Yellowstone Jewelry

05/27/2026

05/12/2026

Ran in to two interesting musicians in Charleston, WV last week....... statues are approx 20 ft tall.

05/03/2026

Fancy L&H, interesting construction:
A carved dowel, not glued into heel
B threaded rod goes inside dowel
C dowel-end tenon, fits into D
D heavy brass ferrule, tight fit into E
E heavy dowel yoke (?) w/ screws through pot into heel
F integral tailpiece with hinged cover, screws onto tension hoop.

Someone had tried to remove the screws in E while D was still attached, which deformed D. B threads into a captive nut inside the heel, and I had to slightly round the threaded, heel end of B in order to get it to engage the nut threads. inside the heel.

04/23/2026

Is anyone familiar with luthier Ernst Martin of Markneukirchen (E. Germany)? I found one of his violins last weekend in York County, PA which is in fairly rough shape (joint in 2-piece top has begun to fail, neck and end pin blocks cracked) but otherwise has nice wood and seems to have "good bones".

The tag says "E. Martin Sachsen Copy of Stradivarius". I took the top off to get ready to repair a failed joint and inspected the top graduation, as some of the "German workshop" fiddles can benefit from regraduating. As far as I can tell, Martin did loosely approximate the top graduation dimensions used by Stradivarius. It also appears that, somewhere in its history, someone glued in a soundpost.

Coincidentally, a luthier friend lives nearby and, when we stopped in to visit, she was working on an E. Martin violin (in much better shape than mine).

04/07/2026

Reproduction Boucher hooks & tapered, square nuts w/ knurled lip.

More pics & discussion here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=100037660393340&set=a.1811092493489413

03/04/2026

03/02/2026

I don't know what made me look at this fiddle on eBay, but I'm glad that I did. Hmmmmm.... can't shorten the bow, can't lengthen the case ...... ? ? ? (look @ frog).

02/28/2026

Unusual 3 1/4" hooks for a 19th century fretless. The hooks fit onto the top of a thin brass tension hoop using a "V" notch in the "J" end of the hooks. These are thicker diameter (3/16") than most modern hooks. I formed the bright steel rod, tapped the end, cut down a steel nut to match the dimensions & thread, tumbled in sand to clean the surfaces, then patinated all with a vinegar/H2O2/salt solution. I also remounted the head using pistol grip clamps in order to be gentle on the old hardware.