Jeff White

I like the Brazilian bows better for price point than the German ones too, The Dorflers are kinda clubby. Not too many of them are the 57g she is looking for though.

The shop has indicated they have a meter. This is nothing short of a gimic at the point of completion of a bow. Case in point: Have you ever seen a Lucci meter measuring on any bow in a violin shop? It makes a difference on how the maker graduates a stick, and they will alter depending on the stiffness of the wood. After it's made, it means nothing. Ugh.. so frustrated. My gut is to pass, but it has all the specs I'm after (weight, balance point, age, etc...) and I am tiring of looking. I don't want to spend more than a few hundred for what I'm after at this point. I have too many little humans running around to invest more. I'm play modern, mostly fiddle and celtic, and really prefer tip heavy, light weight, longer bows. Refer to above posts. To give you and example. I am by no means a "cheap shop" in my pricing, but, I have pernambuco Dorfler German made bows starting at $250. I have restored older brazilwood (nickel mnt) german bows (similar to your post, but better grade) at $329. This is "fully restored" everything is attended to, not at all like the ebay listing. I'm not doing this to sell you,but to show you that your local violin shop will have a better (and safer) deal for you. I can't believe that seller has the balls to sell that bow in that condition for that much. I have customers come in all the time getting ripped off by people like that.

Pass. This would be a horrible buy on your part. If it was $50, it MIGHT be worth the gamble of restoring it and haveing it be an ok bow. The frog definately needs work (I don't care what the seller is saying). I"m worried that they don't show a good pic of the head (a million ways that can go bad). Anyone selling a bow in this condition doesn't know what they are doing, not to mention that is says it's "restored". There are a lot of sellers like this on ebay. George is right, let go of your numbers. There are many bows that are 61g and the perfect balance point that are crappy sticks. The lucci tells you nothing at this point. You HAVE to try and compare bows, I know it's a pain, but your looking to get robbed by looking on ebay for a bow. This auction is littered with lots of buzz word BS. A violinshop will have restored the bow to perfect condition (they better....) and once you like the bow, you won't have to worry about problems. This deal isn't even close to being acceptable.

Well.....not real scroll graft, but, do we call them fake bushings if done at the factory?????? Real, but............. I would sell it for the high teens, but knowing me, I would redo everything in the setup (board, pegs, bridge, post, strings etc). Boy, someone really blew it with that bid

Yes, a "corrective" fingerboard.

Ted, I would leave it. If it plays ok and based on your questions, I"m not sure you would end up with a better result. The feedback you have gotten here is due to the fact that whomever did this, they just did't have good skills, doesn't mean that it didn't work in the end.

I don't see anything wrong with ebony.

Problem with a wedge, is that your fingerboard will be too narrow afterwards. If your going to have a wedge done, they will have to replace the fingerboard if you want it right. That's a whole lot more than the wedge(properly done....)

Absolutley. Look at Dean's post and he states he doesn't see this on violins in shops. For good reason. I have one violin in 80 here that has a (very neat) wedge. I have removed and reset at least 5 of these for that reason alone. Here is the most recent.

That would actually be a cruel trick.........I've never seen a through neck that didn't have a pretty extended block on the back.....crack! I guess it's possible (short block and some other things) but certainly not probable

That's what works for me too. I'd be carefull about using a worn edge as a guide..........

Rue, I don't think it's really neglect that I see. Soundpost crack, accident. Saddle cracks that wide and placement......lack of seasoned wood. Looks like possible a great deal, IF he didn't thin the top too much Whaaat? are you a gluttin(sp?) for punishment????? I hate doing cello casts.............

2mm is way too common to sweat over, not to mention (as others have stated) that your' F's are not the best way to determine this. Correct overhang on the BB is way more important.

Matt, I will typically clean any area around the crack that the glue might allow the dirt to migrate into the crack, in the process of glueing, obviously being careful to push my strokes away from the crack. I then clean the whole top after knowing I won't be pushing glue into any open cracks.

No, where the bridge pulls off, most commonly it's because the bridge plate (underneath) gave way and was never attended to. Older Martin's have some pretty light bridge plates (lower tension set), especially in very older ones (NY Martins), Sometimes, the bridge problem is adverse conditions, but usually there is little deformation in that case, unless the heat loosened the bridge plate too. Edit: I see I didn't really answer the last part of your question. The shim has nothing to do with the deformation directly, other than part of the neck reset, which is done partly because of the deformation of the top. Bear in mind, the shim that was discussed (on guitars) is for the area where the board is over the body. As you pull the neck set back on a reset (to compensate for the "normal (not drastic))body distortion, you will have 3 options for dealing with the inevitable "peak" at the 14th (or 12th) body fret. Leave the peak there, shim the area over the body to match the new angle of the neck/board or some will take down the board in this area thereby lowering your neck angle again and making the board thin there. Which of the three will depend on board thickness, how much reset there is, and if your player will be playing above the body fret area.