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(Note: The above image is not the actual fiddle I am talking about...just the same style.)
Well today is fathers day and this daddy got what he has been asking for for a while now. I got the order placed for my first violin. A Franz Hoffman "Prelude" violin. It is one of the best reviewed violin I have found for the price, roughly $189.
I have been on Fiddlerman.com now since the middle of May, watching as everyone talks about how much they enjoy their violin. Reading the forums, watching the videos, etc... But there is only so much one can do WITHOUT haveing a violin to start with. I've probably bored most of you with my constant excitement of, "Fathers Day needs to HURRY" and "waiting on Fathers Day." I had originalythought that my wife was getting me a fiddle for Fathers Day because of a conversation I overheard. Unfortunetly, that was not the case. She had wanted to get me one, but was unsure of which one I REALLY wanted. So instead she offered my the final "OK" so that I could actually purchase one. (If you are married then you know that sometimes you HAVE TO get that final "OK" before you spend anything!! lol
So my order is placed and I am now in the process of waiting (again...-sigh-) for the arrival of my first violin. Wish me luck...
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
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Oooh, congratulations on your new present. For the record, I would have waited to order it too. The choices for buying a new violin can be overwhelming.
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Congratulations to you. I am so happy for you. The week waiting for my violin to arrive was very very exciting and slow..... I tracked it every hour I think... 
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Congrats on the decision and the purchase. Sure is a big deal is'ent it.
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Congratulations. Hope it's a great one.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Don't forget Clint... to post or send me a recording at the very beginning before you mess with anything (except tuning it up of course) so we can see how the sound improves as it ages, and how it compares to others in that price range and craftsmanship level.
rock on brother... I can hardly wait to see the real machine...
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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I'm happy for you! Too bad they did not order it secretly though, can't wait to have your first feedback on your first day starting to play!
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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Thanks everyone...I am thrilled to get this thing.
@cdennyb: soon as I get it and get it tuned, I'll shoot you and email or post a vid (Probably both as excitable as I am, lol)
I am hoping this thing will be here by Friday, but with my luck it'll be Monday. (The Fates like to skrew with me that way!)
Friday I have to get me a tuner ordered from Fiddlershop. Has anyone ever used the 3 in 1 tuner that clips to the scroll?
http://fiddlershop.com/accesso.....tm501.html
I really want a smaller one for starter and I have heard a lot of good things about it. If anyone knows much about it, let me know.
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
I like that tuner. I don'y have it but I see a lot of guitars with one on them and always thought it would be nice to have one which clips onto a violin Just don't get too used to watching the tuner to check intonation use yout ear also. Same way with finger tapes. I think they are great as a quick check but just don't always look at them.
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I didn't intend to keep it on all the time. I really just want it as a tuner. I want to learn to tune by ear. I just want to tune it, then take it off and check it every day or so, at least until my strings stretch to a spot where I don't have to tune everyday. lol
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
Sweet present!!! Congrats!!!
Hopefully, You'll share with us how it sounds
gkeese said
...check it every day or so, at least until my strings stretch to a spot where I don't have to tune everyday. lol
LOL my strings don't have that spot. I still tune everyday =)... several times a day... 
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Cllint tuning gets easier and easier as u do it more and more. Keep on tuning.
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Gosh I am so excited for you, nothing like waiting for a violin to arrive....almost unbearable - but it will be worth it! -
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@Mad_Wed- Thanks, I plan to show everyone how it sounds. Cdennyb wants a sample to see how it improves, so a sound sample is definetly going to happen.
@springer- I would love to tune by ear, I just hope I can do it. I need a tuner before I can play, but odds are I'll get the violin before the tuner. Then I'll have to wait to play my new violin because I am waiting on the tuner. -sigh- can't win for losing, lol
@ Mimi- THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME...and it has only been 12 hours!!! lol
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
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Poor you. Let's hope it gets to you quickly.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Clint,
use FM's tuner or use http://www.seventhstring.com/t.....tuner.html this works like the tuners you buy. If you have a smart phone there are plenty of free tuners to downloas that work pretty well.
gkeese said
@springer- I would love to tune by ear, I just hope I can do it. ...
You'll never know if won't try =)
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@Mad_Wed- I will learn to tune by ear, but to make sure I am not learning a few notes of I would like a tuner. So as I tune it by ear, I can double check it on the tuner to see how close I got by ear. Kind of a way of checking my homework before I turn it in, lol.
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
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Well, if you want to rely at least *less* on the electronic tuner, but aren't quite ready to tune strictly "by ear", you can tune by the harmonics.
The harmonic that is right about where your 4th finger goes in position 1 on the G string has the same pitch as the harmonic in the center of the D string. The spot near the 4th finger in 1st position on the D will give the same pitch as the octave on the A, and so on.
If you use the harmonics to tune, then you only need to get any one string in tune via an online pitch source or tuning fork or whatever to be able to get the rest.
FM has a lesson on using harmonics in playing with bowing https://fiddlerman.com/tutoria.....lin/ but you can just pluck the strings near the bridge while touching the same spots to use them to tune.
Once you are used to it, it can be a quicker way of checking and touching up the tuning on a string than getting out the digital tuner.
Personally, I like leaving the electronic tuner clipped to the scroll when I play scales to warm up. But all the ones I have seen take a fraction of a second to figure out what note you are playing, so the worries about not developing your ear if you rely on them when playing are kinda moot unless you are playing something pretty slow. Maybe I just don't have a real fast tuner, however it is a fairly recent model of "Snark" tuner, and usually works fairly well. But once I'm off the slow scales to warm up, the poor thing doesn't know what to do, and leaving it on is mostly a waste of batteries. LOL
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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