Violin and Stringed Instrument
Repair and Restorations
– San Antonio Symphony Bassist, Mr. James Chudnow, as quoted in the San Antonio Express News about our service on his 180 year-old, $130,000 bass.
“After receiving the violin that your shop fixed for me, I was very happy to see the broad change, both in tone and in terms of playing it. It is now a lot easier to play and the tone now has a clean precision to it. Thank you so much!”
– Violin Phenom, Ms. Nancy Zhou, on her violin repair performed by Antonio Strad Violin.
Our repair and restoration services have been called “a hidden treasure of Texas” by professional symphony musicians. Customers are amazed at the quality of our work, the improvement in their instrument’s tone quality and the way cracks and chips seem to disappear.
Antonio Strad Violin’s expert luthier team understands your instrument, whether a violin, viola, cello or bass, we know the importance of appearance, comfort, playability and how structure affects tone. Our experts specialize in string instrument repairs, from the most minor of adjustments to full-scale restorations. When instruments are repaired by Antonio Strad, pieces are hand carved by master craftsmen and upgraded with the finest quality materials available. We simply make your instrument the best it can be.
Antonio Strad Violin won’t settle for making a violin “as good as new.” We would rather aim higher. With over 35 years experience, we are vastly the superior choice for a major refurbishment as well as smaller and equally vital repairs on anything from instruments to bows.
Trust Antonio Strad Violin to handle your instrument with precision, care, and respect. We exceed expectations.
BRIDGE
Standard – French hand carved for proper fit: correct string height and separation, feet thinned and shaped to the top of each individual instrument.
French Stamped – Higher quality bridge for better tonality.
French Deluxe Stamped – Our top quality bridge cut for professional needs.
Recut bridge – Adjustment lowers action of strings to fingerboard.
ENDBUTTON
New end-button, Ebony – Shaped with tools for secure fit into the endblock.
FINGERBOARD
New fingerboard – Fitted to neck and planed to specifications.
Reglue fingerboard – Original fingerboard fitted to neck at the proper height.
Reglue fingerboard partial – Attached with fresh glue and clamps.
Replane fingerboard – Removes string wear and some warping and buzzing.
Wedge under fingerboard – (Student instrument only) Attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps; adjusting neck to proper the angle or shimming to proper overall thickness.
*Note: May also require recutting the bridge or fitting a new bridge at an additional cost.
NECK
New neck – Carved, neck joint refitted and set to the proper angle, varnished to match the body.
Reset neck – Joint refitted and set to the proper angle, attached with heat, fresh glue, and clamps.
Reset neck needs false button added (For student instruments only) – Insert a piece of wood to support the neck and the broken button.
Reset neck needs button graft added – Insert a piece of wood hidden in the original button and neck.
Neck graft – (Fine instruments only) A new neck is attached to the original scroll and varnished to match.
*Note: May also require recutting the bridge or fitting a new bridge at an additional cost.
NUT
New nut – Hand-carved from a solid block of ebony, attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps; removes some buzzing.
Reglue nut – Attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps.
PEG
New peg – Replaced if it is too short. Also, sometimes peg hole needs re-fitting if it is too loose.
Good quality ebony – Shaped with tools for secure fit into peg box.
High quality pegs – Shaped with tools for secure fit into peg box usually to match the trim or accessories (gold, boxwood, etc.)
Rebush peg hole & install peg – Replacing mechanical pegs or over-worn peg holes with glued boxwood inserts, hole re-opened and shaped with reamer.
TAILPIECE
New tailpiece – Replaced if broken or to match new accessories, too long or too short.
New tailpiece gut – Nylon tail gut for violin, viola, cello; Nylon or Steel cable for bass.
SOUND POST
New sound post – Hand-cut spruce with angled ends to match inside top and back surfaces, set at the proper position.
Reset sound post – Sometimes loosening strings or a sudden jar will make the sound post fall; Sound post can be re-adjusted to change the sound and projection of instrument.
SADDLE
New saddle – Hand-carved from a solid block of ebony, attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps; stabilizes and aids in anchoring high-tension strings to instrument.
Reglue saddle – Attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps.
OPEN INSTRUMENT REPAIR
Remove & Replace Top – Crack or hole in the top, sides or back; Or interior woodwork has come loose.
Repair crack with cleats – Maple or spruce cut to a traversing support cleat that holds crack together.
Repair crack with patch – Maple or spruce cut and inlaid then graduated to match interior surface.
Bass bar – Bass bar is loose or needs replacing.
Endblock – Endblock is loosened by a poorly fitting or worn end-button; Or, top, sides and ribs have come away through extremes in temperature and humidity.
Neckblock – Reset or replaced when neck will not reset at proper angle.
*Note: The repair may require making a top or back mold at additional cost.
REPAIR CRACK FROM OUTSIDE
Reglue openings, per inch – Attached with heat, fresh glue and clamps.
Repair corner, no purfling – Carved, grafted and varnished to match.
Repair corner with purfling – Carved, grafted, inlaid with purfling and varnished to match.*
BOW HAIR
Rehair – Proper amount of Mongolian horsehair: tied, combed and mounted in tip and frog, new plug carved if necessary.
Clean Hair – Commercial grade cleaner used to clean discolored hair that is otherwise still good.
TIP REPAIR
Broken Tip – If possible, all original pieces are glued and clamped together.
Tip Graft (including rehair) – Tip grafted with original pieces.
New Bone Tip – Bone is carved, shaped and attached with fresh glue and clamp.
Retie at Tip – Hair has come unmounted from loosened tie or missing tip block.
FROG REPAIR
Retie at Frog – Hair has worked loose from the screw or block inside the frog.
New Ferrule Wedge – Wedge is missing or broken.
Rebush ebony frog for eyelet – Eyelet hole is stripped; hole is filled with ebony and re-opened for proper eyelet fit.
New slide, mother of pearl – Damaged slide replaced.
Frog graft – Any piece is missing from the ebony main body, attach a matching wood and fix to meet the style.
SCREW AND EYELET
New screw & eyelet – Worn eyelet & screw replaced.
New eyelet – Worn or stripped eyelet replaced.
*Note: Additional charge for re-threading and regrinding if necessary.
STICK REPAIR
Recamber fine bow – Corrects the warp and returns proper curve to stick.
Crack in stick; Small crack at button; Button graft – These cracks may be small or otherwise not easily seen without careful examination, but very important to find and repair.
New leather thumbgrip – Leather padding; replaced for comfortable control when bowing.
New winding – Silver wire is standard, but there are a variety of metals and alloys available.
*Note: Additional charge for winding & thumbgrip.