While the shop is set up for lutherie I am finally getting to the repair of my wife's 200 year old 'cello. This old instrument is a Czech made copy of a large body Amati 'cello.

Before work commences...

A real problem area is the lower bout. There is some cracking in the wood, the belly and back plate are experiencing chronic glue failure, and this particular section is actually bending outwards.

With the top off I can examine the 'cello in its present state. Oh my...

It appears to have at least three sessions of work done previously. I judge this by the apparent age of the different repairs. This would help explain the chronic glue failures, each time the top was removed new glue was applied over the old glue. You can do this with Hot Hide glue, but as the glue builds up the surface areas tend to get smaller. Pretty soon you have very little glue holding it all together. This is supported in my mind as many places required very little effort open the glue joint. Too little effort.

There were some odd repairs done over the years...what is up with that multi-colour fabric?