Bunkei said
Hi Pierre,

Hey Bunkei

Of course, it's always a pleasure watching you review new instruments; especially when you do comparisons.  I thought I'd ask you a few questions about the newest instrument line you've added (Holstein Heifetz).

Feel free to answer them at your leisure:

1) Can you explain what you liked about the Holstein Heifetz violins that convinced you to start carrying their instruments?

We found a maker that makes incredible instruments comparable to the best instruments we have ever seen or heard. They are also super consistent compared to a lot of the well known great violins.

These instruments are bench made from very well seasoned wood, oil varnished, and very reasonably priced.
The work, cost, time, and investment to advertise these instruments will be lost if we give the luthiers name at this time. We are in the process of getting a contract signed with him to buy all his instruments, but if we reveal his name at the same time, players, distributors and dealers would contact him to buy directly. That would not only eliminate our chances of obtaining enough instruments but drive the price up for everyone.
They are as good as any new instrument I have ever played on in my life.

2) The Holstein Heifetz is now the 2nd most expensive violin you sell.  You are always price conscious with the instruments you sell.  What are the characteristics in this line of violins that a customer would fall for that may be missing in other comparably priced violins?

The Holstein Plowden is as well.
Overtones, easy open playability, projection, a great blend of dark to mid range tone.

3) You've stated that the Holsteins are benchmade.  Are they all made by the same luthier, or is it similar to MJZ where a group of experienced luthiers work under a master luthier?

They are made from start to finish by one maker. Bench made.

4) Each violin is unique, even when made by the same luthier with the same wood.  Putting that to the side for a moment, do you notice any differences (tone, varnish, setup, construction, etc) between the Holstein Heifetz vs MJZ and Scott Cao?

Just an overall great success rate with all the instruments that we have purchased so far. We have been buying them all from this one maker. We're amazed at the ratio of great sounding instruments. They all look fantastic.

5) How did you encounter the shop that makes this instrument?  Was it another case of a shop sending you violins to try?  Or was this situation completely different?

I have managed to get some connections who have encouraged us to order instruments from different makers. This is one of the few makers that came through. Even though most people see me as an easy and positive reviewer, I condemn most instruments that I test. Of course value is always a very important factor to play in.
I can test 100 instruments before one impresses me and then I want to see a few more to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

6) Here's a pretty hard question for you.  You're about to play the Sibelius concerto for President Obama and other heads of state.  Your personal violin has just been stolen.  You call your son at the shop to have him bring you a violin.  Which violin would you tell him to bring?

I would be content with any Holstein violins (thus the reason for giving them our name) and many of the Ming Jiang Zhu violins. Bare in mind that we don't keep them all to sell. We choose our favorites and spend hours on set-up and special adjustments.

7) Do you ever attend violin making competitions?

Strangely enough, no. It's always interested me but to be honest, most of the winning violins at those competitions out of the reach of the online customers that we deal with at this time. When we discover a violin maker who isn't well connected and hasn't won any competitions we have a great value product. As soon as a violin maker does well at a well known competition, the price increases many fold.

... I think that's enough  Again, no rush.  I just like to get pick your brain because you express yourself quite well.  Also, violins in the $3K-7K range have exploded in popularity for folks not quite fortunate enough to buy from the likes of Joseph Curtin, David Burgess, et al ...

Exactly. And to top it off, we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We only offer that because we have confidence in what we are offering.

The instruments come with very nice certificates with pictures. They are works of arts in themselves. There are more to come. Exciting times for us at Fiddlershop.

I'll be making reviews soon enough. Just got back from a 2 week cruise crossing the Atlantic ocean from Barcelona to Miami.

Actually I don't remember that comparison though I did recently make one for a girl comparing the Plowden, Scott Cao stv1500 and the Heifetz which I actually preferred. The Plowden instruments are made by the same maker and are equally good for the most part. I can always find a favorite among several instruments
If you become interested in the future, I can play a few for you and choose a favorite. We should have 15 coming our way within a month. We made the order 3 or 4 months ago. We also have some more exciting violins headed our way. Glad that you, and others, are keeping track.

The workmanship in these instruments is consistently fantastic. The more expensive versions are bench made by one maker. The quality of wood is about the best I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of violins. It is to me like purchasing a work of art as well as a great violin.

We are presenting certificates with pictures for insurance purposes and to protect against fakes. We'll register every instrument for the same purpose.

The lesser priced variations are made in the same shop and are incredibly nice as well but built on an assembly line operation by a few incredible master makers. Still hand made and some of the details such as the f-holes are cut by laser to be identical to the replicas. The finish on the lesser priced instruments is unique rather than trying to copy the original. It's a bit that way on all our instruments but the benched can look just like the original.

As you guys can imagine, we can't reveal the name of the maker for the obvious reasons. We will be doing a lot of advertising to build the reputation of the instruments and can't afford to compete with some of the huge retailers. Wholesalers and retailers alike would quickly contact his shop for direct purchases.
If his name were to come out, the price would unfortunately go up a lot compared to other instruments that I have seen at this quality level.

You guys will begin to see reviews by some of the buyers eventually. The response has been fantastic.
Most of our customers for these violins have been comparing these instruments to instruments that cost many times more which is what has been helping sales the most.

The models that we are expecting were ordered 3 months ago, since it takes at least that long for these instruments to be completed.

Call me at Fiddlershop and I'll tell you more. I don't want to give other dealers any great ideas before we present the instruments online, but there are some exciting instruments headed our way. I've never had so much fun testing instruments.

I'm making a prediction that you will be hearing a lot about Holstein Violins around the country in the coming years. We'll try to keep the price as low as possible for as long as possible. Hoping the maker will stay true to us as long as we treat him right. So far we are mutually happy.

That is a great question. Not really but the Bench violins are the best. I keep changing my mind about which ones I like the best because they have their own special character.
We just had an old friend visit us this evening and took out 5 of our Holstein violins, mixed. He had a hard time picking a favorite but he told me that they are all better than his violin. He was a full time professional violinist in the Florida Philharmonic years ago, who had studied with Ruggiero Ricci back in the day. He choose two to take home, a Heifetz and a Plowden. We have 6 on their way that just cleared customs. Can't wait to test them.