On the Fiddle.

[neptune]

It might seem odd to post this on an E bike forum, but I am looking for some common sense views here. Just over a year ago I decided I wanted to have a go on a violin, or more correctly a fiddle. I couldn`t find anyone who would let me try theirs, so I bought a cheap Chinese one off Ebay for £35. I found that within a week, I could play a couple of simple tunes. I practised at least two hours daily, never missing a day. It became addictive. I fitted better strings @ £35/set. A better carbon fiber bow, @ £45. I now have a repertoire of about 50 tunes, and sometimes play in a local folk music group. Now I feel it is time to upgrade my fiddle. Trouble is that there is so much snobbery and bullshine surrounding violins, that I get conflicting advice. My choices are

1. Stentor is by far the biggest maker of student violins. Their top student instrument is the Conservatoire model at about £230.

2 I could buy an older fiddle, paying from £200 to maybe £1000. Obviously it would be second hand and might have defects that I would not notice. To the experienced ear [not mine] it would have a better sound. I would probably not have the technique to bring out the best in it.

Option two would be an investment in that it would hold its value, and appreciate over time. But in a sense would be casting pearls before swine.Option one if looked after carefully would still be worth up to £180 on the secondhand market. Sometimes I wish I had stuck tp playing the tin whistle! What would you do?

 

[Wicky]

I'll ask a fiddling friend and get their advice - back soon

 

[mike killay]

I am a guitarist and have a number of expensive models.
To me, I can hear the richness of tone etc., but I think that a non guitarist could not hear the difference.
The reason that I say this is that my friend a concertina player has paid thousands for some of his instruments but I really cannot tell the difference.
Much more important is playing experience, width of neck etc.
YOU need to enjoy playing it.
One really good country fiddler that I met had made his own from an oblong old wooden box and fitted a real violin neck. Sounded fine to me.

 

[soundwave]

get this on finance

http://www.alangregory.co.uk/music/Yamaha_Handcrafted_YVN-500S_Violin_Only.html

then get 1 of these good for 15k

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/debt-solutions/debt-relief-orders/

have you tried a electric 1 around 1k tho

 

[neptune]

As A young man I played electric guitar in a band, and also an accoustic at the folk clubs. As my old accoustic was falling apart, I looked at some in a music shop . I picked up a Chinese guitar, priced at £100. I played a few chords on it and decided I must have it. Easy to play sounds wonderful, but it is made from some sort of composite, a cross between MDF and Chipboard! I think my fiddle is made from something similar. But the sound, although not in the Strad bracket is quite good. The other thing is that if it gets rained on when I am busking, I can dry it off with kitchen paper, and it suffers no damage. Imagine doing that with a £1000 antique violin. There would be no point in buying a fiddle that I would be so anal about that it spent its life locked away in a safe place. Life is full of difficult decisions...

 

[Steve UKLSRA]

I'm a pianist, bit harder to lug around...a good player can make any instrument sing, but it does help if it has a good "action"...I'd imagine it's all about the fret height on manual string instruments to get the feel, but don't quote me...sound-wise, every piano is different and as it's a string instrument I'd imagine all others are the same too...go to a local music shop and try a few out, that's how I decided...although I'd love a Yam Grand in white...drool

 

[soundwave]

not much point getting a real expensive 1 if out in the rain and at gigs ect as no one will here the difference tbh.

not as if you will have a 3k mic to record it with anyway more like a sm58

my speakers cost more than my bike rrp but got mine when town house studio went bust in London and have been used by

Elton John,[1]Queen, Phil Collins, The Jam,[2]Asia, Bryan Ferry, Coldplay, Muse, Duran Duran, Jamiroquai, Kylie Minogue, Oasis, XTC, Robbie Williams and Joan Armatrading.

 

[flecc]

I suggest the Conservatoire model would the best choice, an instrument you'd enjoy owning and using while not being stressed at all by it's value and fear of damage or theft.

After all, it's primarily about enjoyment, yours and others.
.

 

[Alan Quay]

Another guitar player here.

Heart says vintage Fender (electric), or Martin (Acoustic).

