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My wife is a school teacher and was approached by the music teacher asking if I would be interested in trying my hand at a few repairs on a cello. She brings home this cello. The neck block has split in half causing the sides to buckle and pull away from the back. The sides are split, but I think they would go back together easy enough. The back looks like it would come off rather easily. I could then remove the neck then the old neck block and replace with a new one. Reinstall back and neck. Sound about right? I've attached some pics to help with suggestions. If any one knows of a good violin cello repair book that they would suggest, I would appreciate that as well.thanks

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Kyle

Run searches on "removing a violin back"

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i'd start by working the back off, then maybe the rest of the path will become obvious.
i bought a used cheap (china) cello on craigslist 2 years ago and part of the back popped off a week later...i couldn't get rest of the back off, it wasn't hide glue. so i put a strip of "outside kerfing" on it, and it is strung up and played often since...
if it is not a valuable instrument, maybe try the "whatever works" tack

Well, the back popped of rather easily. Only a couple of spots where the old, crumbly back stayed attached to the rim. Here are a couple of pics of the neck block. Split all the way through right along side of the neck. Still doing some research but open to suggestions. I will be using the whatever works method assuming I can't fix it right without sinking more money than it's worth into it. Looks are not the priority. Thanks for any info.

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Kyle

at a glance, i think i'd be inclined to clamp another hardwood block right over the cracked spruce one, and hopefully that would help squeeze things back into alignment
i don't profess to be a repairman though! the right way to do it would be removing the cracked block i guess, but that means work

I'm no repair person, either, but if it were mine, I'd get the neck tenon out of the mortise next. Then evaluate whether the end block could be repaired or whether it needed to be replaced. I'd probably replace it with a new one, but that's just me. Then I'd move on to the break in the neck heel. I doubt the side crack would be much of a problem to glue and stabilize. Obviously there will be some old glue to clean up before things can be stuck back together. Cleaning up the old glue isn't likely to be much of a problem. The treble side appears to have been bent out of shape, too, so that will have to be coaxed into some kind of fixture or form to hold its proper shape as it all comes back together. Looks like a very interesting repair project to me. Sure, it'll require some patience and ingenuity, but I'm sure it can be fixed. Some seasoned repair folks will probably chime in and lend good advice. I'll be watching with interest. Good luck with it!
Patrick

i'm a bit surprised that a spruce/cedar block was used for that purpose/that location, with that grain orientation....seems like a failure waiting to happen, but maybe it is traditional. with some cedars, it seems like one could almost break a block like that with bare hands, in that manner....
my cello also has a cracked heel that had been previously repaired; so far so good. keep the pics coming

Glue and screw 1/2 inch ply on the heal block, drop a screw into the heal, slap the back on and send it on down the line.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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