Coming up is the restoration of an 1840s violin. Let's dive into the process of repairing and transforming a broken and disfigured violin into its former glory! Restoration by: Ruschil & Bailly , www.ruschilandbailly.com/
My grandfather used to repair and restore violins as a hobby. In retrospect, I'm very sad I wasn't more insistent when he was reluctant to teach me. He would have loved this video.
My father used to redtore violins as well (I had already moved away by then) I have some of his tools, but not a place to work with them. He also built new ones.
correction at 3:10. it's not wood based glue. it's hide glue. Hide glue is made from boiling raw hide for a long time at a low temperature, making the hide dissolve in to the water. once it starts to drie it becomes sticky, and onche drie, it becomes hard. People wo build instruments, often swere by that hide glue is the best glue for atleast two reasons. First it's easy to remove if you need to repair the instrument. All you need is a bit of moisture and heat, and it will come apart, compared to other glues where you often deed to quite literarly break apart the item by force. The other reason, is that they claim hide based glues give the instrument a better and ritcher/fuller sound when you play them, compared to most other kinds of glue.
Excellent! Thank you for letting the viewers hear the wonderful sounds of chisels, planes, rasps, scrapers, and files on maple, spruce, and ebony. A very fine video in every respect.
My great Grandfather made violins here in Michigan. i never met him as he was passed before I was born. This was enjoyable in that it showed me some of what he did. He also made gunstocks and was a barber
Had a Violin student in Sun Valley that had inherited a 1793 English fiddle. It was old, set up for fiddling and I re-bridged it and planed the well worn fingerboard, it played like a Strad! She was in 2nd or 3rd grade and it of course was too big but I told her she was just the right person and last I heard she went to Boise State on Full Scholarship and plays that fiddle from Olde London Towne I bet she is awesome
Thank you for sharing this, I enjoy watching a master of any craft especially one I will never have a chance to even try much less master like you have. Most music is just noise to me but a violin to me is most special. I am tone deaf for the most part but something about violin music I can hear and enjoy.
Fascinating. Why was such a large block carefully glued in place, just for almost all of it to be planed away? Why did it need to be so big to start with - why not at least half as deep? Excellent and very well-judged, minimal narration plus excellent recordings of the tools being used. 10/10
Excellent work by both the craftsman repairing/restoring the instrument and the other craftsman who videoed him doing it. It is good that these skills are recorded for posterity. The repair of the soundboard was fascinating, something I never would have thought of.
Strangely enough, I had a visceral reaction seeing you cut the lines for the strings. It took me back many years ago when I played my cello. I loved seeing your work table and how even the grooves in its edge fit your fingers. Lovely work 😊
Indeed 37 minutes worth watching, this luthier was a joy to watch his craft and to see and hear the final act of restoration. 🎻👍(Would love to watch him make a violin from scratch)👀
Beautiful work in the traditional manner that so appeals to me. I've often brought and old wooden item back to life, but to do so, with a real instrument like this, with an untold history behind it, must be a maginal thing.
❤ì really enjoyed this artisan at work. Is there a reason the little bridge was left a light natural colour? I to would love to know the instruments history. It looked so beautiful at the end and sounded good.
The bridges on Violins, and in fact all classical stringed instruments, are always left unvarnished. The bridges primary job other than raising the strings to a playable height, is to transfer the vibrations of the strings to the actual "Body" of the violin. Varnish/stain can actually interfere with this process, and so it is left off. Hope this helps, Cheers :)
Yes I do … it belonged to our Great Great Grandfather. He acquired it in the 1860s and it has been passed down through the generations. The last 20 years it has been under the bed until we decided to have it fully restored with the help of this very talented man. Thanks for asking …
Lovely to see this old instrument so carefully restored. The playing of it afterwards did leave a little to be desired and it also deserved better strings than fairly cheap Pirastro Tonica's. But a great video which in itself is a heck of a lot of work so many thanks.
Error on the side of caution I’d guess. You can always carve excess wood away, but you can’t easily put it back. “I measured and cut it three times and it’s still too short!” Is a thing any woodworker doesn’t want to repeat very often
on the flat side? probably just pumice to fill the grain before applying a top coat. To fit the feet of the bridge to the violin (to find high spots) you simply use crayon, chalk would scratch the instrument
I would like to know why? this restoration. A lot of time spend - was this a special violin ? or just because it can be done? Thank you -I loved it-Greetings from Australia
Possibly a family heirloom. The demo gave us a hint maybe of the owner and application. If the owner willingly paid and is satisfied, then I guess it was worth the restoration and effort.
Dear AceMannow, Im going to guess that it was a German violin. I may be entirely wrong. Many German violins were manufactured in 1850. I know it was dated 1840. Black forest or Marneukichen or some other bavarian region I would guess. Of course im only speculating it might have been French or Italian or even Irish. Mine was a Sears copy of a Stradivarius of Cremona 1720. Its actual manufacture date was approx 1850 in west germany. Those old violins are wonderful but the glue dries out and they crack at the bouts. They also split at the f holes. That is why you must humidify a violin lest it crack.
Ahhh I finally find this channel again! I was looking for the restoration channel that did firearms and even some animals “restorations” (lol). Did the style and name of the channel change?
I suppose it's a case of knowing what to restore and what is better to leave with such a restoration. I'm good at working with wood, I've done a few furniture and E-guitar restorations, but I doubt I'd have the courage to restore a violin, at least not one of this age. It'd probably end up spoilt, looking fantastic but sounding like a frog. Nice to see this really old instrument given a new life for another 184 years.
Браво мастер, с удовольствием посмотрел как кропотливо мастер возвращает побитую жизнью скрипку в мир музыки. После реставрации она издаёт чудесные звуки.
Where are you guys located? My grandfather had a violin that is in need of restoration and hasn't been played in over 70 years... It was made in Germany and is a copy of a Stradvarius....my grandfather had some work done to it many years ago and the man gave my grandfather his business card.. It was long ago and his phone number only had 3 digits.. i was thinking the business card might be worth almost as much as the violin...Very nice video... thx for sharing...
Watching paint dry! Finally the big moment! Paint for the ear! Interesting to see the Luthier and tools used, but my goodness I really filled sucked in, oh well 😔 yawn yawn yawn!
i would like to know how many man hours it took to restore the violin. My guess is around 35 to 40 man hours. At $100 an hour that is $3,500 to $4,000 labor. Was it worth it? Only the tone knows.
This is not restoration, this is renovation. After such repairs!, the violin lost its value. The guy has talented hands, in 10-15 years he will be able to carry out a real restoration
11:46 - the planing of the bottom of the new foot of the neck looks *so* haphazard.... it scares me. I know that *that* is the correct way to perform that repair though. I repair student violins ONLY, on a pretty regular basis, and I have some different methods to those seen in this video... and occasionally I'll help with repairing a very nice violin, but only if I feel comfortable. I've made 5 instruments only (over the last 12 years) in my life and ever since my teacher has passed away - I don't have the heart to continue making or at least start a new one. Well, I have ONE viola that's about 75% of the way to being finished, and I know I can complete it :)
This guy obviously has lots of skill and experience, but when he started filing the original neck profile, I got really confused. There's something here I'm not understanding
I wonder why the crown? The only time I had to fit one was when a button had snapped off at the purfling, and it was necessary to cut away half of its thickness and fit a slip of maple to bridge the break. The repair would have been visible, and a crown hid it. I can't see a case for removing part of an intact button. In fact I can't see a case for removing ANY intact part of an instrument. Surely not best practice.
