Repair And Restoration
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Cello neck repair
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Cello neck repair
Greetings all! I’m repairing a student-level cello, neck snapped off at the heel. I removed the fingerboard and reattached the neck with hide glue. It was a pretty clean break, and fit back together nicely. My question is – some sources say to reinforce the neck joint with 1 or 2 dowels before attaching the fingerboard, some say don’t… anyone have opinions or experience one way or the other? Thanks!
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7 Replies
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Just my opinion, no experience, but I would dowel it now while it is apart rather than later when it comes back again. It’s student grade, so any effect on the sound would be less noticeable than on a professional quality instrument.
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Thanks Jon! Yes, less concerned about tonal nuances in the case of a student instrument…
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Dowels tend to actually hinder rather than help. I’ve just seen a lot come apart over the years. My hypothesis is that the strength of many of these piece of wood comes from uninterrupted long grain. The dowels, in effect, interrupt that grain the length of the dowel.
Intuition says that the dowel should resist deflection and strengthen the surrounding wood. Mostly I’ve just seen the wood fail around the dowel.
Some wood would have rather been a tree than a cello. I would say, on a fleet instrument, if you can get a new neck, if it breaks again, just glue a new neck on.
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This is what I appreciate about this group: the voice of experience. With me being from the old-school furniture repair background, doweling the joint makes sense to me. But the experienced luthiers here know what works best. I’m gathering a lot of good information here.
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Great advice, thank you Ian. I think that is what paused me yesterday as I was getting ready to drill for a dowel – I would be removing a significant amount of glued surface in the middle of the neck joint to do it. I appreciate you sharing your experience!
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Morning Group!
Unfortunately, I need to open this conversation again. I completed the cello repair and delivered to my customer; but 2 weeks later, the glue joint has failed. I used Titebond Hide Glue.
The customer says the instrument was safely placed on its stand, no one was near when it happened.
During repair, the joint was clamped 24 hours, and I didn’t put tension on it for another 24 hours after that. Should it have had more time to cure?
It has been hot/humid here in Pittsburgh, but I don’t think to the point that glue joints are letting go.
Any suggestions or recommendations on other repair methods? Or try same again with longer set up time for the glue? Thanks! 🙏
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Did it rebreak on the glue line, or adjacent to the glue line ?
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