When my beloved guitar was damaged in a mishap, I placed a call to my brother the musical genius. He said, "This is the critical question. Are there any splits in the wood that cross glued joints?"

The answer was no. He told me what to do to repair the guitar, and it's been fine since.

Therefore, Paul, I am in hopes that your fiddle does not have any breaks that cross glued joints and that it can be put back together. I assume you will engage in some detective work to figure out how this happened. If so, I would be interested to hear what you learn.