Hrmm, this is probably what I'm going to do. There's a few local violin shops. I called one and they asked me to bring it in for an estimate.
Thanks again for the advice On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Martyn Hodgson <[1][email protected]> wrote: Dear Adam, It may need repairing rather than doing nothing and running the risk of it extending further. But it may not be necessary to remove the belly to effect a repair. Presumably the crack tapers to nothing and is reasonably straight - so a sliver of wood (tapering to a feather) is required which can be glued into the crack and then with a fine sharp knife (disposal scalpel say) cut level to the belly. Obviously when inserting the sliver you'll need to judge when it's at the right depth (ie at same thickness as the belly). Whether or not the crack will need to be cleaned out before doing this is something one could only tell from a close inspection. It's perfectly possible to do this yourself if you're confident of your woodworking abilities but, if not, take it to a violin repairer to do since they will use animal glue which is reversible and will also be probably used to repairing such cracks. Incidentally the glue will act as a lubricant to help slide the sliver into place - but have a few dummy runs since it needs to be done smartly with little time for fine adjustments before the glue starts to gel Make quite a few slivers to try dummy runs on a simulated crack in a piece of spruce and also to select the piece likely to fit best. Use a chisel along the edge of a quarter sawn piece of spruce thicknessed to just over the belly thickness to slice off the slivers in thin tapered sections. Obviously you'll need to ensure the end grain runs in the same direction as the belly. Whoever is doing the repair, it will be best not to keep raising the humidity around the instrument but to let it rest in ambient humidity - so that the sliver is glued into place with the crack at its widest. MH --- On Mon, 14/5/12, Adam Olsen <[2][email protected]> wrote: From: Adam Olsen <[3][email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute cracking To: Cc: "Lute List" <[4][email protected]> Date: Monday, 14 May, 2012, 16:18 Thank you for the information. If it's just cosmetic, I won't worry about it too much. All I really care about is that I can still play, and that it won't happen again. I'm really at a loss as to how to keep it humidified enough. The humidity in my house is around 30%, and it's at 50% in the case. I wonder if it's because I drive it to lessons and etc, and I do bring it out for at least an hour every night to practice. Anyway, thanks again On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 12:47 AM, William Samson <[5][email protected]> wrote: > The first thing to say is that small cracks are usually harmless - > The trouble is that the best way to repair them and stop them > spreading involves taking the soundboard off, which is best left to a > maker. > > If the crack is unlikely to spread ( - and if there's a curved J-bar > under the soundboard it shouldn't go beyond that - ) a cosmetic repair > would be a straightforward job for any maker - gluing in a thin, > matching spline to fill it, for example. > > It's hard to be sure the action is rising if you don't have any earlier > measurements of it. I'd suggest measuring the height of the first > string above the fingerboard (not above a fret) at the position of the > 8th fret. If this is no more than 4mm the action should be OK - but > you should still note your measurement and the date for comparison with > later measurements. Any higher than 4mm starts to make playing tough > and a maker should be consulted. There are straighforward ways of > fixing a slightly high action - differently graded frets for example, > along with a lower nut, which isn't a big job - but in extreme cases > the lute will need more major work to adjust it. > > I've found that the most common cause of cracking is extreme changes in > humidity. If the humidity is stable, the wood shouldn't shrink and > crack. As you probably know, Thomas Mace's answer to this was to keep > his lute in a bed. > > Good luck with this. > > Bill > From: Adam Olsen <[6][email protected]> > To: Lute List <[7][email protected]> > Sent: Monday, 14 May 2012, 4:46 > Subject: [LUTE] Lute cracking > I have a 13 course lute that was built in New Zealand, and is now in > SLC, Utah. > There's definitely a crack forming just to the right of the heart > decoration at the bottom of the soundboard (toward the treble side). > I've got the dampit in there which I wet every other day (this is > what the maker recommended, there is a hole where the strap peg > usually goes, and a dampit fits), and then > two oasis case humidifers in the case. I have a hydrometer that reads > around 50 all the time, or sometimes just below. > The action seems to be getting a bit higher. Is it possible it's > cracking from too much humidity? > Is there something I can do to stop it? I'm worried about it getting > worse. > I just got this lute in February after waiting since 2007 to get one. > I'm really kind of bummed out about this. Any help would be greatly > appreciated. > To get on or off this list see list information at > [1][8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. [9]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. mailto:[email protected] 4. mailto:[email protected] 5. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 6. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 7. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 9. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
