Tomorrow is Bandcamp Friday. I’ll be around sharing some stories behind the album. If you’ve been meaning to grab a digital copy, tomorrow is the best day to support us directly.
#instrumentrepair #bandcampfriday

turning violins inside out Pirate Luthier update Over the xmas period, I learned how to open up violins, glue cracks, and close them again. I practiced that on the not very special violin number 13 before addressing the quite lovely Guarneri copy number 30, the one which won the prize for the most beautiful case. After the operation it looks like this (still with the historic strings and tailpiece, which I'll upgrade before returning it to its owners): In addition to the two cracks I repaired now, I discovered another two that had been repaired previously: Note the label which says it is a copy of a Guarnerius from 1725 (as opposed to my favourite violin from my collection which is a Guarnerius from 1731). I really like the look of the inside of these instruments (see also the cello I opened up), with all the rough bits contrasting the smooth outside. Here's the inside again with my patches added: ... and the detached and repaired top from the outside: ... and the whole thing after closing up again: After this glut of photos I'm sure you'll be glad to see the back of it: It does have a beautiful back, doesn't it. Number 13 (of which I used a photo in my year review) is also closed again, but it has some damage on the fingerboard which I'll have to sand down before I set it up, so I'll report on that next month. I've now moved the list of instruments that pass through my pirate luthier workshop to a permanent page which I will update whenever necessary, independent of the blog entries.

#PirateLuthier update: turning #violins inside out:

proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/01/turning-violins-...

#musicalInstruments #InstrumentRepair #violin #guarnerius

Hi friends, I’m looking for places to take a harp for repair, and violin/viola/cellos for repair. I’m having a tough time finding places for this. Does anyone have suggestions? Thank you! 🎵🎶 #violin #viola #harp #cello #musician #instrumentRepair #luthier

