Value of a good restorer

[Patrick Toole]

$900.00 in 10 hours thats $90.00 per hour to fix a scratch on a piece of wood.

Hmmm I think I am in the wrong line of work!

You may indeed be in the wrong line of work. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing! There are several paths you can take. None of them are part-time. Meet us back here in 10 years, when you start going out on your own, and give us your opinions on pricing.

[testore]

Thank you everyone.
I forgot to add a little about the violins history. The previous owner, Harry Clapperton, worked for the White Star Line company. He was a violinist on their ship the Adriatic. His grandchildren and nephews remember him telling them that he was supposed to be in the Titanic but missed it somehow. We will never know the details, but it’s fascinating. The Adriatic was used to retrieve Titanic survivors and bring them home. If musical instruments could speak......

[Patrick Toole]

Whoa, what a story!

[Richard500]

Thank you everyone.
I forgot to add a little about the violins history. The previous owner, Harry Clapperton, worked for the White Star Line company. He was a violinist on their ship the Adriatic. His grandchildren and nephews remember him telling them that he was supposed to be in the Titanic but missed it somehow. We will never know the details, but it’s fascinating. The Adriatic was used to retrieve Titanic survivors and bring them home. If musical instruments could speak......

A few of the thing’s I’ve restored have spoken to me. Usually about the person who made them. Sometimes about the pepole who used them.

[Jim Garber]

I had a rather long conversation with a friend of mine who is a prominent collector a few years back. We realized that we had indeed collected instruments but treasured even ones that we sold since we still collected the stories attached to them.

[Dave Richard]

Just about finished with this incredible violin. Brought to me about 10 months ago. Here are a few shots of before, during and after. Very challenging but very worth it. Built in Tourney Belgium in 1742, the earliest known violin of Ambroise DeComble. Last purchased at W.E. Hills in 1892. It was dropped and badly fixed in 1942. Today it was played for the first time in probably 60 years. The added value to proper restoration is worth it. This restoration added about 1000% to its pre-restoration value.

Absolutely beautiful restoration!

[HoGo]

Absolutely beautiful restoration!

Sure violin repair is well ahead of mandolin or guitar repair standards. However, I wouldn't agree with the added value. Violin with such cracks would be practically unsaleable in classical violin world. Bass bar crack devalues violin at least by 50% no matter how well it is repaired and soundpost crack even more, this one being extremely nasty as it appears that he soundpost pierced the top and took ugly piece of wood with crossgrain cracks with it. Unless the violin is really something highly collectible (old italian) it is worth just as much as a nice "player grade" Markneukirchen/Mittenwald/etc. instrument.

[testore]

Adrian, you are completely wrong. Well restored top cracks do not reduce the value 50%. That is absolute rubbish. This violin has been appraised at a price over 10X what a cheap German violin is worth. The repairs this violin has are not too uncommon for something this old.