Violin Lessons Begin

It’s 1:15am and so this isn’t going to be a long one; just mostly a story and some photos.

So here is the situation. For a long time I’ve had this violin.  The story starts out with a visit to my grandfather’s basement where I discovered a violin sitting in a box.  About an hour later my grandfather came into the room and said, “Steve, were you playing that violin?”  I had played around and fumbled my way through something that sounded like some music from Star Wars or something and now I was a bit embarrassed as if maybe I shouldn’t have been playing with it.

My grandfather came over and told me about the instrument and he said I could go ahead and keep playing.  My father had done some varnish work on the body of another violin that my grandfather had owned and I was actually hoping I would get to keep it or inherit it some day.  Instead he gave me the violin that has been sitting around my apartment over the years.  In actuality I had inherited it via my mother who hung onto the instrument for a long time.  She bought a new bow for it (which, to this day… I have no idea where that bow is).  When my mom passed away I inherited the violin and the original wooded bow now a bit out of shape.

On Tuesday evening I took my first lesson. Now, I’ve had the violin for something like 15 years and here at 37+ years old I am starting my first lesson.  It was all theory and violin history (which was great) and we looked over the violin.  In short my instructor didn’t even want to touch the instrument.  He noted a few tender parts on it and recommended I visit a well-known shop in the town where I work.

The next morning I headed in to work in Alexandria, VA, and made a stop at the violin shop on the way.  An older gentleman who looked a bit like a man from a Pixar animation came up to the front and we chatted.  He began to look over the instrument.  This is what he pointed out.

The thing is fairly pretty but getting old.  I carry it around in this crazy old wooden case which is beating the violin up a bit, but it has some interesting character.  In the world of violins, the largest size is considered “full” before you start transitioning from violin to viola. He said the body was slightly larger than a full. It ends up while the name inside is French, it is really made by a German copyist from the 1930s.  

Next up he noticed that the pegs were not in fact pegs.  While a bit unusual, he said it takes a long time to tune pegs like these (which are actually gears like a base or guitar) and violins haven’t been made like this for a while.  He recommended they be replaced if I intended on really playing the violin. Of course I was going to play it so I said “add it to the estimate.”

After this he noted the bend in the bridge.  “We have to replace the bridge.”  This is common and expected.  This got added to the estimate as well. I was surprised to learn that for a while when you put a new bridge on a violin you have to keep adjusting it to keep it upright.  This lengthens the life.  It is also not glued down.  The pressure of the strings causes it to stay in place.  See, I am already learning.

He then noticed the corn of one of the shoulders had a chip out of it. One of the workmen in the shop came up to estimate what it would take to fix the chip.  Now I imagined this to be cosmetic but almost nothing on a violin is purely cosmetic.  In fact the whole thing sort of hangs together elegantly in a manner that creates the most amazing sound and nearly all of the corners and holes are dependent upon each other for the entire instrument to function as a whole.   

In fact, as a direct result of having the corner chipped out the sides closets to the corner were also pulling away.  They really needed to be reset and glued I guess while the chip was replaced.  It all sounded quite elaborate and it got me thinking about the life of this violin.  I wonder if anyone else had done previous work on it. 

Next he addressed the bow.  It was completely warped into sad shape.  It would never play again.  I of course would never part with it since it was a gift from my grandfather and in a sense my mother as well.  But it was beyond repair.

 Finally he noted that the tail (the piece near the bottom of the face of the body where the strings hook into this black colored long piece that straps around the bottom of the violin) was old and it didn’t have fine tuners on it.  Again, the gears pegs were acting like both pegs and fine tuners, but like he said it was a very old and slow way to string and tune a violin. He said they really needed to be replaced. 

“Add it all up I guess,” and I started to do the math in my head wondering how I would come out on the other end of this situation.

“16 bucks for strings, unless you want dominant string on it.  They are a warmer sound?”  My teacher from the night before said I should get dominant strings. “Yeah, let’s go with the dominant string then.”  He added to the calculation, “That’s another 30 bucks.”

Man… violins are expensive.  Who knew a gift could cost so much!?  “What is the total so far?” He looked at me and said, “You could just rent a nice violin from me instead? We are known for our German violins and I rent them for $21 per month.  If you decide to buy it I will give you your rental fees as a down payment?”

He brought out a violin and started to play it.  He then tuned my (nearly breaking the bridge but didn’t) and played it too.  What an amazing musician.  The new violin sounded amazing.  The gift was nice too, but even a novice like me could hear the difference. “How much is that new violin?”  He set them down next to each other, the new one shining and beautiful, my grandfathers antiqued and chipped. “$800 for this one.”

Wow!  Ouch! “Ah, hmmmm.” In moments like these you wonder about what you are holding.  Is my worn German Copyist violin a secret fortune waiting to be discovered? Is this an heirloom or just an old knockoff?  Is it worth fixing or starting new? “So, how much to fix this one then?” He did the final calculations, “$350 plus tax and it will take a week or so to complete the work.”

I must have given a look because he rocked back on his heals and said, “Hold on.”  Spinning around he headed into another room.  I could hear the sound of a violin being tuned.  When he rounded the corner it sounded amazing.  Somewhere between being a great musician and this instrument he was holding I wondered what sort of deal he was going to produce or recommend to me.

“This is a nice violin.  Have a look.” I picked it up and held it like a fresh cut of meat.  I don’t play yet so I am certain I looked like a career bachelor holding a baby for the first time. “This has the pegs and the fine tuners we talked about.  I really like the neck on it and it is already completely pre-setup by the shop here.  Take a look at this.  The wood is actually really nice.  Now see here? This bow?  I will give you this bow and a case if you were to buy this one.”  He stood back placing his hands on his hips and shook his head.

I didn’t know if I just got upsold or downsold. “What sort of price are we talking about for this one?” I asked, noticing this nearly sad look on his face.  “What is the story here?  What is the difference between these two new violins?”

He grabbed the first new violin, “This shop was my fathers.  I now own it and my kids and my wife work here too.  This is a family business.  We are known for selling German instruments. This first violin, it is German. We have a maker in Germany who crafts these by hand.  He has a shop but not warehouse or inventory.  It keeps the price down but this is a fine instrument.”

He then picked up the second new violin. “This instrument is nearly as nice.  It is an excellent instrument.  In fact, we just got these bows in.  They are not wood.  They are carbon fiber with genuine horse tail hair and I can’t believe how nice the bow is.” He shook his head like something was wrong.

“So, how much is this?  Is this German as well?”

“No,” he said half ashamed and have proud but amazed equally so. “This one is from China.” He laughed again, shocked at the quality of the non-German violin. “It is a nice violin.”

“And what are you asking for it?”

“$390.  $390 for the violin, and I will give you the case and the bow as well.  I will even include fresh rosin for the bow, but I will start off the bow on my rosin.  This will be good for the new bow, the old rosin.”

“So, hold on.  That is a $800 violin, and my repairs would cost $350, but you are saying this is nearly as good as the German, but you are selling it for $390?”

“Yes,” he said with a laugh, “plus tax.”

“SOLD!”  And I love it so far.  This older respectable gentleman had me at hello, and he is either an amazing salesman or just an honest musician.  I tend to imagine both.

Well this ends the blog that ran too long.  Below is my first attempt at playing the new violin.  I stink!  But I will get better.  Technically I haven’t had a lesson where playing the actual instrument was involved at this point.  Next week maybe? So I don’t feel too bad about stinking it up.  It is now 2am and work comes early.  I wonder if I will dream about my new violin!