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cool new label (violin included :-)
Fiddlershop sample violin off to London
Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 (0 votes) 
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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 17, 2018 - 11:45 am
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To start with the end of the story, this is the label...

2kAAAD2QAAwHFtbW9kAAAAAAAABhAAAKAuAAAAANDl7gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

... which Pierre had the awesome idea of adding to a new, off brand sample which I bought yesterday for my adult son in London. It's now all wrapped up for shippment to London (at Fiddlershop's astoundingly preferential rates!)

The beginning of the story is long, bittersweet and goes back nearly 20 years. More to follow.

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 17, 2018 - 12:37 pm
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The story starts back in the early 1900s when my Polish born grandmother was a child in Brooklyn. The family scraped together enough to buy her a decent German violin. My mother remembers "Nana" still playing it when she, herself, was a kid. 

The violin itch then skipped two generations.
Fast forward to 1994, Cologne.
Six year old Ben had just finished three years of typically German early music classes and needed to choose an instrument to enter 1st grade. Since he had a big time crush on his kiddy-music-teacher and since she also gave private violin lessons, choosing the violin was a no brainer for him. Lots of squeaking ensued. But as we're all experiencing, practice makes better (not perfect) and that's what happened.

By about 1990 Ben was was ready for a 4/4. I think Nana's violin was still with my mother in New York so we went on the hunt in and around Cologne. No well made, affordable Chinese instruments in sight yet. The numerous local string instrument shops were all pretty posh... their prices too. We finally found a French violin from the late 1800s from a hobby luthier who would buy old instruments in Poland and fix them up himself. Because of the odd source (and the lovely, relatively quiet, mellow sound) we thought we had found a great buy. What did we know... It certainly looked the part:

2kAAAD2QAAwHFtbW9kAAAAAAAABhAAAKAuAAAAANDl7gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAImage Enlarger

The violin did indeed serve Ben well through his school years... and then the instrument was retired to the back of a closet as so often happens.

About 2010, the French-Polish violin made its was back to Florida with me. I stayed in Florida while the instrument was soon sent as a loaner to friends in Canada for one of their talented daughters. 

Moving forward to this Spring, Ben was in Boca for a quick visit and saw Nana's violin, without a case, up on... you guessed it... a shelf at the back of yet another closet. "Oh, cool" he said, "There's stuff you can't play on a guitar, I think I'll take it back with me".
Unfortunately, no case, no shops open to buy one on Sunday and his return ticket to London that night. 

Cliff hanger, ha, ha...

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 17, 2018 - 12:59 pm
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Some of you can figure out at least part of the rest of the story. I wound up using Nana's violin for starters and here I am on the forum. 

But back to Ben. For anyone who's counting, he just had a big birthday (30) and a new violin was his wish. Buy in London at their steep prices or buy in the USA and incur shipping and customs costs, that was the question.

But as luck had it, the Canadian friend's daughters were done with the French-Polish relic and it was looking like Ben was going to be reunited with his childhood instrument. NOT. After a back-and-forth Montreal-Fiddlershop (where the instrument was to be put back in shape), the real item finally arrived. But yikes, the old (oversized and over thick) patch on the back, covering what was now a 5 inch sound post crack, had given way. As they say in the real estate business, this violin was seriously "under water." A professional repair would have cost triple what it was worth!

2kAAAD2QAAwHFtbW9kAAAAAAAABhAAAKAuAAAAANDl7gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 17, 2018 - 1:17 pm
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And now the happy end and back to the start:

This is the gorgeous sample violin bought from Fiddlershop yesterday (you've seen the cool label inside in my first post up top):

2kAAAD2QAAwHFtbW9kAAAAAAAABhAAAKAuAAAAANDl7gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  2kAAAD2QAAwHFtbW9kAAAAAAAABhAAAKAuAAAAANDl7gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It was one of the more reasonably priced choices from their "antique/used" page:
https://fiddlershop.com/collec.....ed-violins and now happily on its way to a really pumped Ben in London.

As for the French-Polish beauty, Felix at Fiddlershop hopes to have one of his apprentices restore it as a practice instrument. If that is possible, Michael Holstein suggested they would like to donate it to the music project in Haiti which Fiddlershop has been supporting. Nice!

Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute. 

THE END

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
August 17, 2018 - 2:17 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16429

And that is a wonderful story. Always a pleasure assisting you Holly. :)

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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mookje
The Netherlands
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August 18, 2018 - 7:18 am
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What a beautiful story Holly and great to donate to the project in Haiti. And what a wonderful gift for your son, he will be very happy with it. And such a sweet label. Congratulations with his birthday Holly! 

 Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 18, 2018 - 12:40 pm
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Thanks mookje and Pierre :-)

Burried pretty deep in the blogs on this site is a report on the music project in Haiti which Fiddlershop is involved in. Here's a re-up of the link:

https://fiddlershop.com/blogs/.....lume-haiti

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damfino
my own little world
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August 19, 2018 - 12:03 pm
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Awesome :D I like that the old family fiddle might find new life in Haiti :)  

☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

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mookje
The Netherlands
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August 19, 2018 - 12:23 pm
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I just read the article about the project, so beautiful and touching! 

 Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
August 24, 2018 - 10:29 am
Member Since: September 26, 2010
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Thanks for sharing that Holly. :)
We are happy to be able to help. There is nothing more satisfying IMO than helping less fortunate individuals pursue their love for music and creativity.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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