Greg the Instrument was made for me by a friend, every singe paRt is hand made, tail piece hand carved, the knot was carved and inlaid, the whole instrume t is made of flame maple .

Andrew ,yes 3 days, I could actually play it after about ten minutes, my skill is on fretted instruments. the reason I took up violin was a challenge. I actually made that tune up on the spare of the moment for my friend who made the instrument for me I can play many fretted instruments but class myself as a singer more than anything else, my family were large and came to Liverpool from Ireland, all of them played lots of instruments including my grandfather who was one of the best five string banjo players in Liverpool. Unfortunately I find violin a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Wtw thanks, I have played guitar for thirty odd years though so its not that much of an achievement, thanks for the compliment about the composer badge..