OUR WORKSHOP SERVICES
Cardiff Violins workshop, situated across the balcony from the shop, has gradually grown over the years, to accommodate additional staff and instruments.
All our restorers are fully qualified makers and restorers, with many years of professional experience.
Over the years, we have serviced, set-up and restored thousands of instruments and bows, including violins by the great Italian masters Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri Del Gesu.
We carry out all our customers's repairs in our workshops. Nothing is sent away to sub-contractors. We do, however, on occasions, use out-workers (also fully qualified and experienced) to work on our own stock, as customers' work occupies a great deal of our time.
Our main workshop services are :
1) Service and maintenance
In order to keep getting the best out of your instrument, you need to make sure that you limit the effects of wear and tear caused through playing, (ie bridges bending either forwards or backwards due to tuning, grooves in fingerboard, chipped varnish, dirt and rosin on the instrument) or by seasonal climatic changes (pegs malfunctioning, seams or fingerboard coming undone...) Some of these 'symptoms' will adversly affect the instrument, others its sound, and some both!
In these circumstances, you might have to leave your instrument with us to sort out the problems. If you have made a prior appointment,(always a good idea!) we can sometimes carry out the work on the same day.
2) Setting-up and tonal adjustment
Setting-up an instrument refers to the fitting or adjustment of all its variable elements so that the instrument produces the best possible results. When setting an instrument up, the repairer will adopt a hollistic approach,fitting the variable elements mentioned below to create a harmonious relationship.
The variable elements are :
- the bridge
- the sound-post
- the strings
- the neck angle
- the bass bar
Altering all of the above elements, allows enormous scope for tonal adjustment. Fortunately, this is not often necessary, and changing the bridge, sound-post and strings will normally be sufficient for most players.
We specialise in tonal adjustment and have had considerable success with fine instruments that did not work to their full potential.
If you would like to discuss your own instrument with view to set it up, please contact us. For an immediate and personal response, ring us on 0845 230 1812 (local rate)
INSTRUMENT REPAIRS
We take on all kind of work on instruments, and any instrument can be repaired, however badly damaged. In some cases though, you may find that the cost of the repair would be higher than the value of the instrument itself, in which case we would recommend its replacement rather than its repair.
BOW REHAIR AND REPAIRS
We understand the importance of having your own bow to play with, and endeavour to carry out bow rehairs and repairs as quickly as possible. Rehairs are usually done within two to three days of leaving them with us. Bow repairs might take a little longer, depending on the extent of the damage.
When the work needed on a bow is more expensive than the value of the bow itself, we recommend its replacement.
Due to the fragile nature of instruments and bows, it is essential that these items are insured through a specialist musical instrument insurance company, who would normally allow you to go to the most suitable rather than the cheapest repairer.