Desecrated 'Buchstetter labelled' Violin

[asbobs]

Good afternoon, 

I firstly want to say I'm pleased to have joined this forum. I really enjoy the expertise and friendly opinions I've read on various topics. 

I have a violin which i recently acquired. I know you many of you will be absolutely horrified when you see the pictures of what has been done to it. I want to confirm I had no hand in that. What I know about the violin - not much:

• It's dimensions are very close to that of a 7/8s 
• It is riddled in woodworm primarily on the exterior of the top plate (interior is relatively undamaged with only a few holes here and there), in which previous, I think amateur, repairs have been attempted. There is also quite some woodworm damage in the ribs.
• There is filler (looks for like car filler rather than wood filler) at various locations, and also what seems like superglue used to glue the top plate
•  You'll see the label, there are cleats under it so either it has been removed, cleats added then replaced, or a 'newer label' has been added at later date after the previous repairs. The old base plate repairs seem relatively ok - these appear to be crack repairs and nothing to do with woodworm and look much earlier. 
• There are further cleats added to the ribs which are very poor and look to have been added to reinforce rib woodworm damage - some of these cleats were in the resin case when i received it. 
• The neck appears to have been replaced and the scroll grafted which is a very neat job
• The button has an ebony crown which again is a neat job.
• You can see that someone has sanded the top place to within an inch of it's life! On the unstripped top left corner you can see darker lines which are not cracks but where the woodworm has burrowed under the varnish. 
• From the 'blobs' of presumably glue or possibly something else on interior base plate, it is possible the violin was opened for some amateur repairs without actually treating the worm which has then continued to do the rest of the damage. 
• I'm quite sure it's not a Buchstetter regardless of label. For info, it doesn't glow under UV

I'm sure in such awful condition the violin is more or less for scrap/parts but I am intrigued about it's history, origins, age and anything else interesting you might spot. It is a real shame it has been so badly mistreated which annoys me with any instrument - side note: i once bought an accordion online with photos of it in the house. When i went to pick it up the seller had it sitting, not in a case, on wet slabs at the back of his house in the pouring rain under some bin bags and stones - it beggars belief!

Anyway, I hope you find this an interesting post and I look forward to hearing what you can glean from the photos. 

Many thanks in advance. 

Robbie 

[jacobsaunders]

The label is one of these https://maestronet.com/forum/i

ndex.php?/topic/330195-johann-adam-sch%C3%B6nfelder/#findComment-621046. Otherwise dustbin-ready Saxon box, pos. with different scroll. We ha a detailed thread on Buchstetter some years ago that might interest you  https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/329708-gabriel-david-buchstetter/

 

[deans]

Those corner blocks look more like S. German than Saxon. This is such a mess, it might be a mix of parts.

[jacobsaunders]

1 hour ago, deans said:

Those corner blocks look.... .

I couldn't see any cornerblocks

[mysticpaw]

2 blocks visible in Photo #1

[jacobsaunders]

12 minutes ago, mysticpaw said:

2 blocks visible in Photo #1

thanks, I didn't notice. South German then

[asbobs]

Many thanks for your replies - very interesting. 

Thanks @jacobsaunders, I read the Buchstetter info previously and very quickly realised it didn't bare any resemblance. 

Regarding the label, I was sure it was a facsimile primarily due to the visible corner marks which indicate where to cut out from a sheet. 

I'm keen to know the approximate age please? As there are reasonably repaired cleats under the label, do you think it likely it was an unlabeled violin which had a facsimile label added at a later date?

I had read, i think in another thread here, that repairers would almost never remove a label for repair other than maybe peel back a corner slightly if absolutely necessary but as the cleats, the button and the neck have been quite skillfully and neatly repaired it would suggest that someone at some point in its life has paid a professional for a proper repair? Does that give any clue on age?

Lastly, I know you said it's for the dustbin, but is there anything that could/should be done to repair or restore? It may had no monetary or historical value in of itself but it seems a shame that something which has it's own story to tell is truly for the scrapheap. 

Many thanks again for taking the time to respond. I'm very grateful. 

Robbie 

 

[Blank face]

12 hours ago, asbobs said:

is there anything that could/should be done to repair or restore?

The problem with worm damage is that you are seeing at the surface is only the literally top of the iceberg, and the rest of the channel is subterranean. If you are seeing such a big amount of holes it would be necessary to replace about 90% of the wood, or rebuild the whole violin.

But possibly the scroll can be saved as a spare part in case you will need a Mittenwald scroll in the future.

[Dave Slight]

Holding the parts up to a very strong light source in a dark room, can give a further clue to the extent of the worm damage. This works best for the plates and ribs.
A powerful and long LED strip can be inserted into a closed body, and moved around for a similar effect.

From what we can see of the outside, the damage is so severe, the structural integrity of the instrument will completely be compromised. That belly would snap to pieces under any kind of tension, soon followed by the ribs.

From a restoration standpoint, repairing extensive woodworm damage becomes hugely involved, time-consuming, and correspondingly, very expensive.

[asbobs]

Many thanks for all your responses. Very interesting and informative. Thanks again