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Showing results for tags 'trade instrument'.
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Hey guys! I've been reading maestronet's discussion boards for about a month now, and I'm excited to finally be posting a question I'm a composer/ violist by trade, and I've decided to refurbish some abandoned violins as a summer project. They're trade instruments from the 60's that are in really bad shape, so I'm just using them as practice victims to learn some repair skills. I'm not too concerned about screwing them up, but I do want to do the best job I can on repairing them while getting the maximum amount of education out of the experience. As far as education goes, I've been reading the Strobel books, talking with local luthiers, reading boards like this and other luthier blogs, and watching videos on Youtube (especially Brian Lisus' video of building the Peace Quartet). With all that in mind, I have a question about how to best touch up the varnish on one of my patients. In some places, the varnish has been removed down to the bare wood (maybe gouged the wood a little too). There are also large areas of the finish where it's deeply pock-marked, like someone rubbed it against some gravel or concrete, but the color is still intact. I know that where I can see bare wood I'll have to replace the ground and varnish. But what is the best way to approach these other large areas of abrasion? I've heard that sandarac is good for filling in holes.... but is there a varnishing material that works sort of like polish on a car for getting out scratches in the paint? I've also heard of people "refreshing" varnish, but I have yet to discover exactly what "refreshing" entails (I suspect many different techniques....) Any suggestions/ guidance from the elders and my fellow enthusiasts is much appreciated! Thank you a bunch in advance -Sarah
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Hey guys! I have an old trade instrument that I'm cutting my repair teeth on (don't worry, it was long gone as a functional instrument when it got to me). One of the things I'd like to do is to repair a couple of deep gouges on the exterior o the top plate. In some places, the gouge is about 1 mm deep and covers a surface area about the same size as a quarter. I was thinking that I could sand the area down and patch it, like one would do to make a soundpost patch on the interior of the top plate. But, before I did that, I wanted to ask if there is any existing, accepted method for an exterior gouge repair? Or does anyone have some war stories they'd be willing to share? Thanks in advance, guys! -Sarah