This unusual violin came into the shop for what appeared to be a simple bridge adjustment. As I began working on the instrument, I noticed a slight buzz and started checking the seams. One of the back seams had opened, but as I cleaned and prepared it for gluing, it became apparent that the old glue had failed throughout the instrument. One seam after another began to separate, and in the end every back seam needed to be reglued. The violin also has an interesting history. My customer's sister had it handcrafted by a guitar maker in the Cayman Islands as a gift for their mother. While completing the restoration, I adjusted the pegs, reglued the nut, and installed a new set of strings. After tuning the violin, it still sounded quite unusual, so I decided to inspect the soundpost. To my surprise, it had been glued to both the top and the back, and it was positioned in front of the bridge rather than behind it. After carefully soaking the lower end, I was finally able to work the soundpost free. It turned out to be unlike any I had seen before, with a small bell-shaped notch carved into the side and a hole drilled upward from the bottom into that cavity, making this a particularly memorable and unusual repair.  IMG 20260714 175308 847 | IMG 20260715 102654 340 | IMG 20260715 102813 094 | IMG 20260715 103359 312 | IMG 20260715 124817 995 | IMG 20260715 124831 071 | IMG 20260715 132130 908 | | |
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