Fiddle talk - VIOLIN DISCUSSION FORUM - Playing the violin

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Can a Good Violin Go Bad, and a Bad Violin Be Good Over the Years

Violin Changing Over the Years

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Mouse

February 14, 2019 - 8:26 am

Member Since: December 26, 2018

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Say, you win the lottery, you decide, “Aha, I am going to get me that $$$$$ violin.” It is a lovely sounding violin. Over time the violin is used by you. It is expertly cared for by you. Wouldn’t the sound you get from it change over the years as it is in your possession and care? Couldn’t that lovely expensive violin’s sound quality change and deteriorate, even with impeccable care? Or is it pretty much just going to get better with age because of the varnish on it?

Take part of that and change it around, could a person by a $ bad sounding violin, made from what are typically good woods for violins, treat it with the best of care. Over time, could that violin blossom into a really great violion.

Could either one of these happen or are violins pretty much set after a decade or so and just going to get mellower or brighter over time, but not better in the actual quality of the sound?

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DennisS

Long Valley, NJ/Hobe Sound, FL

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February 14, 2019 - 8:36 am

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History seems to show that well made violins can sound better, over time, as the wood ages - assuming proper care. Certainly, well made violins can get worse over time if not stored/maintained properly.

The chance of a poorly made violin (that presumably sounds like it was made) blooming and reaching the level of a well made violin violin over time is, well, negligible.

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Gordon Shumway

London, England

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February 15, 2019 - 5:54 am

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If I remember Julian Bream's autobiography correctly, a guitar spends 5 years improving, then 5 years playing well, then it slowly goes downhill. But that's just a thin, flat sheet of spruce, and also it sounds so anecdotal that it should be taken with a pinch of salt, and also we can assume it's a guitar that gets played at least 4 hours every day. I read somewhere that a lot of Strads are played out now and some people are preferring Amatis because they've been hammered less. But that's after 300 years.

Andrew