Hi Jerry; I have repaired a few instruments and built seven myself as a hobby only. My first project was a Checz violin in almost the same condition as this one, except the top was all the way loose and the back was about 90% loose. The finish was about 95% gone too, so I had to refinish it too. I was only in my 20's at the time (I'm 76 now). It turned out very well considering I knew nothing about instruments at the time. No one else could tell where the mouse hole had been when I got done. I played the instrument for over a year. That was the only time I ever played a violin. 11 years ago when we moved to this house the movers smashed it. My wife threw it out, she said because she knew I would be heart broken. I was heart broken when I found out she had thrown it out. At the time it was almost 200 years old and had been brought to America by my friend's grandfather. So I can understand someone wanting to repair a basket case. Thanks for your videos. Note: on the f-hole, I used masking tape and taped a piece of paper over the outside of the other f-hole and traced a pattern. Then I cut it out with an x-acto knife, turned it upside down, taped it over the patched f-hole and traced it on the patch. My old violin had a short crack on the base side of the tail saddle that opened up every winter when it got dry. I was planning to shorten the saddle a few thousandths of an inch after we moved. However; the violin got smashed during the move and my wife threw it away without telling me. You really did a great job on this old grandpa's violin. I really enjoy your videos.
I’m from Spain, so I’m not familiar with any accent. I just love the way you talk, work and explain your method. I even got myself a cheap fiddle to fix, restore and then learn to play. I think after watching you for a while that that’s the sweetest prize, a new canvas for new musical paths. Thank you, wherever you are friend, have a great day ☺️🍀
I just found your TH-cam channel yesterday. I played Cello when I was in Middle School, which was more than 25 years ago. I want to get back into playing it, I think. I have fond memories of playing, I remember really enjoying it. As an adult, I've enjoyed doing woodwork. Mainly, just making pens, cutting boards, and a really cool jewelry box for my wife. Watching your videos, I'm kind of wanting to find an old busted up cello to try rebuilding. It would probably end up taking me a year or 2 to fix one lol. Thanks for doing this.
Jerry, I know you are too humble to say it yourself (or possibly, even agree with me), but you are truly a master artisan and a genius!! Love watching your creative problem solving and seeing you bring old broken instruments back to life with your care and love!! As long as you have a channel, I will be a life-long viewer!! Thanks so much for sticking through all the TH-cam BS and sharing your love with us!!
Hide glue dries to form a crystalline structure, just like before you water it down to use it. That brittle-ness transfers more energy from the top plate into sound, which is another reason why hide glue remains the classic adhesive for fine string instruments. I love your videos, Jerry.
I've heard that many times before. But I would bet you $1,000 cash that you cannot tell the difference from one built with hide glue and one built with Titebond in a blind test. I've been building my mandolins with Titebond for 35 years and they sound as good or better than some of the old Gibsons built with hide glue. Not trying to be a smart alec. But when you think about all of the things that make an instrument sound good what percentage do you think is attributed to the glue? My guess is less than 1%.
Thank you for another great video. When I se you work on a violin, it brings back memories of my own grandfather who was a violin maker. So thank you so much for bringing back those memories. Cheers from Norway.
Dear Jerry,discovered your channel about 2 weeks ago&just wanted to say THANKS!You're a great inspiration,love your work& the way you present it.Still a very honest DIY attitude in it.Great to know you're out there...
This is my second viewing. This time I was awed by your skill in repairing the mouse hole. Extraordinary craftsmanship, Jerry. STILL, U R D man. Thanks for sharing.
Great work as always mr.jerry!! The first good mandolin I got when I was playing mandolin when I was a kid was a 50s Gibson F something other,definitely not an F5 haha had no most of the label was missing,could make out the Gibson and hand written “F” but that’s it. It had a mouse hole in the top on the bass side F-hole. I played it like that for years,I finally fixed the mouse hole a couple years ago. My hands don’t allow me to play mandolin a whole lot anymore but I still keep it. One go these days I’m gonna build or have me a custom mando built with a wide neck on it. I enjoy the hell out of your videos mr.jerry,it’s always a pleasure to see how other repairman go about a job or to get ideas,I love your repair videos and your build videos,you build some beautiful looking and sounding mandolins. And that guitar you built for your brother is truly a work of art. As for the glues,I use the hell out of titebond original for a lot of stuff but on vintage repairs I prefer to use hideglue when I can. When I need a bit more open time I use a good fishglue from Lehigh Valley Tool company. Just a personal preference for me personally. Nothing wrong with titebond,I buy it by the gallon and I got a couple different sized gluebots that use the hell out of. When I’m gluing up tops and backs I use titebond,all of my laminated necks are glued up with titebond. Braces,bridges,finger boards I use hide or fish glue. Again,just my personally preference.
Your right on the money Jerry! I've had people state that hide glue sounds better. I guess they need better sounding glue instead of better sounding wood!! I always used Original Titebond and I've pulled fretboards from my mandolins with no issues. Jerry you're a true master and are welcomed down in Tennessee any day!
Great work. Jerry you are a very good at what you do. I like the way you repaired the S- Hole in the front of the fiddle. It was a pretty neat way to repair it. Amazing work. I will look forward to the next video. I hope you have a blessed week.
I cannot believe how much work you put into this. This video gives me hope that one day I will repair that poor little fiddle in our 'bone pile' at the shop.
Could the marks left by the clamps on the back have been due to the finish being Italian oil varnish that imprints easily?. I had a violin that if you got a tiny bit of alcohol or oil on the surface it would soften the varnish on it. I don't like Italian oil varnish for this reason.
You're really imaginative and creative in order to nail down all theses problems and I really love your idea how to flatten the top in order to glue the parts together Hats Off sir !
The size of a Two-by-four! That made me laugh out loud. ... I like those delrun clamps and the plastic tubing is a pretty slick idea, though I was totally surprised with it's reacting with the finish.
