Barry J. Griffiths

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

I'd be interested to know the approximate number of hours you think would be required to get this sad soul up and running again. And if you ever do take on this monumental task, count the hours you actually spend on it.

Do you have any more photos you can share? Especially of the label/soundpost area.

In the words of Kenny Rogers: "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" Fold 'em !!!

This should get rid of that nasty wolf tone once and for all: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-Violin-Viola-Wolf-Elminator-String-tools-Sound-Adjuster-Violin-Accessories/192841600368?hash=item2ce6414d70:g:5yUAAOSwkB5b8Sxi

Yes. Carbon fiber bows do not generally play better than pernambuco, but they play better than pernambuco bows which have been confiscated.

Most ,if not all, Schroetter instruments from that era came from the Roderick Paesold shop in Germany. Some of the upper end instruments with the Schroetter label were from the Klier shop in Germany. They were sold as Schroetter instruments or sometimes Mathias Thoma instruments. They all came out of the same box.

This is embarrassing but....... Years ago I worked in a shop where a bow with a tortoise shell frog came in for a rehair. The slide was totally stuck. We tried all of the usual methods of getting the slide out. Nothing worked. We were quite sure that the slide had become stuck due to super/Krazy/CA glue so we tried soaking the frog in a vessel filled with acetone. It took quite a while but eventually the slide came free. Unfortunately the frog was imitation tortoise shell and dissolved. Mush! We replaced the frog with a suitable ebony match.

Selling accessories is virtually nonexistent now that online buying has gained a huge market share. Then to give you a nice extra kick in the teeth, customers come into the shop with strings purchased online and ask if you would mind putting them on the instrument.

What did you do with the graduations, bass bar etc.?

On a separated but similar thought; if I'm regraduating a good looking but bad sounding fractional violin I do it by using simple math. A typical 3/4 violin has a back length of 335mm while a 4/4 is about 356mm. Simply divide 335 by 356 and apply the resulting 94% to plate and rib thickness, bass bar dimensions, bridge dimensions etc. Three mm becomes 2.8mm, 2.6mm becomes 2.44 and so on.

Some of the Chinese wholesale companies price fractional violins at lower prices than full size, on a sliding scale. It almost seems as if they're selling them by the pound. In my shop I tend to price the overbuilt commercial German and Czech. violins lower than their equivalent 4/4 cousins. If I'm selling a very good sounding smaller violin I price them just about the same as a 4/4, perhaps 10% less.