Repair Shop Projects

Upright Bass Rebuild

This bass is a German, solid carved instrument, approximately 40-50 years old.

We received the bass with the scroll broken off and lost.  We removed the finger board to gain access to the dovetail joint. We then removed the neck and replaced it with a neck "in the white."  The scroll was pre-carved, but the rest of the neck was a large, rough hewn, 3x3 L-shape that had to be hand-carved into the correct shape.  The neck and heel were shaped into compatible dimensions and fit to the dovetail joint.  New fingerboard, nut and machines were installed after varnish work.  We finished the instrument by fitting a bridge, and installing the end pin, tail piece and strings.  The instrument has been played continuously since the repair.

Please be sure to use the arrows on the side of the thumbnails to scroll through all of the pictures.

Bass as it was given for repair

Bass body with old and new parts; neck was removed

New neck was essetially an L-shaped 3x3; Scroll was precarved; fingerboard surface was planed; back side of neck and heel had to be hand-carved to fit

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Bass as it was given for repair

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Cello Repair

This cello is a German, solid carved instrument, approximately 40-50 years old.

The instrument came to us with the top removed from the body and broken into several pieces.  We reassembled the top, re-glued it to the instrument and repaired the varnish.  We then set up the cello with a new bridge, strings, tailpiece and endpin.  The instrument has been played continuously since the repair.

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Violin Finish Repair

This violin came to The String Connection with the top, middle back and one rib completely stripped. Unfortunately, we don't have any "before" pictures, however, please enjoy the "after" pictures, which show the instrument completely repaired and restored.

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Viola Repair

 

This instrument (a German made, 16" viola, approximately 20 years old) came to The String Connection with a long crack in the top and a deep scrape on the back.  The top had to be removed to facilitate the crack repair.

The viola as it came into the shop.

The top of this viola was stressed due to a lack of humidity, causing the split.

The instrument also had a gouge on the back.

We removed the top of the instrument to facilitate the crack repair.

The varnish on the back of the instrument was filled and retouched to repair the gouge.

We repaired the varnish on the top to level and seal the crack.

After the repair was completed, the crack virtually disappeared.

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The viola as it came into the shop.