#pirateLuthier hashtag - Bluesky

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 day ago

a cello with a chip on its shoulder Pirate Luthier update A special delivery brought five instruments into the pirate luthier workshop at once, namely violins 35 and 36 and cellos 4-6. These instruments had been donated to a local youth orchestra but needed a bit of care to be made playable. I took on the cellos first, as there was a more immediate demand for those, so this post is only about the cellos. Cello number 6) is a full-size cello made in Western Germany in the 1950s or 60s I would guess (see the label below). It had a bit of wood missing on the treble side of the shoulder, which I filled in. Not that I care about cosmetic repairs, but there was the risk of a player's sleeve getting caught in the sharp edge and ripping off more of the wood, so it was just an operation to make it smooth. I also made a foot for it out of a cava cork (forgot to take a photo, but see cello 3). Otherwise it was fine, I happily played it for a week and got on well with it, so all good. The labels reveal that it was "Made in Western Germany" after Stradivarius 1713. Imported by Leslie Sheppard in the 1950s. It has now returned to the good people looking after that youth orchestra. Cello 5) is a 3/4 cello that was brandnew and in my opinion has never been playable, because the pegs didn't fit quite into the pegholes all the way, so they didn't have enough wood surface to grip on. Which explains why at least one was absolutely unusable. In the end I widened the holes for 3 of the pegs to make sure they are functional. Similar story with the endpin hole - that was too narrow and left the endpin plug sticking out by half a centimeter. More of an aesthetic problem, but I adjusted that as well. And lowered the bridge by half a centimeter. My overall impression was that the company that sold this instrument just plugged together the parts as they came in from different factories, without ever checking if the combination resulted in a playable instrument. That one is now also back with the owners. Cello 4) is a half-size one which has a few bits of wood missing which I may or may not fill in and which more importantly has lost all the metal parts of its endpin, leaving only the wooden plug. So it does hold the strings alright but you would have to support it with your legs if you wanted to play it. That can be done but it's not everybody's idea of fun. Endpins come in various sizes that aren't necessarily standardised, and vendors online don't necessarily reveal the crucial measure I need to know, namely the maximal diameter of the wooden conical bit, so I am still looking for the right one to fit this instrument at a price that doesn't exceed the value of the cello itself. endpin plug of half-sized cello 4) in comparison to the complete endpin of 3/4 cello 2), which has in fact a bigger plug than eg full-size cello 3). It's all very confusing. NB 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: a #cello with a chip on its shoulder proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-cello-with-chi... #instrumentRepair #repair #restore

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 month ago

fiddles fixed in February Pirate Luthier update After crack repair, successful reassembly and setting up of the quite lovely violin number 30, I turned to some less beautiful specimens. First to finish off the number 13 which served as a guinea pig for the repair I did on number 30. When I had it assembled and started tuning up the strings, the neck fell off, which was completely unrelated to the problems I fixed before (and just serves as another warning not to buy fiddles from Facebook Marketplace). I've refitted the neck now and the strings have been on for a few days now, so I'm hoping it holds this time. In an effort to make the old fiddles more user-friendly to modern players, I ordered in a few tailpieces with integrated adjusters, so I'm now fitting these to the instruments that came with no adjusters or just one. Have done that for number 30 and 13 above, and also for the czechoslovakian student fiddle number 27. Right now I'm setting up the 3/4 Lark violin (number 33) I recently bought for £ 5, which I believe reflects its value. I'm cutting a bridge and putting on new string and will have to find a chinrest for it. All of which isn't generating any particularly interesting photos, so I'm sharing one from my early years in woodworking instead: The funny thing about it is that I still have most of the tools from the toolset you see on the wall behind me, so I arranged them for a still life: If I ever decide to make a violin from scratch, I'll cut the f-holes with that fretsaw ... NB 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.

new #PirateLuthier update with an ancient photo: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/02/fiddles-fixed-in... #violin #diy #woodworking #tools

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

2 months ago

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

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

3 months ago

a cello jigsaw Pirate Luthier update No new violins turned up this month, but I finally built up enough courage to open up instruments to repair cracks in the body, starting with the less lovely ones to practice on. Violin 13 opened up very nicely and made no trouble at all. Cello 2, a 3/4 instrument I received via freegle in January, was a bit trickier. The top had multiple cracks already, and seemed to be inclined to break into more pieces rather than detouch from the sides as it should. The inside has been messed up to an extent that makes it look more like an art project: I think the top is actually beyond hope, but I will keep using it to practice repair and patch technique. As for the rest, I am slightly tempted to use the neck and tailpin to build a Stroh cello. Looking out for a suitable piece of wood to make a solid body for that, and for the horn. I do have horns that might fit a violin but don't have a cello sized one yet. Apart from the damage to the top, the instrument also has a label saying "Blessing" inside, which I think is a Chinese brand and not a good one. More of a curse than a blessing, I suspect. I think this is definitely the last time I reproduce the full list, which is becoming too long. Next year I'll start a new one or use shortened versions. **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. It has now found a new home. violin 29) is the odd-size one with the lovely rosewood tailpiece violin 30) is the one with the lovely case which still awaits repair violin 31) is the one with the whistle, which the owner now has lent out to a visiting student, so you might hear it being played in sessions. **Balance of violins as of 27.12.2025** : Of the 31 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), 3 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, 1 given to a folkie friend, 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: cello 1) is the one I bought for my own use when old Heinrich moved out. As I changed the setup quite a bit, it does get a number. cello 2) is a 3/4 instrument with serious cracks which I received via freegle, shown above. cello 3) is the old German cello that I rescued and repaired. I'm now playing this daily at home while keeping number 1) in the bag for weekly orchestra use. 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.

