Guitar Versus Fiddle

[Steadfastly]

It took me awhile to decide to open this thread and I'm glad I did. Truth like this makes me smile.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[jstroop]

Jane, the amount of truth in this is sad, and painful to consider. We - AFG GASers - are an imperfect species.

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by musicman1951

You clearly don't play violin.

Mute, chin rest, shoulder rest, cleaning care (where do you think all that rosin ends up?) rosin - and a tiny compartment for storing it in most cases.

You can get a wonderful set of strings, 4 mind you, for $60. You know anyone using $60 guitar strings?

You think the pick discussions get crazy here? How about a $1,000 bow? I played a wedding with a guy using a $1,000 bow 25 years ago - and I'm sure that's not the top end by any stretch.

Guitar for $5K - really nice instrument. Violin for $5K - not even in the ball park of a really nice instrument. The guy in the last row of the violin section of a major symphony probably paid more than 50K for his instrument.

NO FRETS! You think our discussions about tuners and intonation get heated? If your finger is off a tiny fraction of an inch your out of tune on a fiddle.

TAB: get serious.

No, I would not trade with their lot for all the money in the bank (which might be required).

Huh? i DO SO play violin....sometimes i even BUILD violins...heck i even won prizes at fiddle contests!! TWENTY FIVE BUCKS and a free soda pop!! i buy red-label strings for like $12 and play 'em for like 2 years before changing 'em. You and I must live in different universes.

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by cmd612

FWIW, I played a lot of violin for a lot of years and have never even heard of peg-tightener or -loosener. That was back before internet forums, though. Maybe now they're vital equipment.

'peg drops' to make pegs stick....'peg dope' to make 'em un-sticky

are you SURE you used to fiddle?

about bows: yes, once upon a time i dropped a lotta coin on a vintage pernambuco bow.....then i came upon a composite bow that cost $50....it played rings around the rosewood stick...haven't looked back.

sometimes i busk--solo fiddle....3 hours a 'gig', up to 7 gigs a week....last time i bought rosin was like, oh 12 years ago?

busking pays good. i'm saving up for a vintage First Act For Kids acoustic guitar...at the rate i'm saving i'll have the $5,000 just about the time the First Act becomes worth that much, due to 'Mojo' accumulation, oh about 2084.

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by jstroop

Jane, the amount of truth in this is sad, and painful to consider. We - AFG GASers - are an imperfect species.

Can't hear you, speak up!!--i'm playing one of the 3 vintage guitars i've bought in the last month.

What's that you say? something about Perfect Pitch? Can't hear you!

[TBman]

Originally Posted by janepaints

Huh? i DO SO play violin....sometimes i even BUILD violins...heck i even won prizes at fiddle contests!! TWENTY FIVE BUCKS and a free soda pop!! i buy red-label strings for like $12 and play 'em for like 2 years before changing 'em. You and I must live in different universes.

LOL, I bet that was the best soda pop ever.

I sold a couple of songs a few years ago on a site that allowed that.

Turned out it was my daughter slipping quarters into my piggy bank,

Oh well. Back to playing for my dog.

I do want to learn to play fiddle/violin/viola when I retire. Just worried about the wife putting a pillow over my face as I sleep,

[cmd612]

Originally Posted by janepaints

are you SURE you used to fiddle?

LOL. Yeah, but we just used muscle to stick and unstick pegs!

If I ever get back into it, I'll have to check out some of these new bows. It was 'pernambuco or why bother' back when I was playing, but it'd be great to have a good option that's less expensive and less endangered.

[Tnfiddler]

If You want to have a minor heart attack, open this link and look at the price of these bad boys!! Great strings, but way out of my price range!! I use Helicore heavy gauge on my G, D and A strings and a gold Evah Pirazzi E string! Best combination I've found that my fiddle likes!
https://www.amazon.com/Pirastro-Evah.../dp/B007YHJUGC

[piper_L]

I play classical violin, and just wanted to mention some of the bling available to us:

The Musafia Enigma case is quite nice:
http://www.musafia.com/enigma.html
http://www.musafia.com/CustomEnigma.html

Many high end bows are decorated with gold/silver and other materials; they may not make the bow sound better but they can be quite pretty. And expensive! Search for "hill bow gold ivory" for examples.

and I have to admit, I've always wanted a reproduction of the "Greffuhle" Stradivari:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collec...ct/nmah_739714

[Tnfiddler]

In regards to the “older the violin, the sweeter the tune” saying that floats around. To quote Mr. Charles J. Horner, who I believe is one of the best modern luthiers, “If your fiddle was a piece of crap, when it was built. In a hundred years, it’s just a hundred year old piece of crap!!”

