Violin repair Monday, May 14, 2007

Alberto Garcia sands the ebony fingerboard of a repaired violin.

As you can probably tell, I enjoyed watching Alberto work. Most professional violinists won't let a lesser hand touch their violins lest they be damaged; Alberto goes at them with chisels and saws. And they come out better than when he started.

(below) Alberto whittles down a new nut for the violin.



















(above) Alberto's daughter, Dhamar, marvels at the fine black powder produced by sanding the ebony.

(left) Alberto gives the re-strung violin a quick tuning before returning it to the customer. He doesn't play the violin at all, just enough to tune the instruments he works on.