This cello holds significant sentimental value for my customer. Initially, he entrusted it to a luthier who suggested that removing the back prior to repair would lower the cost. However, upon first removing the back, the luthier declined to proceed with the repair. Determined to restore this cherished instrument, the customer turned to me, and I gladly accepted the task. Allow me to share the steps I undertook to successfully repair the cello.

• The back center seam was completely separated up to the button. Since I didn't want to have the button and the perferling in that area separated, I tied it tightly together with string and clamped it  when necessary.
• The part of the back that had damage needed to be addressd first. Cleaning out the damaged area best as possible. I mace a mold wo it could be glued and clamped.
• Next I cleaned out the center seam.
• Dry fitted the clamps and procedure so I could make sure everything lined up okay.
• Using hyde glue I clamped the seam back together using cello spanning clamps, c clamps and another joing clamp at the bottom.
• I let this dry for 24 hours, removed the mold and c clamps, then reclamped it using some cello spanning clamps. 
• The next step was to cleat the back seam. Oddly originally there were a numerous amount of thin cleats that didn't hole the center seam together. I used a bunch of rectangular cleats (double the amount shown in the photos) and I fitted a longer cleat to cover and reenforce the damaged back area.
• Placing cleats and gluing them has alsways been somewhat of a challenge because as you clamp the cleats using a c clamp, they want to slip around. My newer technique is to use magnets when they are first glued down for alignment. Then after about 15 minutes, use a piece of mold to clamp them in place. With this method they don't slip and it fairly easy to get them percicly in the correct spot.
• While I had it apart I glued a few open cracks on the top and cleated those.
• Then it's just a matter of gluing the back on. The ribs were somewhat warped.so then needed a little pressure to get them lined up with the back. I found that sometimes when a rib is bulging out you need to unglue all of that seam and then glue each segment of the rub on different days.
• After all that work it's now a geat sounding cello.

IMG 20230424 114017 021	IMG 20230429 140108 132	IMG 20230424 161547 019
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IMG 20230507 150108 803	IMG 20230507 153758 294	IMG 20230509 164629 893
IMG 20230512 163813 553	IMG 20230512 170457 934	IMG 20230527 162728 333
IMG 20230528 153505 461	IMG 20230530 093813 552	IMG 20230228 101445 971