Another innovative work Gerry, never seems to amaze me with your very creative techniques of devicing special tools which you normally cannot find in any hardware store, impecable job there 👍
Another way you could support Jerry and this channel would by through his Rosa String Works online store. I recently bought a couple shirts and they're comfortable and look good. I needed a new tshirt anyway, so it works out well for the both of us. I always agree with him when he says 'It's not easy being me.' and I feel like that pretty often myself, now I have it on a t-shirt to confuse everyone around town with. Well, I guess I could potentially wear it around town if things ever get back to normal.
Hi Jerry; I'm watching this video yet again, I love it. My most recent build was an electric violin. The fingerboard I bought for it is inlaid with flowers, however; it was very thick and clunky. Remembering this video, I used my jointer and took the thickness down about 1.5 mm. That made it very nice and delicate. The whole instrument resonates so well that I can play it without amplification and hear it well enough for practice without waking my wife at night. Hope this comment finds you well. May god be with you.
Mittenwald was/ is a great & famous area in Germany for Orchestral Instruments, it will no doubt be very well seasoned wood & of excellent craftsmanship, especially so if 60-70 or 80 yrs old.
Too bad it broke into about five pieces. I'm curious about how (or if) it changes the sound. I'm sure it would but then again a lot of the deified Stradivarius violins have broken top plates and are cracked just like this one and people still go crazy for them. So it must not affect it too poorly.
I bought a glue pot about 30 years ago. Hide glue has been very handy in my general woodworking. I also use it for building and repairing violins and cellos. One of the huge benefits of hide glue is that it shrinks as it dries (and can therefore pull a joint nice and tight). An old furniture makers trick is to use hide glue without any clamps. Think triangle blocks in chair or table construction. Apply the hide glue; "rub" the piece of wood into it's location until the hide glue gets a good grab (doesn't take long); let go of the block -- no clamps needed and it dries down tight. If you need to be convinced about the way hide glue shrinks and pulls tight, google "glass chipping with hide glue." I have used gallons of titebond over the years and will continue to do so. You really should consider using hot hide glue. Working temperature is 140 to 150 degrees and it cools rapidly so the heat isn't an issue. My most creative use for hide glue was as a substitute for theatrical "spirit glue" which is nasty stuff. I used hot hide glue to attached wrinkled tissues to my wife's face when I was making her up as the wicked witch of the west. It worked beautifully and removed easily with warm water.
I just got started doing repairs recently It seems the first thing to know is that hide glue is only for things that may need to be disassembled again I wouldn't wanna use it to repair a broken piece of wood
@@fugeeohu9357 Hide glue allows for clean disassembly of the instrument to make it just that much easier to repair an instrument when it eventually develops a problem that needs to be repaired. No modern wood glue makes it as easy to disassemble a glued joint, clean up ALL the old glue, NOT damage or remove any of the wood in the joint, and reglue the joint as hide glue. It is fair to say that you can make a case for more permanent glues to fix things that should never have come apart and would never need to come apart again even if you have to take the instrument apart again. But what would those cases be? Top split? How do you know the top won't split again on the same line, farther down?
Now hold on there, Mister. Of all the amazing things you do in these videos, repairing instruments, building instruments, singing, playing and composing music, to me this takes the prize. Threading the rod @ 7:40. Until I started watching your videos, I never knew what a "die" was or what it was used for, although I had seen the round die you held up for the camera many times in hardware stores. I thought that threading solid steel could only be done at factories using very hard steel, tremendous pressure and precision. And there you are, blythely turning that die--and reversing it!!!!--to thread that rod, as though you were at a Sunday picnic. I was thunderstruck, gobsmacked and generally knocked side ways. UUUH-mazing. U R D Man!!
There was this spongy tube thing on my guitar stand and it did the same thing to my bass finish. I put some painters tape on places of contact on the tube and that fixed it. Great tune by the way. English is not my first language so I apologize for mistakes.
Excellent work! Look ever so to part 2. I can't play an instrument,but I love the wood working aspects. Oh I an play a radio. lol. Keep'm coming and I will keep watching.
Fine work my friend. I need to get back on my violin repair just to get it out of my shop but I've got a lot of other priority stuff happening. Those clamps are a great idea.
Vinyl has softeners that react to certain things, melting things like lacquer. If you can smell the plastic, it most likely will do unwanted things as a rule of thumb. Surgical or food grade silicone might be the safest choice, followed by other food grade plastics.
Hi there, I can imagine that what you saw with this instrument was a fix NOT using hide glue. A violin is a box with different woods glued together. They shrink and expand differently. You want the glue be the weakest spot. If your top and bottom sit "like iron" on the sides the weakest spot will be - the wood. Especially the soft spruce top will crack all over the place. That's why you even want to use just a little bit of hide glue (actually the right amount, of course).
Thanks for making these videos! It's really satisfying to watch people with your level of expertise practice the craft they've mastered. At the 14:00 mark, you speculate that the vinyl tubing around the clamps might have chemically reacted with the finish. That's probably what happened. Vinyl tubing has a plasticizer in it that makes it pliable -- otherwise it would be as hard as PVC pipe. The plasticizer can migrate from the vinyl into other materials if they are in contact with each other for too long, and since shellac and nitrocellulose chemically have a lot in common with plastic, the plasticizer will soften and weaken them, too. You can research "plasticizer migration" if you want to know more, but it's a super boring topic.
Love your videos. I've even used a hint of some techniques in my handyman/jack of all trades master of NONE life. I am happy to have joined the gang on Patreon as well. Thanks for doing what you do.
Jerry, vinyl is polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The stuff is pretty rigid. In order to make PVC flexible, plasticizers, among them octyl pthalate, are added to the product. Those additional chemicals could easily interact with the instrument's finish. Maybe "viton" tubing is better. "Viton" will misbehave around acetone, MEK, & "banana oil".
