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I have two violins that were made 90 years apart and seem vastly different. Granted, there are of different makes and qualities, but they do tell an interesting story!
Several months ago, I purchased a cheap violin to learn how to play while I slowly brought an older, rescue violin back to playing condition. Now that the rescue violin is restrung and ready to play, I'm finding little things that are vastly different from my newer violin.
I thought it would be interesting to share what I have found!
Violin #1: Jules (The Young One): 2011 Palatino VN-450
Manufactured in China in 2011, Jules is a bright sounding, low cost yet efficient violin made for beginners. All the conventional products work with Jules including chin rests, shoulder rests, tail pieces and pegs. Jules needed a little "set-up" to work out all the kinks and smooth over her sound, but not much given that she cost slightly over $200. Like the name suggests, Jules is very much young and "immature" in my opinion. There were some growing pains in the beginning (finding the right strings, proper bridge placement, peg break-in time) and taming an almost too bright sound. With some age and proper strings (Zyex), Jules seems to be maturing with each passing month. I've only heard of violins getting better with age, I never thought that I would witness it first hand. Which brings me to my next violin.
Violin #2: Lazarus (the reborn, the rescue.....the old man): 1920 Stainer (?)
A few years ago, I was helping a friend clean out his great grandfather's old home in Chicago when I noticed a wooden case in the garbage pile. Upon further investigation (....just opening the case), I found a violin covered in old rags and music sheets. It had no marking inside the body but had "Stainer" engraved on the back. In the case, there were packs of strings dating back to the 20's and 30's as well as a barely legible purchase receipt from 1922. I took Laz to a local music shop to obtain an estimate of repair to bring Laz back up to playing condition. The shop owner then refused to work on it and recommended that I bring it to someone who properly restores violins rather then just repairs. Further adding the mystery of Laz, regular chin rests and shoulder rests do not fit. I've tried different settings, but it seems that Laz is not as thick or wide as Jules. The finger boards are identical in length, but there were some odd differences. The first is that Laz is so much lighter than Jules yet not made of junk wood. The sound difference is incredible. Laz has so much more of a warmer, sweeter sound than Jules. I've heard that Stainer's were known for their sound due to their odd, bloated shape and Laz definitely has that characteristic. It almost seems as though Jules is "skinnier" than Laz. Truly a unique violin to me!
Without any further identification found on Laz, I don't think I'll ever know it's full story, but I'm happy to have it. Who knows all the songs that were played on Laz's finger board? It's just interesting to think about! And I absolutely love to play both violins as they are different experiences!
Just wanted to share with everybody!
~EJ
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
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So this is a pic of my two fiddles I uploaded to make a new profile pic on my facebook page. Any who, I stumbled across this post and thought Id chime in. The left is great grannies fiddle from the mid to late 19 century made in Germany, the one on the right is handmade in Romania so it says, 2007. I was surprised at how similar (not just violin shaped) in design they are. Since there are quite a few variations on the theme I thought. The newer was not purchased with the older in mind it was for my daughter who plays in school. There is definately a tone difference between the two. I honestly dont know which one I like better. Im playin the newer one because of the bridge shape to see if grannys flatter bridge profile makes a difference in my string changes. The older of the two is more yellowish and definately needs to be restored and reset. Im having fun, and feel blessed to be able to use both of them. Grannys will be used mostly for fiddlin and the other goes back to school in the fall.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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The shape of that Stainer instrument looks really interesting. From the picture (and I admit the lighting and the shine off the instrument may be throwing me off here), it looks as if unlike most designs, the bulging happens closer to the outer edge, and the body is a little flatter in the middle? Is that typical? As opposed to what we're all used to, which is slightly smaller radius of curvature in the middle and so on. I would think, though, that you'd need somewhat thicker material around the cornices for structural reasons...
My immediate thought on having a flatter middle section is what it would do for the efficiency of energy transfer through the sound post. Seems like it would be more efficient, but at the same time, there's the question of which frequencies are better preserved since the string movement is more tangential.
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Actually, the "bulge" is in the center of the Stainer and taper's off toward the edges. It almost looks like the violin swallowed a football (American, that is! ) length wise!
What's crazy is that it's a hair smaller, body wise, then my other violins! Just small enough to where my other chin rests and shoulder rests won't fit! Also, if you look at the tail piece, you can see the bulge/curve on it and how it won't lay flat! lol
Here are some older pics of it when I first started cleaning it up!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
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