:) So I'm not the newest CBN millionaire. :)
I visited my parents this weekend and my Dad asked if I wanted an old trumpet I had played in 4th Grade. It had been in the family for awhile and I decided to take it. While that was being dug out, I asked about an old violin I remembered from when I was a kid. I never heard anyone play it, but sort of remembered it being in OK condition from the view of a 7 year old boy snooping around the closets for Christmas presents.
With no negotiation, both were handed over. The violin is in much worse condition than I remember 30 years ago and has a label "Copy of Stradivarius Made In Germany". From my limited search this leads to a 1920ish to WWII manufacture and little other valuable information.
The story behind the violin is my grandfather played organ and piano in a dance band with a gentleman named Lester Root. My grandfather took care of him before he passed away. The Root family gave the violin to my grandfather as a thank you and I don't believe it has ever been played since then.
Nicholas Frirsz is a luthier that lives close to me and I'm taking it to him to see if it is worth cleaning up. We'll either save it from further decay or use it to start a campfire. To be honest, I don't know which it will be.
Comments
Nice idea John. Although I may have to wait until my parents have passed on before I do something like that. :)
Hi E.D.
In a former life I was a viola player (RAM in London) and then bow maker (Yes. Those things with the horse hair falling off) for 11 years. The first giveaway sign is that the instrument has spray shading so that when it was new it would look a bit older. That is normally a sign of a fairly cheap factory instrument. Handmade instruments by individual craftsmen don't look like that. They have an consistent colour until they acquire the genuine patina of age.
The most important part of getting it playing again is the bridge and sound post position. The varnish coming off between the fingerboard and the bridge is probably a reaction between the varnish and the resin used on the bow, or something that was applied to try to clean off the resin from that area.
If you can get someone to repair it for almost nothing it might be quite fun, but if there is cost involved I wouldn't bother. Having said that, paint it a funky colour and put a pickup in it and just have a laugh.
All the best.
John
Thanks for the comments oilyfool and John.
We looked at the whole thing in pretty good detail. There's a repairable crack in the soundboard and some loose areas around the seams. The fingerboard is in the worst condition with a lot of wear. A lot. There is also an area near the edge of the fingerboard that has either worn off or someone filed off. It needs a new post and bridge as well. Needless to say, the last owner played it hard and put it away wet.
One of the bows is worth restoring, but has a badly damaged frog. The cost to rehair it is about the same as the value of the bow so there's no sense doing it now.
Nick did say that many of these violins can sound absolutely great. The wood used was excellent and it is the correct vintage of instruments made in Germany that were great sounding for the cost.
I think it will be good enough to clean up casually and hang it up as a family heirloom. I've got enough going on that will keep me from playing it soon, so there's no sense in putting any money into it unless it will be played.
E D,
I'd hag on to it as a family heirloom, if nothing else. I have a similar instrument that belonged to my German great-grandfather, who attended the University of Heidelberg before moving his family to Davenport, Iowa around 1920-23. My grandmother, his daughter, gave me the instrument, which is in storage at my Mom's house. When we looked at having it restored, the first thing they did was check the finish to see what type it was. Turned out to be a simple, relatively standard instrument varnish for the time period, that cleaned up amazingly well with some lemon oil and a little elbow grease. It was especially helpful on the fingerboard, whcih wasn't quite as badly stained as yours, but was not pristine by any means. Then, I bought new strings, strung it up, tuned it, got the bow rehaired, and viola! Or violin, actually.
I'd say with just a little TLC, some new strings and a rehaired bow, you could probably play it now. Fiddle around with it a bit ;-)
I met Nick Frirsz at his shop this afternoon. He was very generous with his time and sort of told me that if I didn't have plans to play the instrument, then it wasn't worth what it would take to make it playable. Likely anything he did would need redoing by the time someone wanted to play it properly.
One of the bows would be worth restoring if the frog wasn't badly damaged. Too bad.
I did get a chance to see about the coolest thing I've see this week, however. An upright, electric washtub bass. Or, as it was described to me, what happens when a violin maker drinks too much beer. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive in talking about CBGs, but after seeing this beautiful instrument, I walked right up to the conversation.
Thanks for the comment Knotlenny! I absolutely won't burn it, I promise. It's worth hanging on the wall at least for sentimental value. My grandfather passed away when I was a very young boy and most of my memories were hearing him play piano or organ. I wouldn't dare harm this.
It might be a bit more difficult to explain to my wife why I should have it cleaned up though. :)
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