I don't have much hope for this #cello, but it looks kind of #artsy when I turn it inside out, so I might want to keep it that way. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-cello-jigsaw.h...

#pirateLuthier #repair #musicalInstruments

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

5 months ago

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

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

5 months ago

a workshop guide Three years ago, just before I embarked on my pirate luthier journey, I discovered a book about lutherie techniques in the Oxfam bookshop at St. Giles: > The making of stringed instruments > A workshop guide > by George Buchanan > Batsford 1989 It contained all the techniques I needed to restore my aunt's old violin to a playable condition. It cost me £ 4 and enabled me to do a repair for which I had been quoted £ 250, so I call that a good deal from the start. It has continued to be a useful resource ever since, even though I sometimes also consult youtube videos from professionals for specific repair techniques that aren't covered in the book. While I haven't read all of it yet, and haven't got any plans for making string instruments from scratch, I thought the book has deserved a space in my pirate luthier blog series, so here it is: Scan of the dustjacket of my edition. One day I will read it cover to cover. But what if it inspires me to build lots of cellos? That could become a problem ... I might end up like this guy: (a vintage postcard I recently spotted on Flickr)

warning - this book may cause wanton #lutherie proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-workshop-guide... #pirateLuthier #nonFiction #woodworking #guidebook

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

6 months ago

an odd-sized violin Pirate Luthier update The second violin I discovered during that lucky day on Gloucester Green market, number 29 on my books, is a funny size, between 3/4 and 7/8 (342 mm body length). Some other details are peculiar as well. The back is flamed in the wrong direction, with the stripes running lengthwise. Still made of two halves though, with the line between the halves ever so slightly tilted. It starts in the right place at the tail end, but ends up closer to the G string at the top. The tailpiece is from a lovely piece of wood (rosewood?) and held by a proper old school tailgut. The chinrest is from the same material although not quite as nice. There are three rather clunky adjusters on D A and E, but there isn't really enough space underneath the tailpiece to use their range without scratching the wood underneath, so I am thinking of replacing these. A more compact design would also provide the opportunity to put the strings 1 mm lower at the bridge. It came with an interesting old bow and a wooden case lined with green felt inside and covered with black sticky stuff on the outside, so let's say mid 20th century? No label or trademark of any kind (apart from the little smily face scratched into the belly by a student). The odd features make me think it may come from some place that doesn't have a long established tradition of violin making. Still it sounds ok for a smaller instrument with strange features and its original mix of strings. I tidied 2/3 of my desk as well, so that is a lovely surface that I haven't seen in a while and that serves nicely as a background for photos. How lovely is that tailpiece? I like the bow. I'm glad it still has enough hair to play, because I have a backlog of bows I need to rehair! **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). 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 instrument described above **Balance 27.9.2025** : Of the 29 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. Of the 27 acquired, 8 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 12 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 - here comes #violin number 29. Currently have 12 that are ready to play if anybody in #Oxford wants one. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/09/an-odd-sized-vio... #musicalInstruments #fiddles #goodEnoughForFolk

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

8 months ago

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

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

9 months ago

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

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

9 months ago

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

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

9 months ago

a lady in red Pirate Luthier update What happened in June? I haven't quite launched the big give-away I was planning, but the Freegle ad looking for violin cases (to be able to give away violins that currently don't have a case) has led to a few interesting follow-ups. One was that I gave two childrens sized violins (numbers 10 with the neck glued back on and 14, a half-sized Lark) to an organisation that gives free initial violin lessons to children at festivals, so these two fiddles may be in use at Glastonbury Festival as this blog entry goes live. Very exciting. It also led to two new violins coming into the pirate workshop. Number 26 is an old European model that I'm just setting up with a new bridge and then returning to its family. It was described to me as a 7/8 size (like the ladies violin from last year) but it's rather small for that, closer to 3/4 according to my measurements. With a matching bow that is also between 3/4 and 7/8 size. I'm loving the historic case lined with red felt, so I took lots of photos of the violin in its case: The other just came in yesterday, so I'll write about it later. 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 described above, which has now rejoined its family. **Balance 27.6.2025** : Of the 26 violins listed above, 7 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 24 acquired, 8 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 9 currently in house and ready to play, 2 in house and still broken. List of non-violins 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. and finally a shout-out to our family-built hammered dulcimer, which dates from 2016, long before I got any ideas about violins.

#violin number 26 on my #PirateLuthier log: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-lady-in-red.ht...

