Mark Norfleet

Agreed. I don't know that I've ever seen a well fitting violin or viola neck joint fail. And necks likely get removed and re-set to correct for distortion well before the joints fail. One anecdote..., The first violin I ever finished (I cannot be sure of how well the neck was fit at this point..) spent 30 years in an unheated horse barn in SE Michigan and was likely exposed to widely varying temperatures from -20 to 100F along with wide humidity cycles. I saw it after this period and it had some open seams, but the neck joint was fine and held fine for the 6 or so years I saw the instrument after it's stay in the barn. I think the most likely area for failure is tension induced deformation of cello necks which results in the end grain glueing surface of the relatively long heel of those necks to become concave and separate from the block in some cases which seem to have been fit well to begin with.

I think a significant contributing factor to the Sacconi type threaded nylon tail adjusters failing is that the surface on which the nuts seat under the tailpiece is often not square to the holes the “gut” passes through. Also, the cutout for the nuts isn’t often deep or long enough to permit the nuts to be in line with the “gut”. Either of these situations will increase the load on one side of the threads.

I've been wondering the same thing! I've worked closely with two people who have perfect pitch and are accomplished players for more than a few decades and have never had the impression they were any better at remembering sound characteristics than I am with my far less than perfect ability to discern pitch.

I’m very curious…, how does having “perfect pitch” help with this experimentation?

I’ll respectfully suggest that you try to not obsess over how it may or may not sound until you’ve had a chance to play it. There are SO many variables and SO many different ways which players perceive sound and relative change after work such as this, not to mention the adjustment capabilities of the person who has done the work for you. Of all the neck resetting and fingerboard replacements I’ve done over the years I only know of one player who might not have been pleased with the results, but I didn’t hear that from them directly. Let us know how it works out!

And drilling/reaming peg holes on a drill press before carving the scroll.

That collar is probably a depth stop and won’t be concentric in more than one spot, if that.

Understood. Enjoy your fiddle grinding!

Yes, I’ve had more than a few players come to pick up their instruments and say, “I thought you were going to put a protective layer on the rib?”, before they examined their instruments closely…

Some of us might be interested in some clarification.

I don’t blame you, but hope you were able to pull yourself away after too much time had passed….

Not at all. So much depends on how the surface of the wood was treated and how the varnish was finished after application. And some get bumpier as they age…

He was a very good maker of his time. How well a particular instrument sounds and plays depends a lot on how well it has been maintained and adjusted.

Older ones were just gold on the bottom.

I believe you are correct about the ones with the gold on the knot end. The upper end colors make sense too, allowing for some color inaccuracy as Pirastro C’s are typically purple at the peg end. I’m pretty sure the pink ones are not Pirastro, but don’t know what they are.