You are totally right about Tightbond... it comes in 3 formulas, Tightbond 1, the regular stuff, is completely removable with heat and moisture, just like hide glue. The only advantage of hide glue is it cured ‘harder’ but its bear to use with a hot pot and limited working time. My family did furniture repairs among other things... and being their helper, I have used every glue and epoxy you can imagine. Jerry is right about basic Tightbond Tightbond-3 is different glue and much harder to take apart later. Its a water resistant polymer, not for most luthier work... however, to build up slabs for a solid body electric guitar, it may be the best ‘Permanent’ choice. Love your vids Jerry, learning with every one, should be ready to tackle great-grandads guitar by summer.
Endo Alley I saw a little feature on fish glue at StuMac. Looks interesting, but probably as a special applications kind of thing. It would be nice to learn more about it but in the end, it appears to be pretty similar to hide glue. Tell you what I want to know, is the real practical diff between hot pot hide glue, and bottled room temp. I have a low value family treasure, great grand-dads 120 year old guitar all in pieces. This summer I want to put it back together. Between Jerry and Dan Erlywines vids, I’m taking the master class. Mostly I will use tightbond 1, just like Jerry does. Some joints I will probably use hide glue, for its hardness when dry, and guaranteed ease of re-do in the future after I am gone. My folks are dead and I don’t have their old hot-pot, so wondering about the bottle hide glue... For all practical purposes, tightbond 1 could do the whole job. Its not a historical guitar, not even likely to be played much. I want it preserved in one piece, not a guitar case full of dry pieces. Jerry teaches more than all the others.. Every step why and how, and how to make the tools... Very grateful for having found his channel.
I like the way Jerry uses what he has on hand and improvises methods of bracings. I have never seen wedges used as he does. Looks like a good idea in the right circumstance. I have also heard that many believe hide glue is sonically more transparent than plastic glues. So they claim, hide glues don't mute the top plate of a string instrument. But to some degree plastic glues will. I have no idea if that is true. The Titebond is so much easier to use. Anyhow, I would have thought that this fiddle was beyond repair. But he has done a wonderful job restoring it. I have a couple old fiddles with full length (non sound post) cracks that I thought were basket cases. Now I will rethink that and hopefully restore them. The are factory fiddles not valuable enough to pay someone else to fix. One is a Czech fiddle labeled "Prokop". The other is Czech fiddle labeled "John Juzek". I am going to research fish glue also.
On further research it seems fish glue is not good in humid climates. Can't wait to see the final video of this old fiddle. Amazing what he has done to repair it.
My grandpa was once telling me about the fiddle his dad and uncles used tp play. It had been obtained in Nashville during the civil war by one of the uncles, and had a label in it with the name Guarnerius on it. (A copy I'm sure) he said that it was played often during family get togethers, and was the first on he had ever played on. He said that the last time he saw it was at a cousins house, sitting in a closet, and a mouse had chewed a hole in one of the F holes.
On the hide glue, this is what I was told. It happened when I obtained an old reed organ a long time back and decided to rebuild it. I purchased a book on rebuilding them and it had a section on glue. It said the problem with yellow carpenters glue is that the water in the glue absorbs into the wood and can deform the joint. Whereas this isn't a problem for most applications, when dealing with repairing instruments it is preferable to use hide glue that cures instead of dries. This supposedly prevents less deformation of the wood. The other reason is of course you can loosen the bond with just heat and do not need the additional moisture needed to break the bond with carpenters glue. This makes a difference when you are dealing with a very old instrument such as the reed organ I rebuilt. I found the repairs that were done with carpenters glue much more difficult to undo than the hide glue and the old wood (this organ was built in 1891) of the organ soaked up water like a sponge which caused me trouble later on trying to refit the top of the reed board as sections had swelled and I had to plane it back flat to get an airtight seal. So I invested in a glue pot. Don't like using it but whoever rebuilds that organ again in another 100 years will thank me.
Useing fresh sandpaper imo is a very smart move. sandpaper no.mater what brand I prefer 3m or Norton always cuts better new.uused paper is like trying to use a dull plane in compared to useing a very sharp one.
Good honest man, i would trust him although, I disagree regarding use of wood glue. i have no doubt that wood glue is stronger and that it can be undone, but, the issue is that hide glue comes undone at the appropriate stress whereas wood glue will cause cracks rather than seams coming loose, i'd rather a loose seam that is easy as anything to fix
i enjoy watching you do your magic on these old instruments. i can't hardly believe what youtube has been doing lately,i can see why they go after the planet x and chemtrail people but i really can't see why they would pick on you
My grandfather told me about a fiddle that his uncle obtained in Tennessee during the Civil War that had a label in it with the name "Guarnerius" in it. He said it was a real nice sounding fiddle that his uncles and father all played, and that the last time he saw it was when he was visiting a cousin in nearby Hanover, Indiana. He told me the old fiddle was standing in the corner of a closet, and that a mouse had chewed a hole in one of the F holes.
Hi Jerry, Ian the luthier in Tasmania here. I have always thought that wedges are important as other clamping methods and I admire your inventiveness :-)
sumting i thinking with looking at the dip along the crack you mentioned : i think you could put a line of smal woodscrews under the crack and use them as small jacks to lift the part up underneath the crack
Those Hansen dies are high speed steel. Most of the other brands are made of high carbon steel and are only good for fixing threads not cutting from solid.
