Spruce defect. Anything to do ?

[Beni]

Carving the top of the violin I unfortunately noticed a wood defect. The core of it is a shallow hole, 4mm in length, about 0.5mm deep. I was hopping it`ll disappear, but I finished the graduation and it did`nt (see attachment).

Do you have any idea how to fill it, whiten it or anything else ? Is the best idea just to leave it alone ?

Thanks

[T_Rocca]

a knot you mean.

it doesnt matter too much

fill the hole as if you are fixing a worm hole

[fiddlecollector]

Didnt seem to bother Stradivari!

[Steve R.]

That looks like he (or a later repairer) inserted a piece of wood to fill where the branch/twig had been the grain is running in the wrong direction for a knot.

One of my violins has a knot scar also, I don't have a pic availble though, sorry.

[fiddlecollector]

I couldnt really say if thats the original way Stradivari dealt with it(Maybe Nertz could let us know as hes probably examined this instrument closely).But it shows he wasnt adverse to using faulty wood even on something as noticable as a violin top.But these knots if left in do have an habit of working loose after a few years as the shrink/expand at a different rate to the rest.

[GlennYorkPA]

These irregularities provide interest and character to a nice piece of wood.

I believe that spruce with bear claw scratchings (or whatever they are called) is more expensive than plain and I like to see these 'defects' - within reason, of course.

[tinplate]

I'm curious to understand what you mean by bear claw marks. Do you mean the rays that are perpendicular to the grain (especially near the center where the two halves of the top are joined)?

[miles]

It looks really cool to me. But I recall Jesse mentioned that in violin circle, people don't like "different" too much. Will something like this "eye" depreciate the value of this violin or make it less sought-after?

[GlennYorkPA]

No. They are irregularities in the grain of the spruce that make it look as though a bear used the tree as a scratching post.

I don't think this is the real reason they are there but, as I mentioned, it is difficult to find tonewood with these marks and when you do, you will have to pay a premium for it.

[Singingmaple]

It actually isn't all that expensive. You can get it for about 40 euro a top.

[GlennYorkPA]

and for the unmarked version?

[Singingmaple]

Here look for yourself. "Haselfichte" is bearclaw. Their unmarked master is actually more than the haselfichte.

http://www.liuteria-antica.com/tonewood/spruce.html

[Jacob]

Most would probably remove the knot and graft a piece of spruce onto the spot.

[fiddlecollector]

Doubt very much in this case but with lesser sought after makers it might, the violin is the Baron Oppenheim 1716.

[Michael_Molnar]

IMHO: Leave it alone. It's not worth touching. Time to move on.