cause of scratches

[keyboardclass]

What would cause such scratches on an otherwise nice JTL?

[Mille regardz]

Woodworm?

[nathan slobodkin]

Looks like a child was angry about having to practice  on a nice summer day.

[Rue]

I agree...likely due to carelessness.

[Zeissica]

Someone tried to scrape off the built-up rosin?

[keyboardclass]

That could be it.  Thanks.  Though I don't think you get a buildup between the bridge and tailpiece.

[vonB]

If the burn mark to the left of the tailpiece is from the cigar the player smoked, the scratches might be from the player lighting the matches on the only area of the top with enough friction, due to the rosin buildup. The violin was probably played in a smoky saloon in the wild west and recieved stains of whiskey, chewing tobacco, knife fights and gunpowder.

[Wood Butcher]

I'd agree with Nathan's hypothesis, whatever was going on behind the bridge, it's clearly intentional too.
 

[Violadamore]

8 hours ago, nathan slobodkin said:

Looks like a child was angry about having to practice  on a nice summer day.

 

7 hours ago, Rue said:

I agree...likely due to carelessness.

 

5 hours ago, Wood Butcher said:

I'd agree with Nathan's hypothesis, whatever was going on behind the bridge, it's clearly intentional too.
 

IMHO, we're seeing the results of more than one incident.  The gouges at the fingerboard end I'm not sure about.  The bass side lower bout scar looks like it might have been a cigarette burn.  The marks under the bridge, however, look to me like a bored young lady with a fancy hair comb, some bobby pins with the plastic ends missing, and possibly a nail file and a mechanical pencil, found a way to amuse herself. 

[Michael_Molnar]

7 hours ago, Zeissica said:

Someone tried to scrape off the built-up rosin?

Yes. A child most likely.

[Mat Roop]

1 hour ago, Michael_Molnar said:

Yes. A child most likely.

yes, I agree.... a decades old child.

[Spongebob]

Hi, some people have already met my '$5' model.
And where does such destruction come from?
Sure, arched it's from micro fine tuning, but this 'under the bow'?
Second thing, I will renew them (with my head on my neck) ...
Do you, such places lightly clean, color and protect them, or (sorry), take off the layer a little to reduce sharp dents, and only then the color and protection?

[arglebargle]

17 hours ago, vonB said:

... the scratches might be from the player lighting the matches on the only area of the top with enough friction, due to the rosin buildup. 

I like that

[Mat Roop]

The only thing you ever remove is DIRT!

[GeorgeH]

The marks on the OP‘s violin look like they were burned in with a hot soldering iron. 

[Samuel Detached]

I go with the cigar and matches story.

[FiddleDoug]

On 7/30/2022 at 5:54 AM, Renegade said:

Hi, some people have already met my '$5' model.
And where does such destruction come from?
Sure, arched it's from micro fine tuning, but this 'under the bow'?
Second thing, I will renew them (with my head on my neck) ...
Do you, such places lightly clean, color and protect them, or (sorry), take off the layer a little to reduce sharp dents, and only then the color and protection?

The scratches below the F holes on yours are from transporting with the bridge down, and having the tuners on the tailpiece swing back and forth, digging into the wood. Retouching damage like that is quite complex, but on a $5 fiddle, anything might be an improvement.

[Violadamore]

8 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

The marks on the OP‘s violin look like they were burned in with a hot soldering iron. 

Woodburning kits, for scorching patterns into wood or leather (also called pyrography, and still being made), used to be popular children's toys.  That thought had also crossed my mind. 

[GeorgeH]

2 hours ago, Violadamore said:

Woodburning kits, for scorching patterns into wood or leather (also called pyrography, and still being made), used to be popular children's toys.  That thought had also crossed my mind. 

Yep. They look like deep charred burn marks, not scratches painted black nor embedded with blackened rosin. Also some of the spots are perfectly round as if the hot tip was pressed straight into the wood.

Why anybody would do such a thing is the mystery. 

[David Burgess]

2 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Yep. They look like deep charred burn marks, not scratches painted black nor embedded with blackened rosin. Also some of the spots are perfectly round as if the hot tip was pressed straight into the wood.

Why anybody would do such a thing is the mystery. 

First attempts at "antiquing"are not always wildly successful.

[Wood Butcher]

Should have used a screwdriver.

[Violadamore]

3 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Yep. They look like deep charred burn marks, not scratches painted black nor embedded with blackened rosin. Also some of the spots are perfectly round as if the hot tip was pressed straight into the wood.

Why anybody would do such a thing is the mystery. 

Like I said in a previous post, there's more than one event preserved here.  The complicated design at the bottom shows more evidence of scratching than burning. The long straight marks have a comb-like spacing, and square edges (ergo the bobby pins or nail file).  The round depressions have central peaks suggesting the hole in the barrel of a mechanical pencil, a spacing consistent with decorative piercings through a Spanish-styled (or otherwise fancy) hair comb, and don't look burned. 

[Rue]

Nothing looks burned to me. It all just looks like someone scratched away at it with a pen/pencil ...or the back of a tuning fork...

BTW...do violin tuning forks all have a round end...or are some with a square end? I can't recall. I mostly used a pitch pipe way back when...before the advent of the electronic tuner...

..I  also tuned with a piano...but those scratches are NOT from a piano. 

[Mark Norfleet]

The how is interesting, and the why might be too.

Years ago a cello came into the shop where I was working with a bunch of odd marks on its back.  Apparently the owner had become frustrated with his instrument, removed the endpin and stabbed the cello with it repeatedly.

[GoPractice]

14 hours ago, Rue said:

 ( ... )

BTW...do violin tuning forks all have a round end...or are some with a square end? I can't recall. I mostly used a pitch pipe way back when...before the advent of the electronic tuner...

..I  also tuned with a piano...but those scratches are NOT from a piano. 

When considered a precision instrument, some very pricey tuning forks arrive at a point.

The Yamaha logo has three forks with points. Not to equate, that Yamaha = precision.

I can not locate them but there are a few forks here that were part of a piano tuners kit that had very precise ends.

There are tuning forks with both concave and convex ends. There must be a need for a low amplitude ( or high, depending on application ) frequency generator.