Howdy! I would never got an idea for Many of your methods... Just proves that you are a real Master builder, and you Have a ton of experience... While i am Just a huge fan of your Work...! Greeting from Croatia
It is like reading a good book with many exciting chapters. You encouraged me to correct the neck angle of my guitar. I was not so brave to separate the entire neck, but following one of your videos I've partially separated the back in the area around the neck. Not sure if I ruined this guitar in terms of sound quality (rather not), but at least the neck is now in correct position :)
you should be very proud of your restorations I know im proud to watch you restore these instruments ,I have only restored guitars oh and 1 banjo but that dosnt count lol dang thing ,good thing it was mine (wall hanger )im the samr way as far as glue titebond is the best in my opinion
How did you disinfect the violin of the mold and mildew? Spray bottle full of bleach or something like that? When I rescued my old Kay Tenor, I never have wiped any kind of liquid, oil, anything, but used a soft cloth to at least wipe away the dust and such. The cloth came back with many hues of GREEN on it! I have never seen that before!
Mittenwald generic makers supplied music stores in America with violins and other instruments. This was common before the Asian invasion in the 1980s and beyond.
I can't believe how much I enjoy watching your videos. I've watched a lot of "repair" videos on stringed instruments but wow, yours are miles above the others. The ingenuity and care that you put into those instruments just blows me away. I open TH-cam, your channel pops up in my recommended, and the next thing I know I've been watching for 2 or 3 hours. There is so much honesty and sincerity in your voice that it actually seems to find it's way into the instruments themselves and makes them better than they were originally. Also, the tune "Mandolin Wine" is an amazing piece of music. Is there possibly a link to the entire piece? I found myself going backwards into the video again and again just to listen the short clips of it. And what 5-string is that on the banjo break? That is one sweet and crisp sounding banjo. I wish I could give you more than just one "thumbs up". So, on to part 2.
Another GREAT vid. What do you use to remove mold ? Is the disinfectant water or non-water based ? Since the pores in the instrument's wood are bigger than mold spores, how do you reeeeeally ensure that the mold is gone and will not cause a problem in the future ?
It busted up because the hide glue did not break loose at the seams as it is supposed to do. When the top or bottom shrink or expand depending on humidity or lack thereof, the bottom for example is supposed to break loose from the sides, which saves the top, biggest reason for hide glue.
@@RosaStringWorks Actually I'm not, titebond elsewhere is fine. Sorry, you are mistaken. You have quarantined a crack in the top if the top cannot break loose from the side, ask yourself how many violins you have seen where the top or back is loose from the sides. Unfortunately they don't always come loose and the top cracks etc. Of course titebond doesn't stain worth a darn.
boy I got crucified for using Titebond instead of Hyde glue on an old violin lol but I would do it the same way again if another violin comes here. very nice work Jerry!
Yeah people get hung up on doing it the traditional way you shouldn't improve upon it. Well then I say do you have electricity in your house? cuz stradivari didn't. If we didn't improve upon things it would be a sad World. Thanks my friend for watching.
Hi Jerry; I have repaired a few instruments and built seven myself as a hobby only. My first project was a Checz violin in almost the same condition as this one, except the top was all the way loose and the back was about 90% loose. The finish was about 95% gone too, so I had to refinish it too. I was only in my 20's at the time (I'm 76 now). It turned out very well considering I knew nothing about instruments at the time. No one else could tell where the mouse hole had been when I got done. I played the instrument for over a year. That was the only time I ever played a violin. 11 years ago when we moved to this house the movers smashed it. My wife threw it out, she said because she knew I would be heart broken. I was heart broken when I found out she had thrown it out. At the time it was almost 200 years old and had been brought to America by my friend's grandfather. So I can understand someone wanting to repair a basket case. Thanks for your videos. Note: on the f-hole, I used masking tape and taped a piece of paper over the outside of the other f-hole and traced a pattern. Then I cut it out with an x-acto knife, turned it upside down, taped it over the patched f-hole and traced it on the patch.
My old violin had a short crack on the base side of the tail saddle that opened up every winter when it got dry. I was planning to shorten the saddle a few thousandths of an inch after we moved. However; the violin got smashed during the move and my wife threw it away without telling me. You really did a great job on this old grandpa's violin. I really enjoy your videos.
lrstaf6 sorry to hear about the fiddle. Thank you so much for watching.
I’m from Spain, so I’m not familiar with any accent. I just love the way you talk, work and explain your method. I even got myself a cheap fiddle to fix, restore and then learn to play. I think after watching you for a while that that’s the sweetest prize, a new canvas for new musical paths. Thank you, wherever you are friend, have a great day ☺️🍀
I'm really enjoying these fiddle restoration clips now I've found them!
Thanks for posting Jerry.
I just found your TH-cam channel yesterday.
I played Cello when I was in Middle School, which was more than 25 years ago. I want to get back into playing it, I think. I have fond memories of playing, I remember really enjoying it.
As an adult, I've enjoyed doing woodwork. Mainly, just making pens, cutting boards, and a really cool jewelry box for my wife.
Watching your videos, I'm kind of wanting to find an old busted up cello to try rebuilding. It would probably end up taking me a year or 2 to fix one lol.
Thanks for doing this.
So, what I'm saying is, in probably 2 years, I'm gonna have to send you a busted cello that I tried to fix and totally jacked up lol
@@ndothan not everyone is useless with their hands
@@kanatsizkanatli who said anything about anyone being useless with their hands?
Jerry, I know you are too humble to say it yourself (or possibly, even agree with me), but you are truly a master artisan and a genius!! Love watching your creative problem solving and seeing you bring old broken instruments back to life with your care and love!! As long as you have a channel, I will be a life-long viewer!! Thanks so much for sticking through all the TH-cam BS and sharing your love with us!!
Thank you very kindly my friend.
Hide glue dries to form a crystalline structure, just like before you water it down to use it. That brittle-ness transfers more energy from the top plate into sound, which is another reason why hide glue remains the classic adhesive for fine string instruments.
I love your videos, Jerry.
I've heard that many times before. But I would bet you $1,000 cash that you cannot tell the difference from one built with hide glue and one built with Titebond in a blind test. I've been building my mandolins with Titebond for 35 years and they sound as good or better than some of the old Gibsons built with hide glue. Not trying to be a smart alec. But when you think about all of the things that make an instrument sound good what percentage do you think is attributed to the glue? My guess is less than 1%.
