David Burgess

I don't know of one, but it's something I've measured. The top is somewhat fixed at the perimeter, so when it increases in size due to higher humidity, the arching becomes higher because there's no place else for the extra wood to go, raising the string height relative to the fingerboard. A separate factor is that high humidity makes the neck less resistant to bending, and more susceptible to permanent deformation.

Cellopera, without pictures, there is no way we can have the slightest idea of how much of a wreck it is, or isn't. And while musicians may work with sound, the OP was asking specifically about future need for repairs, not sound.

The new McDonalds fries are healthy. The reason the old fries weren't is that they were vibrating at too low a frequency.

Placing a long-handled roughing gouge against the shoulder or chest, and pushing with that instead of the hands, can reduce most of the stress on the hands. That's the way I've been doing it for decades, even though my hands are still OK. But maybe that's one of the reasons why my hands are still OK.

Only you can decide how much grief you are willing to put up with in order to keep this cello up and running. Not all previously repaired cracks can be redone in a way which will make them as reliable as a repair which was done right the first time.

Ordinary hot hide glue doesn't hold up well to shock or impact, so the use of a hammer (whether manual, or by placing a carving tool in a powered impact tool) can open centerjoints which would otherwise be reliable. This characteristic of the glue is why some people use judiciously applied impacts when separating the joint between a top and the ribs.

Nicely done. Thanks.

Tisk tisk! Have you zoomed in on the fingerboard surface, the E peg, and the upper nut contour in the second photo?

Translated to Americanese, Jacobs post reads (if I may), "Watch this, hold my beer."

Wasn't it Mae West who said, "Is that a violin in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"

A violin concealed in ones underpants might slip through the security check. Only once have I been thoroughly groped in an airport, and that was in Sydney, Australia. I developed a bit of a crush on the guy who groped me, but alas, nothing further came of it.

Do you remember the "underpants bomber"? No violins or violin cases were involved. The bottom line is that no underpants should be allowed on airplanes.

Unless you make fiddles for a living.

If one uses uses "quaking" wood in the construction of an instrument, might that reduce the vibrato burden for the player?

Has there ever been a shortage of voodoo ideas and imaginary effects in the fiddlemaking realm?