and as a result, shrinks. Something has to “give”, as various parts move differently because of their shape and absorption properties. There are two possible outcomes; a glued seam (where the rib meets the top, or where the rib meets the back) will open, or the pressure will force a tiny crack, most often in the soft part of the grain of the top, or table, of the instrument.

          We assemble violins with hide glue, an age-old tradition that allows us to gently break open a joint to go back in when a repair is necessary. The Hill school of thought taught us to use a lighter, thinned down glue for the top of the instrument, and a full strength for the back. The rationale being that it’s much more common to have to remove a top than the back. In practice these days, most repairmen seem to use the same glue throughout. A sensible consistency will allow a seam to break down under extreme circumstances, and “pop” open to relieve the stress. Try to think of the seams as an escape valve for the pressure; we are always pleased to be able to wash and reglue these openings. Usually it's just an overnight job for our customers. These players are usually distraught at the thought of an open seam, but it’s a very small price to pay (literally and figuratively!) when contrasted with a split in the table.

          Sadly, some instruments come in with top cracks, and with the seams of the violin very much tightly glued in place. Most common are the cracks which emanate from either end of the saddle, extending up the table an inch or two. Usually, the ebony saddle has been carefully fit to the edge, surrounded seamlessly by the delicate spruce of the table. Moisture will have a pronounced effect on the spruce, but the stalwart dense ebony barely moves, creating stress points. This matter causes great consternation in the violin maintenance literature as the two sides argue as to what is correct. The purists like the seamless beautiful workmanship with no space  between the ebony and the saddle; the more practical among us routinely allow a tiny gap at each end of the saddle to allow just a bit of expansion room. Living in a state that has a 100 degree variance in temperature annually, with broad humidity ranges too, this has served us well for decades.

          On cheaper student instruments, we try to be imaginative and minimize expense when faced with table cracks. It’s possible to glue some cracks from the outside, and put a few light spruce “cleats” into position through the “f” holes across the crack to reinforce the wood. We have a fascinating array of thin, long reach clamps that can help us. Although we are quite successful with these, the only warrantable restoration is to remove the top of the violin and secure the crack with much more precision.

            The worst possible cracks in a violin are probably those in the vicinity of the soundpost. A "soundpost crack" in the top is quite repairable, but has a deleterious effect on the value of the instrument. It's counterpart, in a violin back, minimizes value even more, and can only be performed on fine older specimens. These repairs are beyond the scope of these comments, but call for replacement wood to be inserted into an oval-shaped area around the post position. It's prohibitively expensive when done correctly, but is the only complete cure for this type of damage.

BOW MAINTENANCE

REHAIRING

At first thought, it doesn't seem as if it should be too difficult to tie a length of hair over 28 inches and spread it out a bit at one end......

In practice, it's quite difficult, and takes a seasoned hand to truly do a professional rehairing job. First, I'll describe some of the things that you should not find when examining a freshly-haired bow. 

• Crossed hairs

• Glued-in plugs (sadly you can't tell this until next time!)

• The ribbon of hair tighter on one side than the other.

These all constitute poor workmanship at best; those of us that truly care about bows consider it to be vandalism on finer sticks. The art of pressing in a snugly fitting plug to hold the hair is a delicate one. Too loose, and it pops out. Too tight, and the head of the bow is endangered.

The bow should be taken apart with caution and appropriate tools used. Special care is taken removing the slide; it's usually a thin slice of abalone or similar shell on an ebony backing. Less common are ebony, silver or even ivory. The parts are cleaned of tarnish or rosin, and put to one side. A hank of unbleached white horsehair is selected, and the end tied off with thread and then dipped in melted rosin. More recent developments include wire winding, or even cyanoacrylate glues, but I guess we're still of the "old school" on this. There are two approaches to rehairing a bow, and devotees of each will try to convince you that their way is the only way! Many years ago, I was taught the Hill method of "tip first", but after a couple of years in the profession, I changed to "frog first" - it just feels right to me.

The hair is sealed in with a small wooden plug that has been cut to snugly fit the mortise, and no glue is necessary if this is done correctly. The slide is put back in place, and the ferrule attached. The hair is combed through and dampened, then combed through again, taking on a ribbon-like appearance. It's tied off at the appropriate length and sealed with a plug at the tip end, just as it was at the frog. When dry, or nearly so, the hair is combed again and a small softwood "spread wedge" is squeezed into the frog to line up the hairs neatly and evenly across the width. 

There are, of course, various tricks, techniques and variations throughout the process that we'll keep to ourselves in the interest of professional pride and selfishness. The point of this summary is to know what a good rehair should look and feel like. Just a few hairs out of line, or crossed, might result in bow slippage when playing. Uneven hair tension can bend a stick, so take a look at your next rehair and determine just how well it was done!

HORSEHAIR

Horsehair is sold by the kilo to rehairers, and is available in multiple qualities. Horsehair is professionally "dressed" by suppliers into these grades, and we pay according to the number of times this dressing, or sorting, occurs. Essentially a triple-drawn hair will be the finest, smoothest hair of all - but we have to admit sometimes a little too smooth....we have used this on occasion, but several professionals have mentioned that it just doesn't have enough "bite" on the string. Thus we use as our standard hair the quality one sort down from this, that our supplier calls "Platinum Live." It's prime unbleached white hair.

