Brad Dorsey Report post Posted October 27, 2020 A customer brought this cello in a few days ago for seam regluing. As you can see, the longitudinal top arch is deformed -- sunken at the bridge and bulged up under the tailpiece and the fingerboard. The bass bar is not loose. The top thickness seem reasonable -- 4 to 5 millimeters in most places. It is a modern Chinese cello, possibly regraduated and varnished in the United States. I took the picture with the strings tensioned, but the arch was about the same with them loose. What would cause this? String tension, of course, but most cellos don't do this. So why did this one? Is major surgery -- corrected casts, sand bags, new bass bar, etc. -- the only way to fix it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Darnton Report post Posted October 27, 2020 In this case I'd just leave it. But you are right--it would be a big job, as you are describing. A restorer friend of mine observed once that many of the really great cellos he'd played looked like this so if he ever made a cello he was going to start there. I don't think he was totally joking, so. . . . . . how does it sound???? I am going to suspect that the cause might have been terrible, floppy wood. I have seen that in Chinese instruments. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
violinsRus Report post Posted October 27, 2020 I'm with Michael on this. At least the neck angle has not dropped badly, which is something that I would expect to see with bulging in the belly like this. So assuming it has a good fitting post, I would leave it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baroquecello Report post Posted October 27, 2020 Is it not possible that it was made like this deliberately, as part of copieing a deformed original? With such a degree of deformation, I'd expect the projection to have dropped a lot, but it seems normal Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rue Report post Posted October 27, 2020 I have no idea...but was this an expensive cello? Was green wood used? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deans Report post Posted October 27, 2020 Isn't this the classic "saddle"? I have a viola d'amore with a good saddle, not going to mess with it, sounds fine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evan Smith Report post Posted October 27, 2020 Have you measured the bout widths with a caliper. If this is after distortion,, the top will be 2-3 mm wider in the c-bouts than the back. The upper and lower bouts of the top could be a touch narrower than the back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
uncle duke Report post Posted October 30, 2020 you've probably already done this but record the measurements for future use to compare for any changes later down the road. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
