My new violin arrived in the mail yesterday! I played it this morning. I'm still astounded at the differences between instruments...quite remarkable.
I've gone from what turned out to be a terrible sounding cheap violin...to a slightly better sounding cheap violin...to a 'real' 1900s violin with issues...(interject one brand new factory made viola ) ...to a brand new 'small shop' violin... :lol:
I'm learning as I go along...and also realizing I still have tons to learn.. Although I basically like my German Trade violin...since it's the first 'real' violin I've had, I was getting dissatisfied with it...although I think it basically sounds good...something undefinable (for me) was happening. This dissatisfaction started when I got my Shen viola. It somehow sounds much better than the violin. Then there's the issue of the repaired pegbox...I'm always scared to tune it. That's actually a bigger factor than maybe it should be.
So, I went shopping again. This time I was primarily looking for performance. I wanted a violin I knew wouldn't hold me back and that if I made a 'bad sound' it was soley my fault and NOT the fault of the violin. Hard to find all that on a limited budget.
However I think I succeeded! I just purchased one of Gianna Violin's 'Rose' violins (Steven and Gianna Perry, Tenessee). It may be more violin than I'll ever need...but it's nice to know I likely won't outgrow it.
Inital thoughts: It's very different from my German Trade violin. It's much more responsive (which I really needed). It projects much better. I'm very pleased! Both violins resonate very well...but quite differently...however I don't have the words at hand to describe the tonal difference. It plays much better on the higher registars...but I don't know if the bridge on the German violin is quite right...it looks very high, which would affect playability. And I don't know if it's cut that way to compensate for the fingerboard, or if she just didn't cut it quite right (I had a new bridge put one when I bought it last winter).
I know I can trust the set-up on Steve's, so that's one less thing I'm wondering about.
Now I need to take a few photos...it's a del Gesu model...but the differences must be subtle to the untrained eye...I can't tell the difference yet between it and a Strad., which I'm assuming the German violin is (but it might not be... ).
I've gone from what turned out to be a terrible sounding cheap violin...to a slightly better sounding cheap violin...to a 'real' 1900s violin with issues...(interject one brand new factory made viola ) ...to a brand new 'small shop' violin... :lol:
I'm learning as I go along...and also realizing I still have tons to learn.. Although I basically like my German Trade violin...since it's the first 'real' violin I've had, I was getting dissatisfied with it...although I think it basically sounds good...something undefinable (for me) was happening. This dissatisfaction started when I got my Shen viola. It somehow sounds much better than the violin. Then there's the issue of the repaired pegbox...I'm always scared to tune it. That's actually a bigger factor than maybe it should be.
So, I went shopping again. This time I was primarily looking for performance. I wanted a violin I knew wouldn't hold me back and that if I made a 'bad sound' it was soley my fault and NOT the fault of the violin. Hard to find all that on a limited budget.
However I think I succeeded! I just purchased one of Gianna Violin's 'Rose' violins (Steven and Gianna Perry, Tenessee). It may be more violin than I'll ever need...but it's nice to know I likely won't outgrow it.
Inital thoughts: It's very different from my German Trade violin. It's much more responsive (which I really needed). It projects much better. I'm very pleased! Both violins resonate very well...but quite differently...however I don't have the words at hand to describe the tonal difference. It plays much better on the higher registars...but I don't know if the bridge on the German violin is quite right...it looks very high, which would affect playability. And I don't know if it's cut that way to compensate for the fingerboard, or if she just didn't cut it quite right (I had a new bridge put one when I bought it last winter).
I know I can trust the set-up on Steve's, so that's one less thing I'm wondering about.
Now I need to take a few photos...it's a del Gesu model...but the differences must be subtle to the untrained eye...I can't tell the difference yet between it and a Strad., which I'm assuming the German violin is (but it might not be... ).