For a slightly coarser hair for cellists (and even some violists) we carry a coarser white that actually is a very faint tan color. This is used now as standard on cello bows.

At the other end of the scale is the black horsehair. Bassists have insisted that it has a better bite for them than white - after all, it's a very big string that they're trying to vibrate.

Somewhere recently we've seen a resurgence of "salt and pepper" hair that was popular for a while in the early 1980's. It went out of favor as new and better rosins were introduced. Essentially its a mix of white with black hair for the best of both worlds. In our opinion it has more "string noise." This is best described as the rough sound heard accompanying the actual focused vibrational note on an instrument; the finer hair has least of all; the black hair the most.

All of this explains just one variable; the other of course is rosin. There are so many choices and qualities available today that we encourage you to explore and compare as much as you can. Along with your favorite hair, or combination of hairs, you will achieve the very best sound for your ear and/or instrument. Don't forget that we're learning, too - so don't hesitate to give us feedback if you feel strongly about a particular combination. After all, that's how we've come to the conclusions and opinions that you read here, from experiences in the business of some thirty years including schooling in the art of rehairing.

WINDING & GRIP

The winding and grip refers to the length of protective material used to cover the stick in the area that the thumb and forefinger put pressure. On a student bow, this can be a thick rubber sleeve for the entire length; on nicer sticks, we see wire windings (Nickel alloy, silver or gold), threads interlaced with those metals, or whalebone. The function is partly beautiful artistic embellishment, partly protection of the wood. A leather grip of about one inch length is placed closest to the frog, and the desired winding extends up the stick beyond that. Suffice it to say that these tasks are time consuming when done right, but the end result speaks for itself. Regarding price - don't forget that a leather thumbgrip on it's own can often be a 15-20 minute job when done correctly. In addition to preparing the area, the four edges of the leather rectangle have to be cut accurately, and each feathered down to almost zero thickness before wrapping around the stick to take on an almost seamless appearance. A full sterling silver wire winding with leather grip and tiny leather band at the top can take up to an hours' labor in some circumstances.

TIP PLATE

In order to strengthen the delicate head of a bow, a plate is affixed to the head, in order to reinforce the mortice, and to a small extent toughen the very tip of the stick. The most common material used until the last twenty years or so was ivory; now that the importation is limited, bow repairers have had to choose alternatives. Various animal bones have been used, but their composition is entirely different, requiring the annoying use of sealers throughout the cutting and fitting. In our shop we exclusively use Mastodon tusk. As Ripley would say, "Believe it...or not." This material is around 10,000 years old but in plentiful supply to keep the violin trade happy for centuries! This is as close as we get to ivory without incurring the wrath of animal lovers.

The tip plate is very carefully cut to the shape of the head, and glued in place. A proprietary glue is used; we have never had too much luck with hide glue because of the high oil content of the pernambuco wood. When dry, the mortice shape is cut through the piece ready to accept the new plug. This is a very time-consuming task, as the restorer has to be so careful in not disturbing the original contour and finish of the head; we like to use scrapers or a favorite knife to finish, before a quick french polish to blend the wood and "ivory."

RECAMBERING / STRAIGHTENING

Over a period of time, even a good stick might lose it's elasticity, or warp sideways. The recambering is never too successful with cheap wood, or to a great extent brazilwoods, but good pernambuco sticks may be completely revitalized with care. This technique is not for the faint-hearted, and involves enough heat to almost burn the wood! A hot plate or lamp is used to heat the wood, and the stick is coaxed back to the correct position by various means. Once the desired shape is reached (sometimes after multiple adjustments) the stick is heated as uniformly as possible to the extreme - and allowed to cool. This "tempers" the stick in order to give many years of good service.

Why does this happen at all to bows? Here are some thoughts. Years of forgetting to loosen the hair when a bow is stored will reduce the amount of camber. The camber is the curve that is supposed to be in a bow - the one that's evident in the side view. The definition of the curve softens, and the bow loses it's spring and vitality, often seeming to need over tightening because there's not enough resistance. Careful adjustment can easily revive such a tired stick.

Conversely, any sideways bend is unacceptable; i.e. any deviation from straight when looking directly down on the bow from above. Teachers of years gone by suggested that a bow could have a "good" or a "bad" warp; their version of a "good" warp was one in which the motion of playing would improve the straightening effect! Needless to say, any warpage is "bad" warpage in our humble opinion. Over the years, we've noticed that a poor rehair job can "pull" much more on one side than another; this will inevitably tease the stick to one side. Another way we've seen sticks bend is in poorly constructed cases. The bow clips can often put stress on the bow by pushing it out of alignment. Sadly we discovered this on some cases we sold; we took care of the bows in question and discontinued the cases after informing the makers of the problem. These bows took only a handful of months to warp badly!

The hardest sticks to correct are ones in which a twist has developed; the head no longer lines up with the bottom of the frog. It takes a skilled hand indeed to unravel a stick like this.