Guitar Versus Fiddle

[zombywoof]

I am self taught on both guitar and fiddle so ever learned to play either properly. Only reason I picked up the violin because there was one in the house. Got good enough on both though to gig and land a job teaching at a small arts center.

I am not much for accumulating flotsam and jetsam for either the guitar or violin. Both require a setup and not much else. I used Deamrond pickups on the guitars and a Barcus Berry pickup with the putty adhesive on the fiddles - playing both through the same amp. No strap for the violin but I did keep a bandana to put on my shoulder. But I am guessing the OP does not play fiddle. There are more than a few out there like me who while not spending much on the violins have considerably more invested in the bow. I once actually traded a Guild guitar for a good handmade violin bow.

[stringjunky]

I think we should enjoy the OP in the light-hearted spirit it was written and not over-analyse her or her post.

[menhir]

And there is this...

I have a very good violin and a viola, abandoned by my daughters after high school, that cost significantly more than a decent guitar but I can't sell them even at a very low price because the market is so saturated.

A few years ago I had to dump a Wurlitzer organ that I literally couldn't give away.

But I can easily sell my relatively inexpensive Seagull guitar and get a reasonable price for it.

[Tnfiddler]

My last thought on this post will be this! There are a gazillion guitar players out there and NOT ENOUGH FIDDLE PLAYERS!! I'd really love to be able to sit down at a festival or a jam and hang out with another fiddle/violin player and swap tips and techniques and play some good fiddle tunes!! That's getting harder and harder to do. So some of you guys and gals who are looking for a very rewarding, but extremely challenging new instrument, go get a good fiddle/violin and join the ranks!! PLEASE!!!

[rmgjsps]

Doesn't anybody out there just fiddle around on the guitar?

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by mdshax

As someone who lives with a violin player, guitars got nothing on violins when it comes to cost. My SO has four violins: a carbon fiber, an 18th century, a 19th century, and . . . something else. $60 strings are the base ones, the 18th century has to be strung with low tensions that cost twice that. Bows can cost a fortune, even basic carbon fiber bows which are considered the cheapies at $400. The 19th century violin is about as much as my Collings, the 18th is twice that. 59 different types of rosin, 600 pieces of individually priced sheet music (because there's no Ultimate Violin tab site). Oh, and when work has to be done, which is almost always, the only decent luthier is an hour away and . . . well, he's a very nice guy but there's a reason he drives a Jag.

please tell yer SO to keep up with what's going on in the violin making realms.

one discussion thread by professionals: https://maestronet.com/forum/index.p...-wood-violins/

oh, p.s. good quality fiddle strings from china have just begun to be imported: $8 a set...i sold my pernambuco bow after finding chinese composite sticks for $50....saved a lotta money so i could buy two greg smallman guitars for only $30,000 each!

a balsa violin built by one of america's master luthiers:

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by rmgjsps

Doesn't anybody out there just fiddle around on the guitar?

we all do! i been doing it for 53 years!

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

My last thought on this post will be this! There are a gazillion guitar players out there and NOT ENOUGH FIDDLE PLAYERS!! I'd really love to be able to sit down at a festival or a jam and hang out with another fiddle/violin player and swap tips and techniques and play some good fiddle tunes!! That's getting harder and harder to do. So some of you guys and gals who are looking for a very rewarding, but extremely challenging new instrument, go get a good fiddle/violin and join the ranks!! PLEASE!!!

now yer talking!!

hey--here's a very serious tip for players of ANY fretted string instrument:

i finally got fiddle under control about age 44, after 'just fooling around' on it for about 28 years....

soon i realized playing fiddle had unexpected side-benefits:

it improved my guitar/banjo/mando playing a LOT....

also greatly increased my 'ear' for music..

also made me better-understand the ergonomics of playing ANY stringed instrument.

[Tnfiddler]

While I love classical violin, I prefer it when they’re played like this!

https://youtu.be/5cmgRP5sYmU

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by menhir

And there is this...

I have a very good violin and a viola, abandoned by my daughters after high school, that cost significantly more than a decent guitar but I can't sell them even at a very low price because the market is so saturated.

A few years ago I had to dump a Wurlitzer organ that I literally couldn't give away.

But I can easily sell my relatively inexpensive Seagull guitar and get a reasonable price for it.

alas, many (most? all?) bowed instruments marketed towards students are crap, with almost no resale value....including some sold by the student's own 'private teachers'....

i know a few such cads....they'll get super-cheap junkers, bottom-barrel stuff from asia or europe, cost like $20 wholesale, then set it up, price it for, say, $300....what does the kid know? what do the parents know? they trust that 'the expert teacher' is a nice person, responsible, on the up-and-up

scams all over the place

i had a fiddle student a few years back....found a nippon gakki fiddle, built about 1920, at the flea market for $15...i set it up and lent it to her....it looked like nothing special, but like many fiddlers, i KNEW how good those things sound and play

my student didnt stick with it, so i took the japanese fiddle back

advertised in on c-list for $400....the phone began to ring non-stop...it sold in 90 minutes...i probably coulda asked more, but was satisfied

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

While I love classical violin, I prefer it when they’re played like this!

https://youtu.be/5cmgRP5sYmU

yes yes yes yes yes yes

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

While I love classical violin, I prefer it when they’re played like this!

https://youtu.be/5cmgRP5sYmU

one good turn deserves another....a young metis fiddle from canada (who also plays fab guitar/mando etc)..this tune is acoustic guitar, fiddle.....AND the fiddler's foot-tapping:

[Tnfiddler]

Originally Posted by janepaints

one good turn deserves another....a young metis fiddle from canada (who also plays fab guitar/mando etc)..this tune is acoustic guitar, fiddle.....AND the fiddler's foot-tapping:

I LOVE THAT!! She has a fantastic bow hand!! To me, that is the biggest struggle that EVERY violin/fiddle player has. It's hard to learn to play the fiddle. It's extremely hard to learn how to bow it smoothly and correctly and learn to switch up the slurs and up and down strokes!