String Instrument Corner Repair and Replacement | Spruce and Purfling Matching

This violin came in with significant damage where the ribs had been broken off the block and the neck had been broken out, although fortunately the button was perfectly intact. Most of the original wood from the corner was missing, leaving only the outer edge of the corner remaining. By carefully aligning the remaining piece with finger pressure, the crack could be positioned very precisely. Traditional lateral clamping did not hold the alignment well, so a combination of painter’s tape and clear tape was used to hold the crack tightly in position while a bar clamp pulled the joint firmly together. After the structure was secured, the missing wood and purfling in the corner were rebuilt and the varnish carefully touched up. Since the color was already mixed, a few nearby spots around the corner were also blended in to improve the overall appearance of the repair.

Corner Repair Steps

• Align the remaining corner piece: Using finger pressure, carefully position the broken piece so the crack lines up as precisely as possible.
• Test lateral clamping: A standard clamp was tried first to apply lateral pressure, but it did not hold the alignment well enough.
• Use tape to hold the alignment: A piece of painter’s tape followed by clear tape was used to keep the crack properly aligned and hold the piece down in position.
• Apply bar clamp pressure: Once the crack was aligned and secured with tape, a bar clamp was used to pull the joint tightly together.
• Rebuild the missing wood and purfling: Because part of the corner wood and the purfling were missing, those areas also had to be reconstructed.
• Touch up the varnish: After the structural work was complete, the repaired area was lightly touched up to blend the corner visually with the surrounding varnish.
• Blend nearby spots: Since the color was already mixed, a few small areas near the corner that stood out visually were also touched up.

• Using my fingers I was able to align the piece percicly
• But trying to use a clamp to put latterial pressure didn't align well
• I used a piece of painters tape and then clear tape to align the crack and hold it down.
• Then I used a bar clamp to pull it tightly into position.
• The piece of wood and the perfling was missing, so I had to also fix that.
• Then a little varnigh touch up.
• Since I had the color mixed up, I touched up a few spots near the corner that caught my eye.

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The last photo was taken from a slightly different angle and the flash may not have fired, but it does show the varnish in a different light. In that view you can see how flat and smooth the repaired area ended up.

String instrument corners sometimes get damaged. Usually it's just the outside part of the corner. In that case a small piece of spruce can be matched and then attached and shaped to match the wear of the existing corners.

The photo shows a corner where the inside edge and the purfling was missing. First I found a matching piece of spruce, then shaped it so that it matched the original outline. The top of the piece was left flat so that I could cut the purfling channel. Then I found an old matching piece of purfling and bent it to the correct shape and then glued it into the channel. Then the corner is shaped so that it matches the wear of the original corners. Varnish is then applied so that it also matches the original varnish.

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Another Violin Corner replacement. This is a very pale yellow color, if you look closley the varnish on the corner is just a tad darker. Once it's completely dry it can be rubbed down a little. This violin was made by Alfredo Galea from Long Beach.

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Bass Corner Replacement

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Here is another corner replacement. This time I remembered to take a shot of the template. Each time you make a new corner, a template is made. Usually you make the template from the matching back corner because it has less wear than a top corner.

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