duane88

kool aid, the kind that you have to add sugar to.

The Craske viola looks like a good deal. Perhaps I should bring my books along on my next visit and consign them...

what are you looking for?

You should probably ask the Roths those questions:http://roth-violins.de/index_eng.htm My guess is that not much violin making was going on during the war years, and I am always skeptical of Roth violins dated during the WW2 years. I have seen a small number of instruments that have a Roth label from the war years, a Roth brand on the button, seem to be Roth models from before the war, but don't have the varnish of the type that you see from before the war. edit: I see that Jacob beat me to it.

I've seen Lewis stamped bow that were Bazins and I've seen Lewis stamped bows that were junk. It could be anything because they seem to have gotten them from everywhere!

Yes, I have removed a few sets of them. They are not glued in(Or shouldn't be!) I can find, later today, a couple of ones for violin that are out of the instrument. The ends are aluminum and have fine grooves, for texture(?) turned in them. You should be able to remove the strings and use a small hammer to tap the distal end of the peg. I used a short piece of soundpost stock to the end of the peg to avoid marring the peg box surface. I've not seen glue, and both of the surfaces that comtact the inside of the holes were smooth except for the fine grooves. You might also try drying the instrument out a bit. The pegs won't shrink but the holes will open up a bit.

It seems to me, as a violin maker, that we start out with the intention of basic symmetry. The process, our skills, our eyes and our experience, and perhaps our personal taste(or lack of!) all lead us somewhere. If the maker, in history, has a good name and the violins sell for high prices, the asymmetry seems to be considered artistic. If the makes is a lesser light, the asymmetry is now termed as "crooked" and chocked up to being a sloppy workman. Symmetry is easier with the outside mold, more difficult with the internal mold, but possible. But when it comes to the arstistic side of asymmetry, where is the line on which one side is defined as artistic and the other side sloppy. That line seems to be a moving target.

Julian, I think that you have modified "1704". Not that that is bad... Sacconi's recipe calls for: 45gm seedlac, 9cc Spike Oil, 7.5 gm elemi, 180cc ETOH. Any number of variations on the theme will work. Test on scrap, see if it dries, see if you can brush it without the oil of spike, some people also substitute Castor Oil for the elemi as the plasticizer.

I agree.

Kolisch did have his strad converted to left-handed, but I would bet that left-handed people like myself were forced to play right handed.

There was a VSA lecture in the early 90's by Andrew Dipper in which he had a picture of a "Bonci" pochette with the name written in ink on the inside and I seem to recall a very similar bass bar in his photograph. I suggest that you consider sending him a query and see if he might share his photographs for the sake of comparison, although I also seem to recall a date of more like 1600 in his.

I've seen a couple of Morizots that were that crooked.

Tempel sells some violin fittings that are Plum. They look and work much like boxwood and are quite beautiful.

eh, put a 41mm bridge on it and move the post in more. If it is worth more than say, 5k, or you need practice on post patches, I'd put in a patch. edit: Since it is a cello, and you really don't want the bridge feet to be wider than the upper eyes, I'd still go for a narrower bridge and no patch if the bar allows it. I do see cracks like this as a result of the post being pulled well outside of the bridge foot, but I still don't consider it to be a post crack.

A bunch of skilled workmen assembling pieces and parts. There was a family workshop and there were sons working, but 3 or 4 men didn't make the number of instruments that I have seen with that brandstamp. What it means to me is that no one person made this violin from start to finish. A division of labor, however that worked, and someone(s) else varnishing the instruments.