Restoring an old Garage 1/2 size violin

January 29, 2007 at 7:07 AM

A worthy weekend project? Here is a 40+ year old Czech "Strad" copy found in the garage of my friend who quit violin. She lent it to me to restore it figuring it can't get any worse. Fortunately it had no cracks, only a few open seams, broken tailgut and was missing a peg. So nothing major. The bridge was found on the bottom of the case.

Here's a close-up of the damage to the varnish on the top.

One thing you'll notice is the severe asymmetricalness of this violin, due to the hurried work of slapping it together. The inside top is also unfinished, gouge marks and furrows visible, and the bassbar is carved out of the top, not fitted. So we're looking at the lowest of the low here. Made in Czechoslovakia, complete with the Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno label.

First I reamed the pegbox and fitted new pegs to it. The pegholes are at an angle, not right, and slope this way and that. The scroll is off-center and twisted. It is all very Salvador Dali-like.

Then I glued the open seams with hot hide glue, clamped and glued the fingerboard down, and touched up the varnish. Finally I gave it a quick French polish, with a damp rag of denatured alcohol, mixed with a few dabs clear varnish and a few dabs of Dov Schmidt violin polish. It seemed to shine it up quickly without messing up the finish.

Oh, and I used a black Sharpie marker to darken the brown areas on the non-ebony fingerboard. Ha ha, bet they didn't have that written in any violin repair manual.

This morning I fitted a new tailpiece, and strung it up with new Visions, a new fine tuner and new chinrest, and you know? It doesn't look half bad, considering the asymmetricalness.

The back was untouched and looking original. And the sound? Well, it is comparable to the small thin sound of the new low-end Chinese fractionals. I must say that it is less congested than the new Chinese fractionals, probably because of whatever aging it had done for over 40 years sitting inside a battered broken case inside garages. I played a duet on it with my son, and being a kid, he prefers his new shiny Stringworks Crescendo, even though the sound on this old Czech beats it. His is a 1/4 and this one is a 1/2, so there is some of that for having a larger sound. However comparing to my daughter's Chinese 3/4, this 1/2 isn't so bad, and doesn't sound as congested.

But can I ever talk my kid into using it? Nah, he wants something pretty, and this Quasimodo's charm is lost on a 6 year old.

More detailed larger pictures are found at Maestronet Pegbox thread.

From Emily Grossman
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 9:35 AM

Sharpie. That was great.

From Patricia Baser
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 11:05 AM

Who knew I could improve the look of one of my cheapo basses at school with a sharpie?

From al ku
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 2:28 PM

wow, quite a daring effort. kudos!

i would like to put in couple notes. whereas it is arguable whether the violin needs varnish retouch and french polish, it is not really an important matter since you set out to practice on it. some may argue that varnish change may change the sound, but i suspect with this violin, the sound quality is probably the same regardless. and it probably has a lot to do with that bassbar.

i do want to point out one thing about proper set up. since you have done all the cosmetic touch ups that you can (came out quite pretty from those pics), and not really going inside to play with regraduation and bassbar, you may want to spend more time and thought on the bridge and soundpost, particularly in the setting of a violin with a small voice. may be that is the way it sounds regardless, or may be you can try to improve the setup to get more out of it. if you have read postings like michael darnton and such here or on MN, you can apppreciate how important it is to have a proper set up. i wonder if the soundpost came with the violin or you have to make one. the proper bevel/fit on the 2 ends seem to be quite important. i do not think this is something that will be second nature to someone unless there is lots of practice and experimentation. and learn to appreciate the difference when SP or bridge is moved just a teeny bit.

also, good to hear that your kid has a mom-half-made violin waiting in the wing:) from my experience, once he becomes more familiar with the different quality of sound, if this violin is indeed a better sounding one, regardless of the shine factor, he will gravitate toward this one in a heart beat.

i recently sent one fraction violin to micheal darnton for a proper setup because my amateur ears tell me that the violin has potential, possibly well made, and i just do not want to risk without someone experienced to properly assess the violin and do whatever is necessary accordingly. my kid is playing on a 1/2 and this one is slightly bigger than a 1/2. when compared the 2, she said, the bigger one sounds like a large lake of clear water,,her current one a puddle of mud, so unclear!:)

have fun!

From Clare Chu
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 3:17 PM

Al, I did not touch the soundpost, it was already sitting there and looked the right position. I will mess with the bridge and soundpost next, but because of no experience will not expect any major improvements. I need to compare it to other 1/2 size violins at the music store to know if the small sound is normal for this size. After all, there is not any way it will expect to compare to my Italian 4/4 size master made violin! Thanks for the encouragement.

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 5:42 PM

My son plays an old scratched up "Western Germany" fiddle that had a small sound when we first bought it. I never adjusted the post, but did pusht the bridge around and put steel strings on it. The sound opened up tremendously! That was a couple years ago. It has been through all the vagaries of a 1/2 size fiddle, including a popped off neck ( I fixed it right myself) and the bridge is now back where it started out and the sound is still big. So there does seem to be something about waking up a fiddle. I was loath to mess with the soundpost. I figured that moving the bridge could accomplish much the same thing, and that the gut can always be adjusted to play the afterlength as required.

Heck, we've even changed changed out the tailpiece and the sound is still good. I suppose it is probably different...I don't know, how to tell!

From al ku
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 5:54 PM

good point on the afterlength, something i forgot to mention. at least in theory, moving the sp at least in the 4 main direction should produce a difference in sound. may be it is a matter of how much movement is associated with how much sound change. sometimes, the difference is there, some can hear it, some cannot. having said that, if we do not have enough experience, what we think we have done may not be what is actually done, so all reference and discussion can be on different wavelengths:)

also, i can imagine the soundhole is really in the way. opps:)

From Karin Lin
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 8:04 PM

Ha ha, Clare, you were right about how you play with violins the way little girls play with dolls. Marker-made makeup and all. ;) Have fun!

From Man Wong
Posted on January 29, 2007 at 10:40 PM

Must be fun to inherit that 1/2 size for a fixer-upper experiment.

I recently bought a 1/2 size German-made Juzek (circa 50's) on a nice deal off eBay for my daughter, and that thing sure has one big voice. Sounds quite a bit like our teacher's travel/teaching violin too -- though our teacher's full size has seen a major accident and repairs/restoration so that it's no longer good enough for professional use. It did need some setup work done along w/ new strings, but it sounds great, especially for a 1/2 size -- it probably still needs a bridge replacement for optimal playability (as it's too tall), if not even better sound.

We also rented a SW Crescendo 1/2 size for comparison, and there's simply no comparison at all. And my 8-year-old daughter doesn't mind the worn look of the Juzek either even though she usually prefers the "brand new, pretty looks" thing. :-)

FYI, I also just bought a 3/4 size German-made Juzek violin and a 15" German-made Juzek viola very cheaply off eBay, but both will need new bridge, strings, maybe soundpost, etc. though no real repair work should be needed to the instruments themselves. The parts/setup work on them can wait as I bought them for the future, not right now. Hopefully, they will turn out as well as the 1/2 size Juzek.

Meanwhile, I'm still hunting for a good deal on a violin upgrade for myself (from my cheapy $350 Martelo from The String House). I've actually won quite a few eBay auctions on violins and violas and even a cello in the past couple months as I search for a good violin upgrade, but so far, I still don't actually have a good, ready-to-play violin to show for it for one reason or another. :-/ Currently awaiting the mysteriously delayed arrival of a mint condition 1966 Juzek Master Art -- hope this one doesn't show up w/ a 7" crack like the other (40-year older) one. :-/

_Man_

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Restoring an old Garage 1/2 size violin

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