On Sun, Jul 8, 2007, Laura <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > The bridge cleanly separated from the body, spontaneously. No previous sign > of being unglued, anything.
the glue joint of bridge to top is critical, even the maker fusses to make sure it is as strong as possible, repairing one that has failed is a job for someone with experience. You dont say where you are in the world, your email address suggests argentina? Shipping a lute is also risky, you should investigate if there are any craftsmen with suitable experience, a guitarmaker or a violin maker might do for you, many of them have lute bilding experience from the time they learned their trade. At least the man must be famiilar with the use of hide glue, both to deal with removing and reasembling the top and to deal with the bridge. The cleanness of the failure suggests that if hide glue was used for the bridge to top joint (as was done historically, modern luthiers sometimes use other glues such as epoxy). Hide glue joints under the kind of stresses here can crystalize and fail; the careful owner keeps the instrument in a semi-controlled atmosphere, but that is not always feasible, one does want to play the wee beastie from time to time. Luckily, hide glue will bond completely with itself for repairs. It is possible that one or more of the reinforcing bars glued under the top have also developed faults in their joints. Having the top off of the body gives the repairman an opportunity to deal with that as well; this is important, integrity of those glue joints keeps the top stresses under control, if any part of the joint fails the top is at significant risk of being split (like old piano soundboards). > The luthier who made it is far from where I live, so I'll need to evaluate > other person to fix it. Ask your maker if he can recomend anyone near you; also ask what glue was used originally. > Could anyone tell me which is the best approach for fixing this type of > problem, so I can talk to the repairmen with a minimum knowledge? The top is not exactly a flat surface, the underside is carfully carved so that some zones are thinner than others. Special clamps and fixtures, or a go-bar setup are used during the glueup. Guitars and other instruments have similar technical requirements, any experienced luthier should be familiar with this and wil have his own approach. Obviously, repair of another makers instrument is harder than fabrication of ones own, perhaps requiring new jigs to be made. > Is it necessary to separate the top? Yes. The rose on a guitar is large enough to pass a special clamp into the body, this makes it special, most other stringed instruments (including the lute) must have the top removed for repairs like this one. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
