I think the violin population is at its peak now. On Thursday I posted an offer on freegle to give away four of the nine I have, and the first thing that happened was that somebody kindly dropped by another one this morning, so I'm now at ten, but based on the responses I had I think I can rehome six of them over then next few days. Two are staying indefinitely and two are not playable yet.
The first one to leave the premises may be the 3/4 violin shown above in its unrestored state, logbook number 11, which didn't need any serious work. I just sanded off some grime from the bridge, swapped around some strings, swapped the old wooden case for one that's not quite so ancient and more functional, and added a 3/4 bow that came from another freegler. And a pack of rosin. I am quite sure I'll never have to buy violin rosin again.
Update 1.6.: Violin 11 has now found a new home. I think the package ended up containing items from 5 different people - not counting the strings. Heaven knows where the strings came from, but I've been lucky that some of the violins came with strings to spare so I only ever had to buy one set, for the very first one.
I am keeping the old wooden case, considering to strip off all the black stuff and keep it as bare wood - may need some gluing and infilling in places, see how it works out. After the swap the case is now paired with the broken neck violin, which is the only other 3/4 I have, so no particular hurry for it to get ready as long as the fiddle is in pieces.
Inside the case there is a label from J. P. Guivier & Co, the violin shop I walk past on my routine trip from Marble Arch to St. Pancras (since the X90 service disappeared which stopped more conveniently in Marylebone/Baker Street). So on my last trip to the continent I dropped in and asked if they could tell me anything about where the violin might have come from, but they couldn't. Turns out they mainly resell used instruments so it could have been old already and could have been from anywhere. They admitted that they might have made the case for it though. They do have an interesting history page on their website. Turns out the founder's father Jean Prospere Guivier played the ophicleide and moved to London. The founder Joseph Prosper Guivier left England and the company in 1886. As they only became a Limited Company in 1952, the label in the case can be no older than that (I would have thought the case looked older, actually).
Previously in the pirate luthier series:
violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up.
violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts. Currently it is sporting a brand new tailgut which I made from an old cello C string.
violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home.
violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) is my new favourite and the one I currently play in folk sessions.
violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a new bridge. Good enough for folk I would say.
violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string
violin 10) is the broken one with traces of multiple repair attempts. I'm still gathering courage to try and fix that one.
violin 11) is the one described above
