Broken Rib

 I don't get to do THIS very often!  Taking the top off a violin is fun and exciting.  It's a very expensive repair, costing more than a lot of the violins I fix, so it's rare that I get to slide my opening knife in there and pop a top off.  It's nerve-wracking, but also easier than you might think, since the top is designed to be able to come off in case of emergency.  Of course, there is always the possibility of something going very wrong at any point.  The top is made of spruce and is only a couple of millimeters thick, and the varnish can be fragile, too.  Being a natural material, wood can turn on you at any moment, just like one of Seigfried and Roy's tigers.  If you know the wood's stressors, though, you can usually avoid disaster.

Looking inside the violin is like spying on the past.  You get to see the maker's workmanship and the history of damage, if there is any.  There's always a little dustball inside, and sometimes an inscription that you can't see from the outside.  This poor violin had a traumatic injury to one of its ribs.  I put the broken piece back together and made a silk patch for it before I glued the top back on and returned the fiddle to its former glory.  It's a nice-sounding violin, and I hope it gets to play many hours of beautiful music with its patched-up rib.  Get well soon!