Bowl Back Zouk Restore

[Spyder]

Looking for advice from folks who work on bowl backs. This Zouk come into my shop for some restoration work. A family heirloom, owner wants it back in playable condition. Has some ribs loose, top cracks, missing trim pieces (rosette and binding.) My first question is, what is the best approach to gluing the back together again? Can it be done without removing the top first? Trying to come up with some ideas and a cost estimate, but have never made one of these structural before. Any suggestions appreciated!

Model is Vracas, made in New York, 1915

Thanks!

[Tavy]

Definitely repairable, and you probably shouldn't need to remove the top, although that can make things easier.

Hard to see in the photos, but it looks like there are some old poorly done repairs? These will need to have the old hide glue stripped out so that everything fits nice and close and tight again, some 120 grit paper shuffled about in there normally pulls out the worst of it. If there are bits of the light-coloured banding between ribs missing, then you'll need to replace the missing bits to get a good fit - offcuts of maple veneer would normally be a good choice here. If you've not done one of these before, spend some time planning before you do anything, you need to factor in a couple of hours "thinking time" to your estimate. Then I glue one join a day (with HHG), and use masking tape wrapped around to hold everything together. Do a dry run or two first to make sure each join will go back together with decent alignment, and let everything get good and hard before you remove the tape, often these have been out of shape for a while, so there's some "spring" trying to pull things apart again. I start with the easy/trivial splits and move on to the big gaps last. Time wise, 10-20 minute per day (per rib). Plus the thinking time of course

[brunello97]

More photos please, sir! Lots of them.

You know how we are around here.....

And perhaps one of the label, too, if there is one.

Thanks in advance!

Mick

[Spyder]

Talked with the owner, the project is a go! Here are a couple more pics. One shows the label. The others are for the rosette. I would like to fix this, but so far I have not been able to find any colored wood strips to made the new piece out of. Need it for this and along the top binding in one spot. Anyone have a source for red and blue wood strips? These are about 1mm thick, i can get black and natural no problem.