I have been repairing instruments for our small island school orchestra program. Most of this consists of set ups, new bridges, tailpieces, peg fitting/dopeing etc.. The"simple" stuff. The instruments are owned by the school and are a mixture of old and more current student grade instruments, mostly donated as there is a very small budget.
The director brought me a 1/2 size Mittenwald [Scheroffer] that was donated. It should be noted that the program is for 5th graders and up so the need for a 1/2 size is limited.
The fingerboard [good quality ebony] is broken, in a scarf like clean break, from around the first position [index f] to about halfway up the neck where it has cleanly lifted at the glue joint for the balance of the neck. Original glue was obviously Hide. The lower portion is still firmly glued to the neck, and the break is about 60mm in length so a fairly shallow "scarf" [maybe 35% to 40%]. Clean without any real gaps or missing splinters.
My inclination is to glue and clamp it back together and "smooth" any slight irregularities, before going the route of a new fingerboard. The instrument is unlikely to be played much in the program [student age] but if it were would be probably mostly confined to beginner first position.
Question for the group?: any one had much luck with this type of repair vs replacement?
It looks to be a pretty nice little fiddle.
FWIW: I do this on a volunteer basis for the school at no cost to them. I'm retired and have plenty of time on my hands [I Hope!]