Head says that Yamaha and Takamine actually make far more practical instruments. Generally speaking they are easier to play, more robust, very stable, cheaper, easily replaced and comparable on sound.

I'd imagine it's the same story in the violin world.

 

[Steve UKLSRA]

Plus one on the Yam's...used to be Steinway and Bechstein in the piano world, but Yam re-wrote the rules and are sublime to play

 

[Wicky]

Advice from my Fiddly friend Terry of the Bijoux Toots

http://www.bijouxtoots.com

....my advice ( which is very simple ) is to spend time trying different instruments out within the budget he has. He will get to know what he likes the sound of, trust his own instincts but take a friend with him as well. I played on a £40.000 fiddle once and it didn't sound any better than mine which is £3.000 ! Tell him I am impressed and so glad to hear of a grown up learning the fiddle. Grand stuff !!!

 

[neptune]

When I started this thread, I wondered if I was doing the right thing, as this is an e bike forum. I have been pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of the replies. Re being a grownup learning fiddle, can I just add that I am seventy years old. I do not set out deliberately to busk in the rain, but rain can start suddenly and catch you out. Plus, one is supposed to protect an instrument from extremes of temperature, and I have busked in temperature between 5 and 28 degrees celsius. I sort of love my cheap Chinese fiddle. The finger board which should be made of ebony is made of some cheap wood dyed black, and is starting to show slight wear marks which is not good. At least with the Stentor models[ other than the bottom of the range ones] you get ebony fingerboard and pegs. With a cheap fiddle you can find the courage to modify it a bit to suit yoursel, for instance, I bought a bridge blank [Ebay £5] and carved it to lower the strings. I could always refit the original bridge if things went pear shaped. Quality strings also improved things. OK my dinner is ready, perhaps more later.

 

[mike killay]

The tip to take someone with you to listen is good, I take my son who is also a fine guitarist.
Have to say that I am a bit anal about buying, but I take my micrometre to measure parts that are important to me. (i.e. I must have 2 mm between the top E string and the side of the neck because a fattened finger caused by years of playing)
But once I know that I can handle the instrument well, I sit across the room and listen to my son play.
There are a huge number of variables in acoustic guitars, but I won't bore you with them.
Best of luck and keep playing!

 

[neptune]

Good tip about taking someone with you. I do not know many fiddle players, but I could take my brother who is a guitarist and has a good ear. I tried our local music shop, but although they have some student fiddles, none of them are set up, so you cannot try before buying. They also want £40 extra to set up the bridge! imagine going to buy a new car and being told no road tests and by the way, we charge £ 500 to fit the gearbox for you. It is true that an instrument is a personal thing. As a youth a bought a Shaftsbury electric guitar from a junkshop for £35. I still; have it. I find it far better to play than The Fender Stratocaster that I bought later. I sold the Strat. I like Fleccs advice. I will probably buy a Conservatoire. I can sell it later if I look after it, and not loose much on it. I can always get another upgrade if I feel the need later. Much as I admire the craftsmanship of the old masters like Stradivarius, I find it hard to believe that we can not make better instruments using modern machine tools, and acoustic measuring devices. I am lead to believe that some of the best violins in the world lay unplayed in the darkness of bank vaults.

 

[neptune]

who needs an expensive fiddle?

 

[flecc]

I am lead to believe that some of the best violins in the world lay unplayed in the darkness of bank vaults.

That's certainly true to some degree, just like some of the world's greatest art and finest classic cars, stored as investments by those who only know the value of money as money.
.

 

[neptune]

A final point here. When you are playing a fiddle, and perhaps an acoustic guitar, an onlooker hears a different sound to the player. Whilst busking one day, a Chinese girl stopped to talk to me. She told me that she was learning violin. I offered her a go, and she said she could only play a couple of tunes. I handed her the fiddle, and she played a very simple version of Amazing grace. No big deal. But the tone was pure nectar. I like to think that maybe sometimes my playing sounds a bit like that to passers by. So maybe, when it is stuck right under you

 

[neptune]

Stuck right under your earhole, you dont hear it the same way as passers bye.