Barry J. Griffiths

What's the "Ball Park" value of the instrument?

I’ve seen all of the blocks pictured above. Mine look like something in between #1 and #2. I also see quite a few with a slot filed into the block right in the middle of both blocks which makes block removal very safe and easy. Here is a frog block with the most unusual angled cut to the bottom face. The tip block was the same.

Sold

I couldn't disagree more. In the case of Goldbrokat cheaper does not mean lower quality. Many of my clients prefer Goldbrokat to most other 'better' strings

I tried to change my MN email account. MN sends an email to the new account to verify the change. The email refuses to open despite repeated attempts. I can't even access the message boards. I emailed Jeffrey Holmes and suggested looking for the response in my spam folder. There it was; I opened it and everything is back to normal. For what it's worth I use a MacBook Pro with a Safari browser. Barry

That’s what it looks like to me. The crack or seam extends north of the F hole.

Can you post a photo of the whole top?

It looks like the crack may be running next to the bass bar which would make the repair much more involved.

You might want to try a 28 gauge E. Lenzner makes 28s

On a similar. noite, I once had a fractional Kay cello from a public school which had no, repeat, no bass bar. The top had never been off so someone in the Kay factory just forgot to put one in. I ended up installing a second, bass side soundpost. It seemed to help the sound a little bit but more importantly it kept the top from sinking in.

I did this to a 1/4 size violin that our daughter played and the sweet spot for the post was on the 'wrong' side of the bridge. Same as Dave Slight, the position was the same relationship to the bridge, just on the other side.

Unless the top grain runs at converging angles towards the center seam it's impossible for the crack to run parallel to the bar.

From what I see, it looks like the bass bar has way too much of an angle to it. It should be approximately 12mm off the center line at the widest point of the upper bout (to the inside of the bar) and 15mm in the lower bout. Soaking out the bass bar sounds about impossible, and even if you got it out you would have an awful time glueing it back (to what I see as the wrong position).

It's been my experience that most of the cheaper pegs have grain which may or may not remain parallel throughout the peg, causing tear-out of the wood while you are shaping the peg. Better quality pegs have straighter grain and are MUCH easier to work with and the final result is a better fitting, longer lasting peg with less chance of warping.

He's now in Las Vegas