I’m quite proud of the restoration upon which I have just put the finishing touches. This one is between a 3/4 and 7/8 size violin, quite rare in the violin world. While a 7/8 measures 345 mm in the body and a 3/4 is 335 mm, this one comes in at 341 mm.
Here’s what I started with:
Step one was to re-graduate the top and bottom plates. The original bassbar was integral, so I planed it off and added a proper bassbar. Then, structural repairs had to be made:
Cosmetics are very important:
Stripping and refinishing the top plate was, unfortunately, necessary:
Just for the heck of it, I decided to bling it up a little:
Looks good. Fitted with Thomastik Alphayue strings, it sounds even better! This one may be of interest to that petite player. Look for it in the Violins for Sale section of this blog!
The Prairie Fiddler 