Repairing a bass bar crack on a Gear 4 Music 3/4 vilolin
These cheap Chinese Gear 4 Music violins are sprayed with a thick coat of cheap bright orange varnish - Stentor Style. There is no real purfing, it looks like its a transfer. I bought this model off eBay because I was after a 3/4size modern case, bow and modern fine tuners for a Victorian violin I intend to sell as a student kit. The table was very easy to remove. It had been glued on with hide glue The bass bar was glued on with white glue and does not fit very well as the photos reveal. The violin appears to have no graduations. It is fully lined and roughly fully blocked in the corners. I filled the crack with hot hide glue, clamped it together at the sides (gently so as not to bow the table too much) then clamped a few small cleats on the crack at the same time. Tomorrow I will reinforce the joint with thick brown paper soaked in hide glue so the repair is at right angles over the table and base bar since the crack is right up against the bass bar.