Pirate luthier adventures continued:
violin number 17)
In June I gave away six violins via freegle bringing the resident population down from 10 to 4. After that I had a bit of a hiatus in terms of offers. Now however, a freegler kindly offered a neglected violin that had been tucked away in the attic for too long. I had to put the soundpost and bridge back in place but otherwise it was in good shape. Although it groaned a bit when I first tuned it up last Saturday, it has now settled down nicely and I have played it a bit this week, including for two hours in the slow session of September 1.
So it looks fairly normal (on my new old musical cushion which I found by the roadside on my way home from orchestra):
It has a very beautiful backside:
and a lovely flower intarsia in the tailpiece (there's also a round dot inlayed closer to the tail end):
Another thing that is special about it is harder to spot and only visible when you compare it to another violin:
... or if you get out the measuring tape. Compared to a standard violin like my number 5) (top), number 17) is 1 cm longer overall, with the body length of 363 mm compared to standard length of 356 mm. By contrast, the width and thickness of the instrument are normal, so it's basically a stretched version. Looking into it I understood there have been makers in France, for instance, embracing this "long strad" shape hoping to gain a more powerful sound. Others object to the fact that the larger instruments don't necessarily fit into standard cases, see for instance this forum discussion. It came in a 1960s style hardcase which is loose-fitting anyway, so no problem but also not much protection. Luckily I had a modern case ready which I saved from landfill and which happened to have the extra centimetre to accommodate the longer instrument.
Having played it for nearly a week now, I appreciate that the sound is very strong and clear, which was particularly useful for hearing myself in the session playing with 20 others. Playing on my own at home, however, I tend to find the sound a bit too piercing. As a result, I am now developing my technique to play more quietly, but at this point I still prefer playing number 5) when I'm on my own.
Another special feature is the chin rest which is unusually high, as you can see in the last photo (it still had the price sticker on the underside, it was bought from Newingtons the Music Centre at Tunbridge Wells for £5.50, not to be confused with Newingon Strings who supplied the very lovely bridge). The higher chin rest has the advantage that I can play it comfortably without a shoulder rest (it came with a shoulder cushion), so don't have to mess around with that when I switch between instruments. Which in this case works well, as the setups seem to be similar enough.
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.
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 4) is a modern Chinese one which I bought from one musical friend and sold to another, no work needed.
violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) is my new favourite and the one I currently play in folk sessions.
violin 6) is the half-sized Lark which was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
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. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 8) is the "ladies violin", a 7/8 skylark. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
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 3/4 sold by JP Guivier & Co Ltd. in the 1950s but may actually be older than that. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 12) is a full-size Lark which a freegle user kindly donated and delivered after seeing my offer. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violins 13) through to 15) I bought locally through gumtree or facebook, nothing special to report.
violin 16) is branded Sebastian Klotz, but sadly not by the Mittenwald Luthier, but by Yamaha Malaysia, who appear to have trademarked his name. This one needs a serious repair, may write more about it when I've done it and found out whether it was worth it.
violin 17) is the supersized violin described above.
