my old high school fiddle has seen better days.
it is in disrepair. i haven't really played it since going to flute school. sometime this year, i would really like to fix her up nicely.
how's that for a short fingerboard?
the fingerboard is worn out and there are random flat spots. for years when i was a kid, i could not figure out why my fiddle buzzed so much. i thought there was a crack somewhere, and it drove me nuts! i also had a really bad bow and i was dumb enough so that i didn't know a bad bow could set you back a few years.
anyway, the fingerboard is badly glued to the neck. there is a 3/4 mm gap between the neck and fingerboard from nut to shoulder on the bass side. the neck was starting to bend underneath the fingerboard from the pull of strings.
you can pretty much see from all that fuzz that the strings were buzzing the fingerboard pretty bad, the A string in particular was torture. i think its time for a new fingerboard.
there is a shoulder crack on the bass side that runs several cms. ditto on the treble side:
here's a shot of the long crack that runs from the upper eye of the treble sound hole all the way down to the saddle. i have no clue what it's going to look like underneath and didn't think to peep inside while shooting these pictures. but either way, the top will have to come off for a number of repairs.
there is a wing crack on the bass side.
on the back, the center seam is open from button down several cms.
the same at the lower back:
the lower bout ribs on the treble side have some serious looking cracks...
i intend to do full repairs on my fiddle and make it sound better than it ever did.
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Ensemble Ditto, encore. Seoul Arts Center. South Korea, 2008.
to be continued
