Old violin, New student

    
Old violin, New student    21:08 on Thursday, October 27, 2011          

CharmSpaide
(1 point)
Posted by CharmSpaide

Predominately I am a vocalist{True Alto}, And I had studied flute for 5 years before I ended up quitting{Which is a story of itself}. Recently I have been wanting to play but lacking a flute at the moment I decided to pull out a very old violin we had up in the attic.
It has absolutely no markings, the only thing that distinguishes it is a mother of pearl inlay on its back plate{a very small amount is missing}. I know that unmarked violins sometimes meant that they were made by individual craftsmen rather then mass produced. In talking with my father there is a chance that it might have been made by someone in the family in his grandfathers time which makes me think 1900-1930s for its actual age. I found 3 that had identical back patterns that had virtually no details with them, just that its potentially German{and my family is all German on my fathers side}.
As for its condition; fairly dirty imo and some of the varnish is rubbed off from wear. Currently I have 3 strings and one good bow, the other one seems to have a busted frog{they also have mother of pearl}. There is also a very small gap like half a millimeter of separation between the ribs and the back plate about where the bottom block is. But that only showed up when I had gone to tune the violin, and really had to look to notice it{I was very slowly tightening it to be careful}. Right now its maybe a half step flat because I don't want to tighten it anymore then I did. Or it might be my fingering since I do not actually know how to play violin. But though its flat and I have no idea how to play its making a fairly solid sound. I know I need to find a good Luthier which I am searching for{with potential of a family heirloom; I really don't want it messed up}.

But to come to my actual question, do any fellows here have any tips in dealing with old violins that I might have missed?


Re: Old violin, New student    03:28 on Sunday, November 6, 2011          

j_lee
(53 points)
Posted by j_lee

Hi,

Why dont you check with professionals in some websites like justanswer.com. There might be other instrument appraisal sites as well.

Thanks
All about violin and violin music


   




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