You never know what you’ll find opening up an old stringed instrument.

Players may know that their violin, viola, cello, or double bass has a lot of old, repaired cracks, but they usually have little idea of what it looks like on the inside. While the ideal for a collector may be an instrument in “as-new” condition, decay is inevitable, and there’s a certain beauty in the repair work itself.

Functional and aesthetic decisions were made in the repair process, and the restoration could be the carefully orchestrated work of a single master, or it may be a more random accumulation of quick fixes by many hands over many years—new work overlays old, as age melds and mellows all.

Here is a look at some of the more eye-catching repairs that have passed through my shop and given me a deeper appreciation for the beauty that can be found in violin repair.♣

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