MIMF

I've never attempted major cello assembly repair before. I've reattached necks and repaired separations successfully but now I'm facing an instrument that a bit of a mess. Looks like it spent a few days in the trunk of a hot car last summer.
Long story shortened quite a bit but I'll need to reinstall a top which is something I've never needed to do yet. I'm thinking of a form that'll enable alignment and clamping with the top facing down incorporating fixed alignment of the top, adjustable cams to align the sides and threaded inserts for spool clamps. The neck is not attached.
This will be a slight expense and an effort. I have a fully functional idea in my head on how to create this jig but I'm wondering if there isn't a design out there that maybe creates something more versatile. In my case, the neck is not attached. Does any one of a drawing or design for an alignment and clamping jig that permits the reinstallation of a top with the neck in place which is probably a more common scenario? If I saw some pictures, I could build a more versatile jig. I have another cello that requires top removal. I kinda have an idea but would like to see what others have done.

Beg,borrow,or steal a copy of Violin Repair & Restoration by Hans Weisharr & Margaret Shipman. This is generally regarded as the "Bible" of violin type instruments repairing..
There, you will find some good information re: cello repair and related jigs. Warning! This book is insanely expensive(I paid $400) for mine; however a copy should be available from a large university library or even through your local library's inter-loan program.
Hope this helps!

You're not the first to recommend this publication as the holy grail of instruction. The cost is out of my league. I need new tires on my pickup truck. I'm making a jig after looking at a number of ideas using google and asking questions. I got some help from a repair shop. I'll post a picture or two if this thing works.

Thanks! Looking forward to any pics you have of your cello jig.

A picture is located in the Stringed Instrument Repairs Political... section.

For bowed instrument repair questions, should I post here or there? In this case, I posted in both for different reasons with different types of questions -- I think -- it made sense at the time but was probably a bad idea.

Officially, build questions belong here and repair questions belong in Repairs, but we realize at times the lines are blurry. You will probably get a better response here because of the instrument-specific knowledge required.