This cello belongs to the great Philadelphia cellist Lorne Munroe. It was made for him by Thomas Elmer in Philadelphia in 1960. Unfortunately it suffered a fall and the neck pulled out at the button and to make things more difficult the piece of the back known as the button – which is glued to the neck- has separated at the purfling and stayed attached to the neck stock. In order to do this repair properly the back must come off and the button must be carefully removed from the neck and reglued to the back. Then the break will be discretely reinforced with new wood spanning the break.The back then is glued back on and the button area is ready for varnish touch up that will make the break invisible – which should make you think twice and look very close when buying an old instrument! Lastly, the neck is reset, the varnish is restored and to the untrained eye nothing has happened.
