Violin Forum/Message Board

[Becky]

I'm working on an old violin that hasn't been played in years. The soundpost is extremely crooked and while it is in the overall vicinity of where a soundpost belongs, its placement in relation to the bridge is off. When I tried to adjust the soundpost it wouldn't budge. I tried squeezing the violin at the inner bouts. I used the scissor type setter to grab the post, but could not get it to move at all. My other soundpost setter actually bent under the pressure, but that soundpost did not move. Any ideas on how to move this stubborn post?

Out of curiousity I played around with the bridge setup and put the bridge about a 1/2 inch closer to the tailpiece that normal to get the bridge feet closer to the soundpost. This was a better sound than leaving the bridge in its normal placement. The sound isn't bad. Would any of you just keep the violin set up this way?

[rs]

Sounds like it is glued. When you look in the end hole, does it appear to be so?

If it is glued, I'd pop the top off and repair the problem.

I wouldn't move the bridge that far off. There are only about 2 mm or so to fool with on bridge travel up and down to start with. 12 mm is too much.
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Randall Shenefelt

[Chad48309]

Watch out when you remove the top. I once took the top off an instrument with a glued soundpost and pushed a little too much the wrong way and RRRRIPPPPP, I accidentally took off an entire strip of wood that was held down by the glue. Turns out they used Gorilla Glue on it.
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-C.S.

[Dave Chandler]

If it is glued, its unlikely to be hide glue, for the same reason if a person knows enough to use hide glue, they'd know not to glue the soundpost.

You might fashion some sort of a saw to cut out the bulk of this post through the f-hole, or as rs suggests, take the top of if you feel competent to do this, and really clean it up properly.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Michael Darnton]

Or put something like a thin chisel in through the f-hole and try to smack the bottom loose, hoping that the top will just break loose. If it's crooked AND glued, there's a pretty good chance it isn't fit all that well, so the gluing surface may be minimal. I'd try to do my hammering in line with the top grain (N-S) rather than East-West.
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[Chad48309]

[Jack Rushing]

I have had success using a scissor type sound post setter with a small
ball of cotton soaked in alcohol. saturate the end of the post areas well,
being careful not to get any on the violin's finish. After a few applications
soak in, it should tap out. These were hide glued post. I have not run up
on any other type of glued ones yet, but it might work on them too.

[John Cadd]

It`s horrible to think of possible damage to the soundhole edges.The danger is also to the belly internal surface. I would work out a way to look at the back connection first. Try a thin sharp point near ( 1/4 inch ) the bottom of the post to get a trace of the glue used. Try to get a splinter with some glue attached .Is there a waterproof area near the post to indicate some modern glue being used?
Drawback to cutting away the back connection is you leave a dangerous lever to tear away belly wood.A thin spike working near the belly end could be safer. work in from the sides and turn the post into splinters as you go.Even if you leave some attached it will be safer.Odds on the whole surface will not be perfectly attached. Get a piece of spruce 6 mms thick in a vice and and test the destruction technique first. Perfect the cutting tip shape. Flat sharp blade 1/8th inch wide . Glue wood to both ends for realism.