broken pegbox

[Blank face]

If anything, I would add a long thin stainless steel screw, as I did several times at broken cello heels, cause it turned out to be a better solution than wooden pins. But I can't see that it would be an inforcement here, rather just the opposite (destroying substance and glueing surface). Very often the less is the better.

[Violadamore]

8 hours ago, HoGo said:

I don't think that one is completely wrong. Dry hide glue joints will survive quite a heat. Almost to burning temperatures of wood. The glue becomes brittle and wood mevement under such heat may loosen joints but not because the glue melts or decomposes..............

Whatever pleases you.  Why don't you come to Florida for the summer?  Be sure and bring your violin.  You can rent a car, and leave your fiddle in the trunk ("boot" to those who speak British English).  I'll be glad to reassemble the violin for only $1000.  For another $1000, I'll restore the varnish, too.    

[jacobsaunders]

To return to the original question

You don’t really show the violin, but if it is the usual cheap ¾ fiddle, I would rummage through my junk box and look for a replacement scroll, or text my supplier to send me one. If it is a good fiddle I would make a neck graft. Bodging it together seems a waste of time.

[jacobsaunders]

To return to the original question

You don’t really show the violin, but if it is the usual cheap ¾ fiddle, I would rummage through my junk box and look for a replacement scroll, or text my supplier to send me one. If it is a good fiddle I would make a neck graft. Bodging it together seems a waste of time.

[Violadamore]

13 minutes ago, jacobsaunders said:

To return to the original question

You don’t really show the violin, but if it is the usual cheap ¾ fiddle, I would rummage through my junk box and look for a replacement scroll, or text my supplier to send me one. If it is a good fiddle I would make a neck graft. Bodging it together seems a waste of time.

Yup.  

[HoGo]

4 hours ago, Violadamore said:

Whatever pleases you.  Why don't you come to Florida for the summer?  Be sure and bring your violin.  You can rent a car, and leave your fiddle in the trunk ("boot" to those who speak British English).  I'll be glad to reassemble the violin for only $1000.  For another $1000, I'll restore the varnish, too.    

Florida is quite humid and that makes a big difference. Heat plus changes in RH makes wood twist like potatochip and even one piece plate woud crack into pieces. No glue can withstand that.

Here is test that Frank Ford did. 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/Materials/GlueTest/gluetest.html

Unless the joint was extremely loaded the hide glued joint survived the heat. Matches my own experiments. (don't ask me how burning hide glue stinks!)

Asiatic composite bows made of wood, sinew and horn all held together with hide glue are traditionally heated to allow correcting twist or adjusting symmetry of limbs. If the glue joints degraded or failed no one would do that.

[Violadamore]

1 hour ago, HoGo said:

Florida is quite humid and that makes a big difference. Heat plus changes in RH makes wood twist like potatochip and even one piece plate woud crack into pieces. No glue can withstand that.

Here is test that Frank Ford did. 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/Materials/GlueTest/gluetest.html

Unless the joint was extremely loaded the hide glued joint survived the heat. Matches my own experiments. (don't ask me how burning hide glue stinks!)

Asiatic composite bows made of wood, sinew and horn all held together with hide glue are traditionally heated to allow correcting twist or adjusting symmetry of limbs. If the glue joints degraded or failed no one would do that.

Thanks much for posting that interesting link!   Note that Mongolian horsemen also invented a leather bowcase to fend off rain.    

[Blank face]

4 hours ago, jacobsaunders said:

To return to the original question

You don’t really show the violin, but if it is the usual cheap ¾ fiddle, I would rummage through my junk box and look for a replacement scroll, or text my supplier to send me one. If it is a good fiddle I would make a neck graft. Bodging it together seems a waste of time.

But be sure to grab two or three necks as replacements for the next times the kids will smash down the violin.

[dabenza]

Hi guys, repair process finished. The violin holds the tension and looks fine to me. I will post photos of the result. In any case, if the pegbox unglues and hits this kid on the face, it will be well deserved for treating the violin like shit. I want to thank you all for the help. I finally used hide glue, removed the nut, inserted a couple of dowels glued with hide glue and leave to dry completely. 

[HoGo]

How thick are those pins? They appear massive. Perhaps half sized ones would be enough, they would not reduce the gluing surface as much and their holding strength is along the grain of pins preventing the seam from opening.

[dabenza]

On 5/8/2026 at 9:07 AM, HoGo said:

How thick are those pins? They appear massive. Perhaps half sized ones would be enough, they would not reduce the gluing surface as much and their holding strength is along the grain of pins preventing the seam from opening.

Hi HoGo, they are 3mm each. 

[dabenza]

On 5/7/2026 at 7:11 PM, jacobsaunders said:

To return to the original question

You don’t really show the violin, but if it is the usual cheap ¾ fiddle, I would rummage through my junk box and look for a replacement scroll, or text my supplier to send me one. If it is a good fiddle I would make a neck graft. Bodging it together seems a waste of time.

it's an 800 € violin. I don't have any scroll to replace. All the scrolls that I've used to build are done by myself, and they won't pay the effort of carving one. So, glueing is cheap. 

[Riccardo964]

14 hours ago, dabenza said:

800 €

your hourly rate must be high then

::

[dabenza]

On 5/11/2026 at 6:11 AM, Riccardo964 said:

your hourly rate must be high then

::

it is about 0€. 

[Nick Lewis]

'Tis the season...I've had 3 of these come in during the last 2 weeks. Looking back at your pictures I guess it wouldn't help, but for the sake of similar types of cracks I figured I'd share more ideas here.

If the crack goes through a peg hole, I'm finding that I get even better alignment with a peg inserted to help alignment. I ordered some delrin rods that I can taper and use instead of pegs so that I don't have to worry about glue sticking. Then I ream out and do spiral bushings. Nothing that someone hasn't done already, but just documenting here in case someone stumbles across it and it helps.