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I was presented with an interesting challenge last week. A violin that my father made about 20 years ago was being played regularly by the son of one of my father's choir friends. Somehow he ran into something that poked a hole into the lower right rib. It's a clean break, with no additional damage beyond the break. Almut and Wolfgang asked if I could repair the damage.
My first inclination was to replace that rib section. Once I had the top off and further analysed the damage, I decided to splice a new section into the break. I trimmed the rib back to make a clean edge, leaving the upper and lower linings in place. I found a spare section of maple rib that has a closely-matching grain pattern. I will bevel the new piece into the edges of the existing rib, so hopefully two minimal lines will be visible. The linings should provide structural integrity, but I may glue a piece of linen onto the back for further reinforcement.
The biggest challenge will be to match the colour and shading. I am recording this process in detail. This is my first repair, and it's going better than I expected. So far!
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