Thank you for another great video. When I se you work on a violin, it brings back memories of my own grandfather who was a violin maker. So thank you so much for bringing back those memories. Cheers from Norway.
Ole Johan Pålsrud you are welcome. Thanks for watching.
Dear Jerry,discovered your channel about 2 weeks ago&just wanted to say THANKS!You're a great inspiration,love your work& the way you present it.Still a very honest DIY attitude in it.Great to know you're out there...
Thank you my friend. I'm glad to know you're out there too.
Jerry you are an amazing craftsman. A true artist your knowledge is wonderful. please keep your videos coming. Thanks
Thank you very kindly.
I watch alot of your videos, but since I play the violin I love them the most....
Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching.
That little bitty plane is an awesome tool.
Yes it is an awesome tool. It is one of my essentials. Thank you for watching.
Jerry, where are they available?
This is my second viewing. This time I was awed by your skill in repairing the mouse hole. Extraordinary craftsmanship, Jerry. STILL, U R D man. Thanks for sharing.
Great work as always mr.jerry!! The first good mandolin I got when I was playing mandolin when I was a kid was a 50s Gibson F something other,definitely not an F5 haha had no most of the label was missing,could make out the Gibson and hand written “F” but that’s it. It had a mouse hole in the top on the bass side F-hole. I played it like that for years,I finally fixed the mouse hole a couple years ago. My hands don’t allow me to play mandolin a whole lot anymore but I still keep it. One go these days I’m gonna build or have me a custom mando built with a wide neck on it. I enjoy the hell out of your videos mr.jerry,it’s always a pleasure to see how other repairman go about a job or to get ideas,I love your repair videos and your build videos,you build some beautiful looking and sounding mandolins. And that guitar you built for your brother is truly a work of art.
As for the glues,I use the hell out of titebond original for a lot of stuff but on vintage repairs I prefer to use hideglue when I can. When I need a bit more open time I use a good fishglue from Lehigh Valley Tool company. Just a personal preference for me personally. Nothing wrong with titebond,I buy it by the gallon and I got a couple different sized gluebots that use the hell out of. When I’m gluing up tops and backs I use titebond,all of my laminated necks are glued up with titebond. Braces,bridges,finger boards I use hide or fish glue. Again,just my personally preference.
Totally magnificent from the repair to building your own tools. You simply amaze me every single time.
Thank you very much.
I always learn something from your videos, Jerry. Thanks for being my teacher in this craft.
You are very welcome. Thank you so much for watching.
Your right on the money Jerry! I've had people state that hide glue sounds better. I guess they need better sounding glue instead of better sounding wood!! I always used Original Titebond and I've pulled fretboards from my mandolins with no issues. Jerry you're a true master and are welcomed down in Tennessee any day!
Awesome luthier work.You know how to show detail in a practical way, to where people can understand it.
Thank you very much.
I don't even play violin, but I enjoy your restoration techniques and your raconteurial speaking style....sort of reminds me of Wil Rogers.
Great work. Jerry you are a very good at what you do. I like the way you repaired the S- Hole in the front of the fiddle. It was a pretty neat way to repair it. Amazing work. I will look forward to the next video. I hope you have a blessed week.
Thank you very much my friend.
I cannot believe how much work you put into this. This video gives me hope that one day I will repair that poor little fiddle in our 'bone pile' at the shop.
I saw Part 2 first and there is where you will find thank you and compliments.
Great repair Jerry. Can wait to see the second part.
All the best
Gilbert👍
Thank you very much my friend. It will be out very soon.
how you repaired that violin was magic, really well done !
Could the marks left by the clamps on the back have been due to the finish being Italian oil varnish that imprints easily?. I had a violin that if you got a tiny bit of alcohol or oil on the surface it would soften the varnish on it. I don't like Italian oil varnish for this reason.
You're really imaginative and creative in order to nail down all theses problems and I really love your idea how to flatten the top in order to glue the parts together Hats Off sir !
The size of a Two-by-four! That made me laugh out loud. ... I like those delrun clamps and the plastic tubing is a pretty slick idea, though I was totally surprised with it's reacting with the finish.
Thank you very much. Yeah apparently it did react to the finish so I'll use a different kind of tubing or something else in the future. Thanks
You got an interesting profession. Dealing with what pops out of the box.
It can definitely be interesting that is for sure. Thank you for watching.
Another innovative work Gerry, never seems to amaze me with your very creative techniques of devicing special tools which you normally cannot find in any hardware store, impecable job there 👍
Thank you very much.
Great work. I think the mouse hole gave it character.
It may have. LOL. Thanks for watching.
Another way you could support Jerry and this channel would by through his Rosa String Works online store. I recently bought a couple shirts and they're comfortable and look good. I needed a new tshirt anyway, so it works out well for the both of us. I always agree with him when he says 'It's not easy being me.' and I feel like that pretty often myself, now I have it on a t-shirt to confuse everyone around town with. Well, I guess I could potentially wear it around town if things ever get back to normal.
f hole repair looked really good Jerry, oh and I don't care what kind of glue you use. thanks for the videos
Thank you very much my friend. Thanks for watching.
Hi Jerry;
I'm watching this video yet again, I love it. My most recent build was an electric violin. The fingerboard I bought for it is inlaid with flowers, however; it was very thick and clunky. Remembering this video, I used my jointer and took the thickness down about 1.5 mm. That made it very nice and delicate. The whole instrument resonates so well that I can play it without amplification and hear it well enough for practice without waking my wife at night. Hope this comment finds you well. May god be with you.
Always informative and Really enjoy hearing some of the music you and your friends are performing.
Thank you very kindly.
liquid hide glue... Jerry you being fibbing about that glue... LOL I can't believe you brought it back from the dead.
It looks like you are going to breathe new life into that old fiddle!