a lovely case Pirate Luthier update This month I rescued an old cello, gave away a violin (number 23), and received one to repair and return, which is number 30 on my books. I also sorted out a lovely old violin that just needed a new string and tuning up, so it only spent 15 minutes on the premises and didn't get inventorised. And I took charge of an Appalachian dulcimer which will need new strings, and about which I'll make a post once I've got a better idea about how to play it. Violin number 30 came with a stunningly beautiful wooden case, so it's time for another reveal: It has a massive crack in the front requiring an intervention I will need to practice on a less beautiful violin first (number 13) and possibly also on the 3/4 cello. So it may still take a few months to build up the courage and energy for that, and I'll probably make another post about this one when it's happening. **List of violins** in the pirate luthier series: violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up. violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). I bought it very cheap on gumtree, mainly because I needed a case for number 1). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts. violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home. violin 4) is a modern Chinese one which I bought from one musical friend and sold to another, no work needed. violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) was my second favourite and the one I played in folk sessions for roughly a year until number 22) showed up. violin 6) is the half-sized Lark which was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a new bridge. Good enough for folk I would say. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 8) is the "ladies violin", a 7/8 skylark. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 10) is the 3/4 sized one with a broken neck and traces of multiple repair attempts, which I've now repaired. I kept it for a couple of months to check the neck stays in place, then gave it away to a good cause in June 2025. violin 11) is the 3/4 sold by JP Guivier & Co Ltd. in the 1950s but may actually be older than that. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 12) is a full-size Lark which a freegle user kindly donated and delivered after seeing my offer. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 13) is still broken violin 14) is a half-size Lark which I gave away to a good cause in June 2025. violin 15) is a 3/4 size Stentor student 2, which I gave away to a local school in October 2024 violin 16) is the Sebastian Klotz branded one, sadly not made by the Mittenwald luthier, but by Yamaha Malaysia, who appear to have trademarked his name. violin 17) is the supersized violin with a very strong sound. violin 18) is the slightly drunken but nice sounding violin from Poland, which I restored and returned to its family. violin 19) is a Stentor student 1 violin which only needed a little TLC, and within less than a week I had it brushed up and ready to move to our local school. The most intriguing problem it had was that somebody had put in the bridge the wrong way round, with the lower slope under the G string. violin 20) is a Stentor student 1 violin I bought via GumTree. It sounds really nice for what it is, thanks in part to a good set-up with Dominant strings. I have labelled this one as an official Cowley Orchestra instrument. violin 21) is a nameless student violin I bought via facebook, not quite sure what to think of it. The fingerboard is horizontal, which is all wrong and may mean there is not enough pressure on the bridge to produce a good sound. violin 22) is the 19th century Guarneri copy, still my favourite, although I'll have to fix that crack at some point. Because of the crack I play it only at home and take number 24 to sessions. violin 23) is a nameless student violin I bought from a charity shop. It looks unused but had no strings, so I set it up with a set of spare strings that came with another violin. It turned out to be no trouble at all and sounds ok for an instrument that looks really cheap (with the purfling painted on). It now lives with a young cellist in my neighbourhood who is keen to learn the violin as a second instrument. violin 24) is the densely cratered one I found lying on a chair at Oxfam, and which I currently play at sessions. violin 25) is the fleamarket find from Neuss violin 26) is the lady in red, which has now rejoined its family. violin 27) is the Czechoslovakian student model violin 28) is the black one I found three minutes before number 29), so they're basically twins. violin 29) is the odd-size one with the lovely rosewood tailpiece violin 30) is the one with the lovely case shown above **Balance 27.10.2025** : Of the 30 violins listed above, 8 received via freegle, 3 from friends and family, 16 bought (gumtree, facebook, charity shops, flea markets, cost ranging £ 10 to £45), 2 taken in for repair only and returned to their families, one taken in for repair but not done yet. Of the 27 acquired, 8 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 1 given away via a neighbourhood mailing list, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 11 currently in house and ready to play, 2 in house and still broken. **List of other instruments** in the pirate luthier series: an old Irish banjo guitar 1) is the 100 year-old one from Valencia which I set up with frets and strings and handed back to its owner. guitar 2) is one I spotted in a charity shop "sold as seen" for a very affordable price with nothing more than a broken string, and I bought and repaired it because I knew the owner of the next one needed one while their guitar was out of service. guitar 3) had a broken neck which I glued back on with hide glue at the same time when I repaired violin 10). It has now returned to its family. the zither I found at the flea market in Dusseldorf. and finally a shout-out to our family-built hammered dulcimer, which dates from 2016, long before I got any ideas about violins.

#PirateLuthier adventures: #violin number 30 has a lovely wooden case, and a nasty crack. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-lovely-case.ht... #lutherie #instrumentRepair

How clickbaity can one make a thumbnail?

youtu.be/5xIHV_E7yNs

#metalgirl #femaleguitarist #musiclessons #musiclesson #luthier #luthiery #bouzouki #mandolin #guitar #bass #instrumentrepair

I can resurrect the dead. I even filmed it. youtu.be/SHX5pUq5Kvo #instrumentrepair #synthesizers #electronicmusic

Repair shop ASMR: brass parts edition

Need your brass instrument repaired? Schedule yours at www.imc-az.com/repairs

#asmr #asmrsounds #asmrvideo #brass #repair #repairshop #instrumentrepair #repaired #musician

