Regraduating a violin

[Fiddler45]

5 minutes ago, jezzupe said:

8-12 hours.maybe as little as 4, lots of "depending on this that or the other"  I prefer to not do such things, I don't think fiddles should be opened up unless they need to be for crack repair or such.

The only times I've ever heard regrad help is on my own instruments that I was intentionally leaving stupidly thick in areas in order to do testing.

I mean if you can look to the ff's and see "stupid thick" as an indication that areas may be thicker than usual, well then maybe, but if the ff's area looks "average" you can probably assume the rest has been thicknessed "properly" and that this then leans in to what Don was saying, there is no turning bad wood choices around

Thanks for the response. I was asking the cost because someone said it might cost more than the instrument is worth. I was thinking, well how much are people charging??

I have regraduated quite a few that were "stupid thick" (5mm+) that sounded like tin cans before, and turned out quite pleasing, while not being world-beaters, after. 

[jezzupe]

5 minutes ago, Fiddler45 said:

Thanks for the response. I was asking the cost because someone said it might cost more than the instrument is worth. I was thinking, well how much are people charging??

I have regraduated quite a few that were "stupid thick" (5mm+) that sounded like tin cans before, and turned out quite pleasing, while not being world-beaters, after. 

where do you live? it has everything to do with everything, local economy dictates not only housing cost but also average salary/hourly rates of all types of labor, someone in SF is not charging what someone in Michigan is who is not charging what someone in Monaco is, for example

I would say 5mm is too thick imo in most cases

[Barry J. Griffiths]

From the symptoms you describe and the smaller size of the violin I would take a look at the string distance between the bridge and tailpiece. Sometimes a shorter tailpiece can get the after-length corrected. No major surgery and, if you don’t like the results the whole thing can be easily reversed.

[Fiddler45]

2 hours ago, jezzupe said:

where do you live? it has everything to do with everything, local economy dictates not only housing cost but also average salary/hourly rates of all types of labor, someone in SF is not charging what someone in Michigan is who is not charging what someone in Monaco is, for example

I would say 5mm is too thick imo in most cases

Yeah I mean 5mm everywhere, not just down the center...

Well I'm not sure exactly what is normal in any given area, that's why I was trying to get an idea.

[duane88]

I did a post patch on a Gagliano that was 4.8 in the center of the top, not a spot under 3.5 on the top.

It's still that thick, and it still sounds gloirous.

[Peter K-G]

20 hours ago, Marty Kasprzyk said:

 I agree.  I wouldn't bother spending time regraduating it unless it was a Strad or DG.

Exactly!

If I just could  have Il Cannone for a couple of days in my shop, I would fix it to its original state, It only needs some minor tuning and it would be as Paganini liked it again.

[David Hart]

7 hours ago, Don Noon said:

There are only those who think they know, and believe there is such a thing as a "perfect" instrument.  

Most of us commoners take our best guess, hope it turns out decently, and diddle with it if the instrument (or the client) tells us to.

Perfection depends on the application of the instrument and the person playing it. A perfect teachers' aid is not a perfect concert performer, and I would say if you handed most of the world's teachers something up there like the Betts Strad and didn't tell them what it was they wouldn't like it. 

Some of the better teachers I've known swear by their German trade fiddle with full length table cracks and dodgy repairs because it simply has a sound that no other instrument matches, in their mind. 

I hope as time goes on I can make a myriad of different form types to the best of my ability, that they may provide the best the form has to offer. To date I've only made Strad copies on two forms, so I've got a long way to go!