Thank you very much. It turned out pretty good as you'll see in part 2.
Mittenwald was/ is a great & famous area in Germany for Orchestral Instruments, it will no doubt be very well seasoned wood & of excellent craftsmanship, especially so if 60-70 or 80 yrs old.
Too bad it broke into about five pieces. I'm curious about how (or if) it changes the sound. I'm sure it would but then again a lot of the deified Stradivarius violins have broken top plates and are cracked just like this one and people still go crazy for them. So it must not affect it too poorly.
I bought a glue pot about 30 years ago. Hide glue has been very handy in my general woodworking. I also use it for building and repairing violins and cellos. One of the huge benefits of hide glue is that it shrinks as it dries (and can therefore pull a joint nice and tight). An old furniture makers trick is to use hide glue without any clamps. Think triangle blocks in chair or table construction. Apply the hide glue; "rub" the piece of wood into it's location until the hide glue gets a good grab (doesn't take long); let go of the block -- no clamps needed and it dries down tight. If you need to be convinced about the way hide glue shrinks and pulls tight, google "glass chipping with hide glue." I have used gallons of titebond over the years and will continue to do so. You really should consider using hot hide glue. Working temperature is 140 to 150 degrees and it cools rapidly so the heat isn't an issue. My most creative use for hide glue was as a substitute for theatrical "spirit glue" which is nasty stuff. I used hot hide glue to attached wrinkled tissues to my wife's face when I was making her up as the wicked witch of the west. It worked beautifully and removed easily with warm water.
I just got started doing repairs recently It seems the first thing to know is that hide glue is only for things that may need to be disassembled again I wouldn't wanna use it to repair a broken piece of wood
@@fugeeohu9357 Hide glue allows for clean disassembly of the instrument to make it just that much easier to repair an instrument when it eventually develops a problem that needs to be repaired. No modern wood glue makes it as easy to disassemble a glued joint, clean up ALL the old glue, NOT damage or remove any of the wood in the joint, and reglue the joint as hide glue. It is fair to say that you can make a case for more permanent glues to fix things that should never have come apart and would never need to come apart again even if you have to take the instrument apart again. But what would those cases be? Top split? How do you know the top won't split again on the same line, farther down?
@@Turboy65 So then use hide glue for all repairs?
@@fugeeohu9357 Every professional and respected violin repairman on earth would use hide glue for all repairs.
Now hold on there, Mister. Of all the amazing things you do in these videos, repairing instruments, building instruments, singing, playing and composing music, to me this takes the prize. Threading the rod @ 7:40. Until I started watching your videos, I never knew what a "die" was or what it was used for, although I had seen the round die you held up for the camera many times in hardware stores. I thought that threading solid steel could only be done at factories using very hard steel, tremendous pressure and precision. And there you are, blythely turning that die--and reversing it!!!!--to thread that rod, as though you were at a Sunday picnic. I was thunderstruck, gobsmacked and generally knocked side ways. UUUH-mazing. U R D Man!!
You do wonderful work. Looking forward to part 2.
Thank you very much.
There was this spongy tube thing on my guitar stand and it did the same thing to my bass finish. I put some painters tape on places of contact on the tube and that fixed it. Great tune by the way. English is not my first language so I apologize for mistakes.
Excellent work! Look ever so to part 2. I can't play an instrument,but I love the wood working aspects. Oh I an play a radio. lol. Keep'm coming and I will keep watching.
Thank you very much. I used to play radio. But I had to quit because I got static. LOL Thanks for watching.
I love your lateral thinking Jerry
Oh no, I did not know it showed! LOL. Thank you very much for watching.
you luthiers amaze me with what you can do.
Jerry you never cease to amaze me
A basket case for sure. Nice work.
Thank you.
Not any more.
Fine work my friend. I need to get back on my violin repair just to get it out of my shop but I've got a lot of other priority stuff happening. Those clamps are a great idea.
Thanks ole buddy.
Vinyl has softeners that react to certain things, melting things like lacquer. If you can smell the plastic, it most likely will do unwanted things as a rule of thumb.
Surgical or food grade silicone might be the safest choice, followed by other food grade plastics.
Thank you. Thanks for watching.
Hi there,
I can imagine that what you saw with this instrument was a fix NOT using hide glue. A violin is a box with different woods glued together. They shrink and expand differently. You want the glue be the weakest spot. If your top and bottom sit "like iron" on the sides the weakest spot will be - the wood. Especially the soft spruce top will crack all over the place. That's why you even want to use just a little bit of hide glue (actually the right amount, of course).
I liked the mouse hole. It gave the fiddle character.
Several people seem to agree with that. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for making these videos! It's really satisfying to watch people with your level of expertise practice the craft they've mastered. At the 14:00 mark, you speculate that the vinyl tubing around the clamps might have chemically reacted with the finish. That's probably what happened. Vinyl tubing has a plasticizer in it that makes it pliable -- otherwise it would be as hard as PVC pipe. The plasticizer can migrate from the vinyl into other materials if they are in contact with each other for too long, and since shellac and nitrocellulose chemically have a lot in common with plastic, the plasticizer will soften and weaken them, too. You can research "plasticizer migration" if you want to know more, but it's a super boring topic.
Thank you my friend. That's what I suspected. I'll come up with a better solution next time. Thanks for watching.
use an old tee-shirt between the 2 next time....
Love your videos. I've even used a hint of some techniques in my handyman/jack of all trades master of NONE life. I am happy to have joined the gang on Patreon as well. Thanks for doing what you do.
Thank you very kindly my friend. I really appreciate your support.
Jerry, vinyl is polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The stuff is pretty rigid. In order to make PVC flexible, plasticizers, among them octyl pthalate, are added to the product. Those additional chemicals could easily interact with the instrument's finish. Maybe "viton" tubing is better. "Viton" will misbehave around acetone, MEK, & "banana oil".