a violin from Czechoslovakia Pirate Luthier update My Freegle call looking for fiddle cases hasn't produced any actual cases, but it helped me rehome two fiddles (in their rickety old cases) and brought in a new one, number 27. This one was made in the 1960s in Cremona, but sadly not in the town in Italy but in the eponymous factory in Luby, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic). The town formerly known as Schönbach had been a centre of violin making since the 17th century, and it is not all that far away from the Musikwinkel around Markneukirchen, Germany. The instrument has a beautiful Dresden bridge, and generally looks ok and in good condition, but the purfling (the line around the edges) is painted on, which is a very clear cost-cutting exercise (it should be a hand-crafted inlay, which serves to stop cracks progressing inwards). I kept the historic G-string (gut) as well as the E string and added cheap strings in the middle. It does sound a bit cheap now, but plays ok. The bow needs rehairing and the case isn't up to 21st century requirements, but otherwise this one is ok. Not one I would want to keep though. List of violins in the pirate luthier series: violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up. violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). I bought it very cheap on gumtree, mainly because I needed a case for number 1). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts. violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home. violin 4) is a modern Chinese one which I bought from one musical friend and sold to another, no work needed. violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) was my second favourite and the one I played in folk sessions for roughly a year until number 22) showed up. violin 6) is the half-sized Lark which was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a new bridge. Good enough for folk I would say. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 8) is the "ladies violin", a 7/8 skylark. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 10) is the 3/4 sized one with a broken neck and traces of multiple repair attempts, which I've now repaired. I kept it for a couple of months to check the neck stays in place, then gave it away to a good cause in June 2025. violin 11) is the 3/4 sold by JP Guivier & Co Ltd. in the 1950s but may actually be older than that. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 12) is a full-size Lark which a freegle user kindly donated and delivered after seeing my offer. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in June 2024. violin 13) is still broken violin 14) is a half-size Lark which I gave away to a good cause in June 2025. violin 15) is a 3/4 size Stentor student 2, which I gave away to a local school in October 2024 violin 16) is the Sebastian Klotz branded one, sadly not made by the Mittenwald luthier, but by Yamaha Malaysia, who appear to have trademarked his name. violin 17) is the supersized violin with a very strong sound. violin 18) is the slightly drunken but nice sounding violin from Poland, which I restored and returned to its family. violin 19) is a Stentor student 1 violin which only needed a little TLC, and within less than a week I had it brushed up and ready to move to our local school. The most intriguing problem it had was that somebody had put in the bridge the wrong way round, with the lower slope under the G string. violin 20) is a Stentor student 1 violin I bought via GumTree. It sounds really nice for what it is, thanks in part to a good set-up with Dominant strings. My current plan is to make this one an official Cowley Orchestra instrument. violin 21) is a nameless student violin I bought via facebook, not quite sure what to think of it. The fingerboard is horizontal, which is all wrong and may mean there is not enough pressure on the bridge to produce a good sound. violin 22) is the 19th century Guarneri copy, still my favourite (although I'll have to fix that crack at some point). violin 23) is a nameless student violin I bought from a charity shop. It looks unused but had no strings, so I set it up with a set of spare strings that came with another violin. It turned out to be no trouble at all and sounds ok for an instrument that looks really cheap (with the purfling painted on). violin 24) is the densely cratered one I found lying on a chair at Oxfam, and which I currently play at sessions. violin 25) is the fleamarket find from Neuss violin 26) is the lady in red, which has now rejoined its family. violin 27) is the Czechoslovakian student model described above **Balance 31.7.2025** : Of the 27 violins listed above, 8 received via freegle, 3 from friends and family, 14 bought (gumtree, facebook, charity shops, flea markets, cost ranging £ 10 to £45), 2 taken in for repair only and returned to their families. Of the 25 acquired, 8 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 10 currently in house and ready to play, 2 in house and still broken. List of other instruments in the pirate luthier series: an old Irish banjo guitar 1) is the 100 year-old one from Valencia which I set up with frets and strings and handed back to its owner. guitar 2) is one I spotted in a charity shop "sold as seen" for a very affordable price with nothing more than a broken string, and I bought and repaired it because I knew the owner of the next one needed one while their guitar was out of service. guitar 3) had a broken neck which I glued back on with hide glue at the same time when I repaired violin 10). It's holding so far. the zither I found at the flea market in Dusseldorf. and finally a shout-out to our family-built hammered dulcimer, which dates from 2016, long before I got any ideas about violins.

#PirateLuthier update: I'm currently rescuing one #violin per month, so here comes Miss July aka number 27: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-violin-from-cz...

