689 RSW Extensive Violin Neck Reset And Setup 

I must say I do miss your build and repair videos.

Jerry, I think it is wonderful of you, to continue, with your hands hurting, to perform instrument services, for family and friends. I would also like to say, once again, for myself and everyone else, Thank you, for sharing, with us, these services, so we can continue to learn from you. 😁✌🖖

I totally understand and respect your decision to semi retire from instrument repair, but boy Jerry I sure do miss these videos man. Much love from a session bassist from Nashville.

Wonderful work brother Rosa. Fiddles are a challenging instrument to repair. I love the challenges, and victories. Bless you.

Great work Jerry. I understood hide glue released when hot water was applied sparingly by brush or rag.

Thank you Jerry for the bonus luthier videos! I miss them and you are the best!

Nice job Jerry. Good to see the master still has it!

One of the main reasons for the use of hide glue is it complete reverse ability… very easily. Nobody is questioning whether titebond will hold or not, it’s just not as easily reversible. No high end shop or professionaly trained luthier would glue their instruments together with anything but hide glue

Hide glue needs moisture and heat to come apart, just heat really doesn't work that well.

Sure is good to see you do some instrument repair! I understand it isn’t your main thing anymore but it is a wonderful treat from time to time!!

The reason the masters used hide glue,that was the best glue at that time,just like covered wagons,now we have SUVs and better glue.

Cheers from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, Jerry.

Jerry, Classically trained luthiers will have a kniption fit at the mention of hide glue vs Titebond LOL. So stupid. I think the old makers used it because it was the only thing available. I agree with you. Old mule hide glue... LOL

For the hide glued fingerboard, you can pump lots of heat into it until you can jam a razor blade under it in a small section, and then shoot warm water into the gap with a syringe. The warm water will dissolve the next bits of hide glue, and the steam from the heating will force it forward. Keep heating it, and wiggling a palette knife in there, and it'll gradually come off. Takes about 10 minutes! For difficult titebond joints, I do the same but with a little vinegar.

Talented musicians all. Jena's smile says it sounds good.

There is a reason to use hide glue. Now you won’t be able to fix anything in the future without damaging the violin

Hey Jerry, that was nice of you to repair that fine fiddle! You have a kind heart.

I like how you cut to the chase.

You should build Bill a pick-stand to match that beautiful sounding guitar.

What a great video! Man -- that violin fought you every step of the way! I am grateful for your incredible craftsmanship (and sacrifice -- blood, even! 😬🙂). I'm "test driving" the mechanical tuners. Since the fiddle was a gift from a friend, preserving the elements that do not affect playability was part of the consideration (I'm sentimental about such things). I think, so far, they add to the fiddle's charm. And, after seeing how much the instrument resisted you at every turn, I think we were wise to quit while we were ahead😄! Thank you again, Jerry!

Next video humidifiers suck!😁

I had an outdoor raised bed made from cedar. A big tree limb fell on it and broke the cedar legs and some of the boards. I used Titebond 3. It fixed it perfectly. It remained outside in the rain and weather for 5 more years and the Titebond 3 was still holding just fine.

Love your videos, thank you for sharing❤❤❤

Jerry, I loved the TLC that you lavished on this violin project. I came across a tip in an old StewMac catalog that might save you some effort the next time you have to deal with some "mule" hide glue that refuses to yield. Steve Uhrik of Retrofret suggests adding some meat tenderizer to your steam bath water used to remove a stubborn neck joint. The enzyme in it breaks down the protein in the hide glue making the joint come apart much easier. Better living thru chemistry!

Awesome job Jerry,Cheers!

the best way I have found to disassemble an interments is to leave it in a hot car. When you open the case all there is is part.