You are totally right about Tightbond... it comes in 3 formulas, Tightbond 1, the regular stuff, is completely removable with heat and moisture, just like hide glue. The only advantage of hide glue is it cured ‘harder’ but its bear to use with a hot pot and limited working time. My family did furniture repairs among other things... and being their helper, I have used every glue and epoxy you can imagine. Jerry is right about basic Tightbond
Tightbond-3 is different glue and much harder to take apart later. Its a water resistant polymer, not for most luthier work... however, to build up slabs for a solid body electric guitar, it may be the best ‘Permanent’ choice.
Love your vids Jerry, learning with every one, should be ready to tackle great-grandads guitar by summer.
Thank you very much.
Ever use fish glue? I never have. But I have heard good things.
Endo Alley I saw a little feature on fish glue at StuMac. Looks interesting, but probably as a special applications kind of thing. It would be nice to learn more about it but in the end, it appears to be pretty similar to hide glue. Tell you what I want to know, is the real practical diff between hot pot hide glue, and bottled room temp. I have a low value family treasure, great grand-dads 120 year old guitar all in pieces. This summer I want to put it back together. Between Jerry and Dan Erlywines vids, I’m taking the master class. Mostly I will use tightbond 1, just like Jerry does. Some joints I will probably use hide glue, for its hardness when dry, and guaranteed ease of re-do in the future after I am gone. My folks are dead and I don’t have their old hot-pot, so wondering about the bottle hide glue... For all practical purposes, tightbond 1 could do the whole job. Its not a historical guitar, not even likely to be played much. I want it preserved in one piece, not a guitar case full of dry pieces. Jerry teaches more than all the others.. Every step why and how, and how to make the tools... Very grateful for having found his channel.
I like the way Jerry uses what he has on hand and improvises methods of bracings. I have never seen wedges used as he does. Looks like a good idea in the right circumstance. I have also heard that many believe hide glue is sonically more transparent than plastic glues. So they claim, hide glues don't mute the top plate of a string instrument. But to some degree plastic glues will. I have no idea if that is true. The Titebond is so much easier to use. Anyhow, I would have thought that this fiddle was beyond repair. But he has done a wonderful job restoring it. I have a couple old fiddles with full length (non sound post) cracks that I thought were basket cases. Now I will rethink that and hopefully restore them. The are factory fiddles not valuable enough to pay someone else to fix. One is a Czech fiddle labeled "Prokop". The other is Czech fiddle labeled "John Juzek". I am going to research fish glue also.
On further research it seems fish glue is not good in humid climates. Can't wait to see the final video of this old fiddle. Amazing what he has done to repair it.
I agree on the glue. Used it on a bamboo fly rod I built. Pleased.
Hi Jerry. Kind of makes mine look like a kindergarten project. Watching with fascination.
Thank you my friend.
Another amazing fix up. Can't wait to see Part 2 :D
Thank you very much.
I love watch your video recording good job work
My grandpa was once telling me about the fiddle his dad and uncles used tp play. It had been obtained in Nashville during the civil war by one of the uncles, and had a label in it with the name Guarnerius on it. (A copy I'm sure) he said that it was played often during family get togethers, and was the first on he had ever played on. He said that the last time he saw it was at a cousins house, sitting in a closet, and a mouse had chewed a hole in one of the F holes.
Hurray! More fiddle work!
Great thank you.
I love the Woody Woodpecker & Alvin and the chipmunk sound effects
Wow Jerry you bring that old fiddle back to life can't wait to see part 2
Thank you very much.
Great work Jerry 👍
I love the mouse hole ! It was charming....
On the hide glue, this is what I was told. It happened when I obtained an old reed organ a long time back and decided to rebuild it. I purchased a book on rebuilding them and it had a section on glue. It said the problem with yellow carpenters glue is that the water in the glue absorbs into the wood and can deform the joint. Whereas this isn't a problem for most applications, when dealing with repairing instruments it is preferable to use hide glue that cures instead of dries. This supposedly prevents less deformation of the wood. The other reason is of course you can loosen the bond with just heat and do not need the additional moisture needed to break the bond with carpenters glue. This makes a difference when you are dealing with a very old instrument such as the reed organ I rebuilt. I found the repairs that were done with carpenters glue much more difficult to undo than the hide glue and the old wood (this organ was built in 1891) of the organ soaked up water like a sponge which caused me trouble later on trying to refit the top of the reed board as sections had swelled and I had to plane it back flat to get an airtight seal. So I invested in a glue pot. Don't like using it but whoever rebuilds that organ again in another 100 years will thank me.
Yes I've heard all of those things before. Actually very many times. I just don't find them to be true. Thanks for watching.
Awesome work Jerry!
Thank you very much.
A bit of waxed paper under the tubing should do. Great video, made me late for work. Time to become a patron.
Yeah wax paper would do the trick. Thank you very kindly my friend.
Wood is just such a fun material to work with :-)
Useing fresh sandpaper imo is a very smart move. sandpaper no.mater what brand I prefer 3m or Norton always cuts better new.uused paper is like trying to use a dull plane in compared to useing a very sharp one.
Thanks for taking a look.
Good honest man, i would trust him although, I disagree regarding use of wood glue. i have no doubt that wood glue is stronger and that it can be undone, but, the issue is that hide glue comes undone at the appropriate stress whereas wood glue will cause cracks rather than seams coming loose, i'd rather a loose seam that is easy as anything to fix
That isn't a real thing... sorry
@@RosaStringWorks what isn't a real thing?
Beautiful, thank you!
Amazing work Jerry,as usual
Thank you very much.
skilled worker you are .thanks
i enjoy watching you do your magic on these old instruments. i can't hardly believe what youtube has been doing lately,i can see why they go after the planet x and chemtrail people but i really can't see why they would pick on you
hairycat no I don't understand it either. Thank you very much for watching.
