Here’s a repair! I guess someone felt that a shim was needed under the board. I’m not even sure what the fix was supposed to be fixing. From this view, outside, I couldn’t see what I was looking at. Removing the board, I found a spruce shim of sorts. I still don’t know what the mess …
Maybe you’ve heard violin makers talk about violins with “integral” bassbars (cut from the top, not separate) and carving straight from the gouge. This is one of those. It doesn’t get much worse than this. Usually they might smooth a bit around where the post would go, but not this time! A violin like this …