_"I glued thousand of instruments with titebond and they've never come apart"_ No shite Sherlock, that's the problem, they'll never come apart without BREAKING THEM, bc the glue bond is too strong, which makes that much more work, and expense the next time the instrument needs work! 🤦 Hide Glue is used bc it's not a permanent joint, it's easier to pull the instrument apart when it needs to be fixed again. Now if you knew as much as you thought you did, you would use WATER to weaken the Hide Glue before applying the heat. Bc its the Water that breaks the bond. 🤷

No knowledgeable professional says titebond original can’t come apart. If your hideglue joints failed that’s a user error. hideglue’s beauty is it comes apart without damaging the instrument and can bond with old hide glue. It’s a part of the violins design to be taken apart easily. They can be taken apart endless times over centuries without destroying the instrument. Hide glue is the only reason we have 300 year old violins that are still playable. Yes, Titebond comes apart with heat and moisture but it has to be removed till there’s bare wood to reglue, which removes the original wood. These old instruments don’t have extra wood to give. If they’d used titebond when it was made and rebuilt the several times over the centuries there’d be nothing left of the original instruments. You have to think, is this an instrument that will be around in 100 years from now. If titebond made a better sounding instrument, the best makers would use it because their instruments would outperform others and they’d sell more. If it was better for repair, luthiers would use it, since they’d never have joint failure. Hot hide glue is hardly a blindly followed tradition, Centuries of luthiers can’t be wrong. Have you read any reputable tutorials on violin repair and read why they do what they do. There’s great wisdom from experience in the luthiers world.

I am so happy to hear you speak up for Titebond. I had a very respected repair shop use hide glue on a guitar repair (cracked soundboard). I told them I wanted Titebond, but they insisted on hide glue. It lasted about six months before the glue joint failed. So I had them fix it again with Titebond, and (of course) that worked much better.

Why all the destruction and wasted time?? How does a "string works" not know how to revove a violin fingerboard? Dip your opening knife in water, friend! It's a two-minute job at worst--unless some idiot has glued it on without using hide glue.

Great repair job Jerry, and great sounding fiddle!!!

Great video! Where you serious about the glue being made of mule hide? Is fish glue a better natural alternative?

I disagree that the enlarged f-hole is from wear and tear or whatever. In my opinion it was enlarged ON PURPOSE to give it that easy finger access. It's been done before. I absolutely love this channel and all the work you've done over your many years! I play several instruments, but I have a deep love and appreciation for most musical instruments, even the ones that are of mediocre construction quality. They have their place also. Most of those are very good for beginners and for people trying to find out and decide if they even want to really learn an instrument! Yes, the high quality instruments are better for those purposes in that they make learning easier, but most people can't afford to spend too much on instruments. Also, low quality instruments make nice wall decorations! But I really have a deep appreciation for expensive, high quality, beautiful instruments!! And I have an equally deep appreciation for the excellent work done by great luthiers like Jerry!! It's a beautiful thing to see the finished work, but watching the repairs and modifications being done is even better for me!! Thanks for keeping the videos coming!!!

Nice job Jerry as always.. I really enjoy watching this video and watching a master at work. God bless❤🌹

Hey Jerry good evening hope your feeling better would rather watch you tonight over anything thats on tv tonight 😂😂😂❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

By the way I have been making fiddles for41 years.

You could get the whittner geared pegs

I don't think he hammered the point enough on the consistency of removing tightbond vs hide glye

I would love to have a friend like you…..Jerry

It's somewhat ironic that saying anything with hide glue will need re-glueing from time to time and then you come across a piece that almost needs blasting off😂 Another great job completed!!!

No, it does not.

I thought the complaint for using anything but hide glue is that repairs are more difficult because hide glue is the only glue that will stick to itself. The other luthiers I watch use water to thin the hide glue before any heat or other options. I am curious how your Titebond repairs go, since I don't have experience with that.

Great to see a repair, it’s been a while!

A silicon hose might not get hot to the touch

??? that is not Hyde glue is it???