#musicalInstruments #instrumentRepair

32 strings attached When I'm visiting flea markets in Germany, I sometimes see zithers, and have always passed them by. One day in September 2023, however, at the Aachener Platz fleamarket at Düsseldorf, I came across a derelict one that was marked a very affordable 5€, and when I had a closer look the vendor reduced the price to 4€. It looked like this: I was one year into my pirate luthier adventures and thought, maybe I can fix this one, so I bought it and had it sitting around in a corner for a year and a half. Now, after rediscovering the photo I took at the flea market before buying the instrument and sharing that on flickr, I got round to fixing it up. The biggest challenge was getting my head around the tuning of the harmony strings. The melody strings (above the fretted fingerboard) are tuned like a viola with a duplicate a string: CGDAA. (This is the Munich tuning, as opposed to the Viennese tuning which has a duplicate G string.) The harmony strings (away from the fingerboard) go around the circle of fifths: Eb Bb F C G D A E B F# C# G# Which makes 12 strings. And then the same thing again an octave below (bass strings), another 12. And then, depending on the model, there are variable numbers of contrabass strings descending from Eb chromatically. Mine only has three of these, so that's 27 plus 5 equals 32 strings, phew. Of these, all of the melody strings and five of the harmony strings were missing, leaving me with just 22 strings in place. Bits of wire that may have been strings in happier times were strung around the back, suggesting that somebody had hung the instrument on a wall for decorative purposes. When I tried to tune up the 22 strings (very slowly as I tried to get my head round that tuning pattern), I found that the tension warped the frame of the instrument upwards, away from its backside, with an ugly gap opening up under the tuning pegs. So I needed to relax the strings again and glue that gap shut with hide glue to make sure this can't happen. I'm glad to report that this operation was successful, and I have now all 32 strings on and tuned up to their proper pitch and the instrument has stayed in its proper shape. I also applied some teak oil to the wooden surfaces to spruce them up a bit (not sure if that's allowed on instruments and I wouldn't have dared on a violin!), and that seems to have worked as well, so the instrument now looks like this: There are still some small bits of wood missing around the edges which I'll carve and glue in at some point, but that's essentially a cosmetic issue and the instrument is playable now. The melody strings are brand new (cheap) violin strings, and the harmony strings are whatever I could find lying around that matched the requirements. I think the four higher ones were nyckelharpa strings in an earlier life, and the one at the lowest end is an old cello string. It looks a bit too bulky for this instrument but it does sound lovely for the bottom note. In theory, the F, A and C# strings are coloured red for easier orientation. Now that I know this, I can just about detect remnants of the colour and confirm that I have the right strings in the right places (apart from one F string that was missing), but it's not conspicuous enough to be real help with playing. It's also confusing for harp players used to recognising the C strings by their red colour. Oh, and when I attempted to clean up the fingerboard, I discovered a nearly invisible brand name, Sonora: I found a few zithers and lots of other instruments under that name (including outdoors tubular bells) but it doesn't seem to be an established brand name for a specific zither maker, so it didn't lead me to any information re who made my zither where. More info on zithers (in German) on this website claiming you only need three hands to play it. If you think you've never heard a zither, here's the one zither tune that everybody knows. And here is a picture from Wikipedia of a similar one being played: Von Naturpuur - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 4.0, Link

I restored that old #zither to a playable condition proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/07/32-strings-attac... #PirateLuthier #musicalInstruments #InstrumentRepair

Anybody have a Selmer in need of some red goop?

#selmer #saxophone #sax #saxophoneplayer #instrumentrepair #tucson

dus1898 Düsseldorf: flea market Aachener Platz – happening every Saturday

making progress restoring this old #zither. I think it will be playable fairly soon. www.flickr.com/photos/michaelgrr/546094... #PirateLuthier #InstrumentRepair #StringsAttached

A C Key broke on my midi piano... I then began the journey to repair it. I learned a lot in that. The fragility of my machine, the difficulty of finding repairs, and the high cost of shipping my piano for it. I'll need a new one eventually, but for now this holds.
#piano #instrumentrepair

This is Thomas using pearl powder to make a custom key pearl for a sax that came across his bench.