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

10 months ago

WANTED: cases for violins (New Marston OX3) Click for more details

I'm planning to give away several #violins in June, but the limiting factor is the cases to put them in, so I've launched a call for cases on #Oxford #freegle: https://www.ilovefreegle.org/message/114371970 #PirateLuthier

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

11 months ago

a neck re-attached Pirate luthier adventures continued: After nearly a year I gathered up enough courage to try repairing the broken neck of violin 10, which sports a whole crime scene with traces of multiple repair attempts. I had cleaned out the place where it needs gluing early on, but then hesitated to proceed because I was afraid the connection wouldn't hold the tension of the strings. So it stayed on the back burner for many months, while I kept picking the lower hanging fruit. Two weeks ago, however, I just cooked up some hide glue and fitted the two parts together again, and they hold like a charm. I first tested the connection with a mock setup using random old strings, and when that held together I ordered some really cheap strings from ebay (ten times cheaper than what I normally buy) and put those on, together with an upcycled old bridge. With that setup, the violin is now playable, stays in tune, and still hasn't fallen apart. It doesn't sound very nice, so if somebody wanted to play it I'd recommend a more expensive set of strings and maybe a new bridge. It is a 3/4 sized violin so I have no use for it myself. (And I also don't have a 3/4 bow to go with it, nor a case that offers reasonable protection.) It came with a label suggesting that it may date from the 1920s. Here are a few photos in its post-repair state. First the re-attached neck. Then the front and back (with another repair patch unrelated to the neck crisis): * * * 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 the first week of June. 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 the first week of June. violin 8) is the "ladies violin", a 7/8 skylark. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June. 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 the first week of June. violin 10) is the broken one with traces of multiple repair attempts, which I've now repaired, as reported above. 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 the first week of June. 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 the first week of June. violins 13) through to 15) I bought locally through gumtree or facebook, nothing special to report. 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. I'm now playing this one at sessions, and number 22 at home. Balance 18.4.2025: Of the 24 violins listed above, 7 received via freegle, 3 from friends and family, 13 bought (gumtree, facebook, charity shops, cost ranging £ 10 to £45), 1 taken in for repair only and returned to its family. Of the 23 acquired, 6 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 9 currently in house and ready to play, 3 in house and still broken. List of non-violins 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. 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 continued: After successfully gluing the 3/4 #violin with the broken neck, I now have 9 fiddles in house ready to play. proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-neck-re-attach...

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 year ago

violin5993 Violin number 24 of my pirate luthier adventures - more about it: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/03/counting-craters.html

#violin no. 24 now on my #flickr as well. www.flickr.com/photos/michaelgrr/544248... #PirateLuthier #musicalInstruments

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 year ago

Original post on mastodon.social

there are now two dozen violins in my #PirateLuthier logbook. Eight of them are in house and ready to play so if anybody in #Oxford needs to borrow a #fiddle (good enough for #folk or amateur #orchestra) do get in touch. (bows and cases are limited, so will be easier to help out ppl who still […]

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 year ago

a guitar from Valencia Pirate luthier adventures continued with a detour into guitar territory: I try to bat away most instruments that aren't from the violin family, but accepted to restore this guitar which looked really cute and was in need of frets, inlays, and a nut when it came to me. I managed to fit in all of these vaguely in the right places, so now it looks like a guitar and sounds like a guitar, although I wouldn't guarantee that all notes will be 100% in tune. It has a maker's label, but unfortunately, a Swiss company importing the instrument from Spain insisted on sticking its own label right across the more interesting one telling us who made the instrument. **Update** : Scratch my guesswork - a helpful Mastodon user from Valencia cracked the secret. The guitar maker was Jose Cortes, and you can see examples of his labels here (ignore the first image which is an unrelated label). The label reads then: > Manufactura de Guitarras / > E Instrumentos Similares / > J. Cortés / > Continuacion de Jorje Juan, D.N. / > Valencia / > (Espana) Jose Cortes was active from around 1910 till 1930, so this makes the guitar a likely centenarian ... I'm loving the rich decoration around the sound hole and around the edges, which looks a little bit irregular and home-made, but very charmingly so. The instrument has now returned to its owner who has had it for more than half a century. Update: While attempting to track down the maker in Valencia, I looked up the trader, Hug & Co, and it turns out they have an interesting history too, spanning more than 200 years, and they're still in business today. A quick look seems to suggest they traded as Hug & Co from 1905 until 1973. Normal service obsessing about violins will resume soon, as violin number 24 has arrived on the premises this week.

The mystery of this century-old #guitar from #Valencia is solved thanks to the magic of Mastodon: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-guitar-from-va... #PirateLuthier

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 year ago

Original post on mastodon.social

I restored an old #guitar for a change. Does anybody happen to know who the maker resident in Calle Jorge Juan, #Valencia in the first half of the 20th century may have been? (see photo of the partially obscured label in the blog entry) […]

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michael

@proseandpassion.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

1 year ago

#PirateLuthier update - there are now 12 #violins in my room, 7 are playable and #GoodEnoughForFolk.One will be straightforward to set up, the other four present challenges of various levels. Also, 2 #cellos, 2 #violas, 1 #doubleBass. Oh, and 3 guitars.