The difficult dry heating season always takes a toll on cellos old & new. This cello belongs to Minzo Kim – a talented young cellist at Peabody. In this case I opened up 2/3’s of the cello top – enough to get the crack clamp inserted to close the crack and it also provides enough room to be able to reinforce the crack with a few cleats – which are crucial to keeping the crack tight. At this point the top is being glued – then the varnish work to make the crack disappear.
The black marking on the top is the transfer material I use to fit the feet of a new bridge to the arching of the top. This cello – like a number of French cellos tends to a big,bold rather bright sound. It now has a Belgian bridge which tends to exacerbate that sound – I am going to put on a French bridge – which has more wood in it ( More torso with less leg) which will lessen the brightness