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by cmd612

LOL. Yeah, but we just used muscle to stick and unstick pegs!

If I ever get back into it, I'll have to check out some of these new bows. It was 'pernambuco or why bother' back when I was playing, but it'd be great to have a good option that's less expensive and less endangered.

black sticks, imported by eastman, stamped 'K. Holtz' (i THINK that's the name--the name is worn off from heavy usage on the two i own)....i got one at sam ash, the other at a local small music shop: $50...

before i found them i was SO PROUD of a circa-1920's pernambuco stick i'd bought..."WOW I GOT GREAT TONE NOW, using a bow like THE PROS USE"....but:

from the very first draw-stroke of the first chinese stick i tried (a 7/8th size!! and it's great) i got a better tone than i'd ever gotten before...

....my previously-cherished "KEEPER" 'vintage authentic mojo brazilian magical dead-tree bow' was sold for a small profit within a week...

OH i am SO FICKLE

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

In regards to the “older the violin, the sweeter the tune” saying that floats around. To quote Mr. Charles J. Horner, who I believe is one of the best modern luthiers, “If your fiddle was a piece of crap, when it was built. In a hundred years, it’s just a hundred year old piece of crap!!”

he's right--and it applies to ALL stringed instruments.

there's a quasi-revolution underway in lutherie....balsa and carbon-reinforced balsa...boatbuilder in maine fooled around, made a balsa fiddle, took it to a convention of bonafide symphony-grade fiddle makers, expecting to be mocked....instead peoples eyes got big and their ears began to vibrate...

within a short time 'legit' violin makers began to explore, adopt, use the new wood in town....a year or so later joseph curtin, one of america's Big Name Serious-Violin Makers announced that except for special orders, all he would henceforth build would be fiddles/violas/cellos etc using balsa/balsa-carbon hybrids

soon after, as his new-breed fiddles reached the market and the ears of players & listners, he was given one of those macarthur genius awards for his efforts...

i dunno about steel-string guitar makers, but several high-end classical guitar makers are now exploiting the properties of balsa (from my own experiments, it IS a heck of a tonewood)

here's a violin made by the boatmaker from maine who got the balsa-ball rolling:

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by piper_L

Many high end bows are decorated with gold/silver and other materials; they may not make the bow sound better but they can be quite pretty. And expensive! Search for "hill bow gold ivory" for examples.

there's a fella about 6 miles down the road...he makes bows, for hi-end symphony players...also builds a cello from time to time...(he also re-hairs bows and restores their camber etc--that's how i met him.)

his 'shop' is large wooden table in front of a large window...his tools are a small grouping of knives, scrapers, saws...few power tools...some oils, varnishes, stains and lubricating materials....hanks of horsehair....wood bow-blanks tucked into the rafters overhead...a spirit lamp for bending wood--tho he will, sometimes, use an electric heat gun

price for a brand-new bow off his bench? you dont wanna know...i DO know and all it does is make me ask myself "why the HECK did i pursue the career i did? i'm an idiot..next time around, i'm gonna make bows!"

https://medium.com/@grybowski/the-wo...g-54aecf3d9c05

[Tnfiddler]

Originally Posted by janepaints

he's right--and it applies to ALL stringed instruments.

there's a quasi-revolution underway in lutherie....balsa and carbon-reinforced balsa...boatbuilder in maine fooled around, made a balsa fiddle, took it to a convention of bonafide symphony-grade fiddle makers, expecting to be mocked....instead peoples eyes got big and their ears began to vibrate...

within a short time 'legit' violin makers began to explore, adopt, use the new wood in town....a year or so later joseph curtin, one of america's Big Name Serious-Violin Makers announced that except for special orders, all he would henceforth build would be fiddles/violas/cellos etc using balsa/balsa-carbon hybrids

soon after, as his new-breed fiddles reached the market and the ears of players & listners, he was given one of those macarthur genius awards for his efforts...

i dunno about steel-string guitar makers, but several high-end classical guitar makers are now exploiting the properties of balsa (from my own experiments, it IS a heck of a tonewood)

here's a violin made by the boatmaker from maine who got the balsa-ball rolling:

That sounds AMAZING!!

[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.