Jerry, this was very cool!
My grandfather told me about a fiddle that his uncle obtained in Tennessee during the Civil War that had a label in it with the name "Guarnerius" in it. He said it was a real nice sounding fiddle that his uncles and father all played, and that the last time he saw it was when he was visiting a cousin in nearby Hanover, Indiana. He told me the old fiddle was standing in the corner of a closet, and that a mouse had chewed a hole in one of the F holes.
Hi Jerry, Ian the luthier in Tasmania here. I have always thought that wedges are important as other clamping methods and I admire your inventiveness :-)
Needle nose plyers with those brad nails -Makes seeing what your doing easier and fingers are grateful
Thanks. I do that quite often. Thanks for watching.
Unbelievable - more magic!
The german luthiers school is in Mittenwald, therefore its a huge hotspot for instruments of all grades
Thanks for the note. I've seen other fiddles with the same location. Thanks for watching.
This is not the only one, in Klingenthal (Saxony) is another one!
Good point Bobby, I didn't know that !
Thats a trip...my Great-Grandfather's name was William Lewis
Looks like a fun repair . . . your right about hide glue, the devil to use, don't know why I use it.
Old traditions die hard. Thank you so kindly for watching.
Genius clamp idea!!!
Happy you give the mm measurements, because those thousands and sixteenths are a mystery to me
Jerry I was gonna chime in and tell u that I put a piece of clear tubing on my spool clamps - but then you did it b4 I could LOL
Thanks. I guess I'll have to find something different because that stuff seems to conflict with the Finish. Thanks for watching.
sumting i thinking with looking at the dip along the crack you mentioned : i think you could put a line of smal woodscrews under the crack and use them as small jacks to lift the part up underneath the crack
There's always more than one way to skin a cat. Thank you for watching.
Those Hansen dies are high speed steel. Most of the other brands are made of high carbon steel and are only good for fixing threads not cutting from solid.
Thanks for taking a look.
very nice work
Thank you very much.
Howdy!
I would never got an idea for Many of your methods... Just proves that you are a real Master builder, and you Have a ton of experience... While i am Just a huge fan of your Work...!
Greeting from Croatia
Thank you very much my friend.
Amateur bass luthier and really enjoy your videos. I have gotten some great tips from your videos.
It is like reading a good book with many exciting chapters. You encouraged me to correct the neck angle of my guitar. I was not so brave to separate the entire neck, but following one of your videos I've partially separated the back in the area around the neck. Not sure if I ruined this guitar in terms of sound quality (rather not), but at least the neck is now in correct position :)
Thank you for the note. I wouldn't think it would hurt the tone much depends on the instrument I suppose. Good luck to you thank you for watching.
you should be very proud of your restorations I know im proud to watch you restore these instruments ,I have only restored guitars oh and 1 banjo but that dosnt count lol dang thing ,good thing it was mine (wall hanger )im the samr way as far as glue titebond is the best in my opinion
great work thanks.
It seems like Titebond would be perfect for the back center seam. That’s the one that has no business coming apart.
How did you disinfect the violin of the mold and mildew? Spray bottle full of bleach or something like that? When I rescued my old Kay Tenor, I never have wiped any kind of liquid, oil, anything, but used a soft cloth to at least wipe away the dust and such. The cloth came back with many hues of GREEN on it! I have never seen that before!
I think I actually used a little bit of mildew killing spray on a cloth. But to be honest I don't remember.
Mittenwald generic makers supplied music stores in America with violins and other instruments. This was common before the Asian invasion in the 1980s and beyond.
I persenaly would have kept the mouse hole. Seems like it "fits" the fiddle just fine. GREAT WORK on this wreck!
I can't believe how much I enjoy watching your videos. I've watched a lot of "repair" videos on stringed instruments but wow, yours are miles above the others. The ingenuity and care that you put into those instruments just blows me away. I open TH-cam, your channel pops up in my recommended, and the next thing I know I've been watching for 2 or 3 hours. There is so much honesty and sincerity in your voice that it actually seems to find it's way into the instruments themselves and makes them better than they were originally. Also, the tune "Mandolin Wine" is an amazing piece of music. Is there possibly a link to the entire piece? I found myself going backwards into the video again and again just to listen the short clips of it. And what 5-string is that on the banjo break? That is one sweet and crisp sounding banjo. I wish I could give you more than just one "thumbs up". So, on to part 2.
Thank you very much. You're very kind. I think I have mandolin wind on my website for download.
@@RosaStringWorks Thank you. I'll see if I can find it.
Brilliant work! :-)
Thank you very much.
Another GREAT vid. What do you use to remove mold ? Is the disinfectant water or non-water based ?
Since the pores in the instrument's wood are bigger than mold spores, how do you reeeeeally ensure
that the mold is gone and will not cause a problem in the future ?
It busted up because the hide glue did not break loose at the seams as it is supposed to do. When the top or bottom shrink or expand depending on humidity or lack thereof, the bottom for example is supposed to break loose from the sides, which saves the top, biggest reason for hide glue.
Sorry I believe your misguided
@@RosaStringWorks Actually I'm not, titebond elsewhere is fine. Sorry, you are mistaken.
You have quarantined a crack in the top if the top cannot break loose from the side, ask yourself how many violins you have seen where the top or back is loose from the sides. Unfortunately they don't always come loose and the top cracks etc.
Of course titebond doesn't stain worth a darn.
Nice work
boy I got crucified for using Titebond instead of Hyde glue on an old violin lol but I would do it the same way again if another violin comes here. very nice work Jerry!
Yeah people get hung up on doing it the traditional way you shouldn't improve upon it. Well then I say do you have electricity in your house? cuz stradivari didn't. If we didn't improve upon things it would be a sad World. Thanks my friend for watching.
One more thing. Thanks for turning me on to Mike McKoy's channel. What a sweetheart of a guy. I hope he beats that cancer!