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I recently bought some violins and one had a broken neck. Originally I wass going to carve a new neck and put it on until I saw a violin with a horse head. Well I found the neck with the head already carved and that did it for me. I thought I would document it here.
The one I and doing this to is obviously the third from the left. It is a Scott Cao made in California.
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Holy Crap Kevin, that is so freakin cool!!!!!!
Both of my violins are Cao's (one US, one China) and I LOVE them. How in the world did you find all of these???
The horse head scroll is incredible, where did you find it! Good luck with this project; can't wait to see the outcome.
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That is just one of the prettiest things I have ever seen in my life... besides a regular scroll on a violin. Wow... I am in complete awe of that ..... ming blowing cool.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Very cool !! cant wait to see it finished !!
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
ftufc said
Holy Crap Kevin, that is so freakin cool!!!!!!Both of my violins are Cao's (one US, one China) and I LOVE them. How in the world did you find all of these???
The horse head scroll is incredible, where did you find it! Good luck with this project; can't wait to see the outcome.
I always search through ebay for deals, I got the 4 violins for 100.00 and the horse head I found a seller in China who makes a violin with this neck and asked if He would sell the unfinished neck. He sent me an email back and listed the neck and I bought it for 57.00. The violin on the left is not too great at all, it looks homemade out of pine. the one next to that has 2 small cracks which should be easy to repair. The one on the end is a 1/2 and just needs a fingerboard.
Here's the Scott Cao with the neck taken off.
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Fun! It will be gorgeous when it's done.
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That is a cool looking neck, kevin. It looks very detailed too I wonder if it will be heavier than a tradional scroll? Can't wait to see some Finnish on it! You are truly a craftsman.
"The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work." - Mark Twain
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O_O I love it!
Can I buy that violin from you?
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Cool Kevin!! I'm a horse lover too. I really like a dragon head I saw on a violin on ebay.
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very cool! I wish I had a talent like that. Mine is cooking. I wonder if something like that could be produced in a CNC milling machine? Maybe the new laser resin milling machine?
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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I'm curious if the new form of 3-D printing could produce one.
That would open up a whole new arean of fiddle necks... imagine the unimaginable.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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Denny said,
"I'm curious if the new form of 3-D printing could produce one.
That would open up a whole new arean of fiddle necks… imagine the unimaginable."
Denny, this is sooooooo funny that you're bringing up 3-D printing today! I have been educating people (to the extent of my knowledge anyway, which is somewhat fundamental) for the past 3 weeks! This technology will change everyone's (well everyone with a computer anyway) life on the planet in next 5yrs. I don't want to hijack Kevin's incredible thread here; if you're ever interested in chatting about it, PM me!
I'm kinda curious if 3-D printing could do it in wood. Would probably have to be granulated, right ? 
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Hey Kevin,
After reading your comments, I spent about 3 hrs on ebay last night looking at acoustic violins. VERY interesting what's on there; it's such a mish mash of stuff, a lot of crap and some very cool.
I may wind up bidding on a couple for a couple of reasons, 1) they are either old and cool and in decent shape (they couldn't have any major defects like body or peg boxe cracks because I'd have no idea how to fix them), or 2) they're not in very good shape and they're really cheap and I could afford to do an exploratory and have the patient die. It could be very educational and fun.
The tinkering that you and Denny and Daniel (and a couple others) do is very interesting to me.
I'd like to know what YOU look for in an ebay buy (the only thing I've ever bought on ebay was a successful bid on an old Alpha Romeo a couple years ago, it was very exciting). Would you pick up a cheap student violin that was deeply discounted, knowing that because of its construction and design quality you could never make it sound spectacular (probably good but not spectacular) or are you looking for the unusual and old that is still playable (or playable after some repair and adjustment) that you could turn into a "Gem"?
After looking last night, I just don't know how you got all four violins (including the Cao) for $100! Or is $100 what you told your wife you spent, lmao!!!
I did the same thing, Fred,,,,,, I looked at a few, but what scared me about many of them.. NO Returns, I don't like the idea of spending a bunch of money, find out I bought junk and then be stuck with it.
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I know Ken, I have that same concern and that's why I'm looking at DEEPLY discounted opportunities. But you know that ebay has a pretty incredible customer policy, if anything is mis-represented, they tend to protect the buyer. And I too would stay away from those items that say "All Sales Final", because then you know you have limited or no recourse.
You have to do your research and ask questions of the sellers. If they don't want to answer you don't buy. I usually like violins with open seams or even a crack in the top. These are easy things to repair. If you notice a violin with a good flame on the back it generally is a good violin and yes I got all 4 for 91.61 plus 16.61 shipping. Violins like these come along often. When students return a violin rental broken the stores put them up on ebay. They have already been paid for the damage so anything they get is extra money in their pockets. Cracked peg boxes and missing fingerboards are a snap to fix. On a cracked pegbox I like to open the peg hole far get some glue into the crack and put in a bushing then ream out the bushing to original size to fit a peg. I feel this is the strongest way. Others have reinforced the pegbox by lining it with thin laminates but it makes the box too narrow and off balanced in appearance.
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That's solid advice Kevin, thanks. I might just buy a cheap battered example to see if I can actually repair it; but I'll look for signs of quality as you suggested. Do you know of any other signs other than just good flaming?
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