Hi mot, Your violin sounds like it would've been an amazing project. 100+ years old, and all! I bet your clarinet made-up for it though. Wish I had the skills for brass or woodwind. My fingers seem to perform better than my lungs.
Was able to make a bit more progress with my archtop restoration. Installing new kerfing under the soundboard without taking the top off is somewhat of a challenging task. However, it's not impossible. Archtops with built in re-curves usually have flattened edges, but the sides of archtops like this Nardan are not flat, requiring the kerfing to match the undulations of the edges of the top. In addition, the edges of the kerfing need to be angled from about 3 to 7 degrees to fit flushly to the top. So, the new kerfing needs to be chiseled scrapped and sanded very carefully. In this particular case, the kerfing job was split into two stages to make fitting easier. Once the fit is verified, clamping the new kerfing is also a bit challenging...
The larger clamps don't allow for necessary clamping space. The white bar acts as a support for bars cut to size from bamboo chopsticks (good flexing capabilities). The ends of the chopstick bars are grooved to push against the white cross bar and the clothespins on either side prevent the chopstick bars from slipping. It's also very important to make sure the kerfing doesn' start to slide up the sides.
The kerfing job took precision and many hours, but here it is after both the top and bottom kerfings have been applied.
The bottom kerfing will need to be shaved and sanded to match the guitar's back, a much easier job when the matching back is completely off. Some areas under the braces need to be reinforced with adhesives, and side braces will need to be added. K&Ks Twin Spot acoustic pick-up will be installed before closing the box.
Adhesives will be applied to stabilize the neck joint. The frets will definitely be upgraded. Might install and resurface the fret board altogether. Clean-up the rear of the head stock. Clean-up and re-store lacquer finish. Install new bridge, saddle and nut. Still a long way to go, but making stable progress! Thanks for letting me share!