With all due respect, if your hhg joints failed then you didn't mix the glue right, or used the wrong temperature, or used old or expired glue. There's no "myth" about hot hide glue, there's a learning curve involved and you simply didn't get there (again, with all due respect to your skills). I only use hhg on vintage instruments and have never had a failure. A hundred years from now, the next luthier will be glad I put up with the stink of mixing and using it when he has to take that instrument apart again. Some instruments deserve conservation as much as "repair". Sure, guys like Antonio Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri, etc. only had hot hide glue, but that's fortuitous because if they had synthetic glues back then, their instruments couldn't be repaired or restored with virtually no loss of wood as is what happens with PVA, cyanoacrylates, and epoxies. I think I owe my customers, the next owner, and the next luthier the correct way to repair an instrument to conserve it, not just "repair" it.

Nice surprise to see the owner playing the finished product. Jena looks like she's enjoying it! Had to laugh at Bill's pick drop, that's the kind of thing that would happen to me when you turn the camera on! Speaking of camera, that was not only a great picture at Dickie's, but the sound was really good. What camera were you using? Enjoyed the video very much!

I don't see what was wrong with the original fingerboard. It looked very nice. Not conventional but still very nice IMHO.

Like the more modern titebond vs hide glue, I don't understand why purists insist that the more modern geared tuners are bad.

This is such a joy. Thank you sir...

Mr puppies Mr not puppies Oscar c'mon Lib Mr puppies

??? Hey Rosameister, who sings sweet Melinda???

I disagree with your opinions on hide glue! I really love using the stuff. There are creature comforts and usability benefits that come with hide glue, accessible once you overcome the initial difficulties. You can overcome the consistency problems by sticking to a single supplier of a single grade of high quality product, and using it the same way every time. There's certain restoration procedures that are made possible with the properties of hide glue. For one thing - hide glue will always stick to itself. This helps out a lot! Some procedures require the use of hide glue.

Great job repairing the fiddle.

Watched you for years!😁 Used tight bond to glue down my 12strings Bridge leave it tuned up last 6yrs no problem.

Drill and steam. Easy

Nice looking work. Loved the clip at the of them playing, very nice.

I'm only hillbilly on here?

Awesome to watch an experienced luthier work!

Schweeeett!

Sound great

You picked a he'll of instrument to come back to work on You might want to retire again

Always a pleasure to watch your show. All the best on your future projects.

With all respect: Titebond is not a viable replacement for hide glue in all situations. I speak as an instrumentmaker with more than fifty years experience. If you glue the belly of a violin on with Titebond, or any other casein based glue, you cannot open the joint without damage. I too use Titebond, for joints that should never be maintained- for instance, in glueing on a guitar bridge. But it's silly to use Titebond to glue on a fingerboard, and it's criminal to use it for a violin or cello belly. Sorry, despite your obvious expertise, I must disagree with you here. I've had to deal with the consequences too often. cheers from overcast Vienna, Scott

I agree, I don’t like those mechanical tuners. Great video.

Old-time violin makers stay with hide glue because of its proven long-term durability, saying things like "There are no extant and intact 300 year old examples of instruments assembled with TiteBond -- but there are thousands assembled with hide glue, including every priceless Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivarius ever made." Reparability doesn't even come up in the conversation -- so it's their tradition's 300+ years vs. Jerry's 40 years as far as they're concerned.

like jerry says if strativarious was alive he would use tite bond lol

Stick to guitars mate, you're not fit to be let near a violin. A proper violin luthier would have used a bit of cold water and had that fingerboard off in about 5 minutes! I've never seen anyone try to take violins apart using heat. It's totally unnecessary and just plain stupid. And what would you have done with that fingerboard if the owner had wanted to keep it, so that planing it off wasn't an option? I wouldn't let you anywhere near my violin.

Hide glue is best to use on the neck if the scroll gets broken you will have to replace the neck and it’s a whole lot easier with hide glue .If you are afraid the neck won’t hold put two 1/4 in maple dowels into the neck that way if you have to replace the neck all you have to do is drill out the dowels and replace the neck.

Hide glue is used so you can take apart. I guess you know more than the masters did. Talk to professionals around the world and see what they say. I believe you need to stay away from repairs on a violin.

Thanks, Jerry Very interesting and entertaining