#sax #saxophone #diy #repair #repairshop #instrument #instrumentrepair #pearl #saxophoneplayer #woodwind

James hard at work getting the dents out of a tuba bell. When they say repairs take elbow grease THIS is what they’re talking about!

#tuba #brass #brassinstrument #tubaplayer #instrumentrepair #repairtech #repairshop #therepairshop

it's not often we have two left handed guitars in the repair shop! are you a lefty? do you play on a left handed guitar or use a right handed model?

#lefthanded #lefty #guitar #guitarist #guitarplayer #repari #repairshop #guitarrepari #instrumentrepair

sometimes the repair shop is full of banging and whirring, but sometimes it's the gentle tip tapping of bassoon keys during a moment of intense focus

#repairshop #repair #woodwind #bassoon #instrumentrepair #tucson

Post-Repair of a 1908 Conn “Rain-Catcher” Sousaphone! My job is pretty fun sometimes. #tuba #sousaphone #instrumentrepair #lowbrass

Busy days with a triple clean in the shop! Lots of small pieces to keep track of.
#horn
#triplehorn
#repair
#instrumentrepair

A cream-colored building wedged between tall apartment blocks houses "CHARGE STUDIO", a music studio and instrument repair shop. Its bold blue sign crackles with electric energy, emphasized by a lightning bolt cleverly replacing the letter “A.” On the shuttered entrance, a painted figure of a long-haired guitarist leans into an invisible riff. Beside the door, a red basket holds umbrellas like reluctant roadies, and a vending machine nearby completes the low-key suburban rock aesthetic. It’s as if this studio is waiting for the next band to stumble in, amps blown, dreams intact.

When your guitar strings are dead and your amp’s on life support, this is where Nagoya says: “Plug in, don’t give up.” ⚡🎸

ギターの弦が切れ、アンプが虫の息になった時、名古屋の答えはここだ。 ⚡🎶

#streetphotography #nagoya #japan #instrumentrepair #ricohgr #ricohgr3 #griiix

Screenshot from an AliExpress email, with a photo of the steel cables and an invitation to, "Find items to match your Fashion Jewelry".

A month or so ago, I bought some short steel cables with screw ends, to suspend some tubular bells. I'm amused to find that AliExpress considers this to be 'fashion jewelry' #InstrumentRepair

Before, during, and after a patch job on a Berliner tuba. Satisfying to seal up that nasty crack!
#tuba #vintage #repair #instrumentrepair

All together now!
#horn #frenchhorn #repair #instrumentrepair

ever wonder where the cork on the bottom of your woodwind keys comes from? they’re handmade by our technicians!

#repair #instrumentrepair #woodwind #musician #tucson #repairshop #musicsky

Kindness at band festivals
#musiceducation #windband #band #conductor #conducting #bandfestival #instrumentrepair @mbbands.bsky.social

Fun and easy custom modification for a friend who likes to play trumpet one-handed: the extra hook acts as a thumbrest
#trumpet #instrumentrepair #custommodification

Today is Mike Lowe's two year anniversary at IMC! If you've brought an instrument into our repair shop over the last couple of years Mike is the reason it got to the tech's bench! Happy Anniversary Mike!

#anniversary #repair #instrumentrepair #tucson #musician

Diagnosing trombone slide problems with a precision stone: see the line of light under the slide tube? It indicates the tube is bent and not perfectly straight.
#trombone #repair #instrumentrepair

we gotta keep our repair techs HYDRATED so they can keep working magic on your instruments

need something tuned up? schedule your next repair on our website

#repair #repairtech #repairshop #tucson #instrumentrepair

the things we find in the repair shop... 🦕 need an instrument worked on? scheduled a repair at www.imc-az.com/repairs #tools #repair #repairshop #instrumentrepair #dinosaur #tucson