Violins Only » Violin Makers http://www.violinsonly.info This blog is dedicated to violins, violin makers, violin players, and all violin enthusiasts. Thu, 20 May 2010 05:13:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 5 Things To Consider When Buying Your First Violin: the Violin Maker, the Wood, the Varnish, the Violin Size, and the Price http://www.violinsonly.info/5-things-to-consider-when-buying-your-first-violin-the-violin-maker-the-wood-the-varnish-the-violin-size-and-the-price http://www.violinsonly.info/5-things-to-consider-when-buying-your-first-violin-the-violin-maker-the-wood-the-varnish-the-violin-size-and-the-price#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:36:44 +0000 camelia13 http://www.violinsonly.info/?p=57 Buying your first violin can be quite an adventure nowadays. Only a few years ago, your only option for procuring a violin was your local music store, where you could easily walk in, and even easier buy whatever the sales person told you it was the best choice for you. Truth is that we all were used to trust our local violin shop, and were sure that they provided us with the best value for our money.
Well, things have changed quite a bit lately. The Internet offers us the world at a click of a button and we will never walk again in a local violin store without making our homework and educate ourselves prior to our visit there. There are a few things that we need to consider prior to buying a violin for the first time:

  1. The Maker
  2. The Wood
  3. The Varnish
  4. The Size
  5. The Price


  1. The Maker: Where is the violin of your interest made and by whom? What is the reputation of that particular violin maker and for how long has he been in the violin business? Are there any buyer reviews available online? There are several forums, blogs, and review websites available on the Internet that should make your research very easy and bring out the truth about the violin maker you are interested in. If you choose to buy a violin online, extend your research and try to find out what the reputation of the online violin store is. Try to contact the store via phone, email or filling in a form that is available online and see what kind of response you get; try to see how fast, how friendly, how accurate, how knowledgeable, how useful the response you got was. All these elements of the online communication should give you clues about how your overall violin buying experience is going to be. I have recently tried to get an opinion on two violins from two different violin makers, and the response I got from a music store was this: “…the sound of a violin, as you know, is not standard. Each violin has its own tone and sound, and even the instruments made by the same maker, with wood from the same tree, can have a very different sound. Nothing compares with a violin made in a traditional European violin workshop. Europe has a great history and tradition in violin making and also has the best wood in the world. There is no accident that the most famous violins in history were made in Europe…”

  2. The Wood: the wood used in violin making is of vital importance for the sound of the instrument. I would say with a high degree of confidence that the European wood is the best when it comes to instruments that need high quality resonance wood. Violins are traditionally made of flamed maple and resonance spruce. This is the traditional combination that most violin makers use. The top of the violin is made of resonance spruce. The back, the sides, and the neck of the violin are made of famed maple. The accessories (chin rest, tailpiece, pegs, and fingerboard) are made of ebony. The wood must be naturally dried up, in the open, to naturally achieve the perfect internal balance that will prevent the violin from cracking in the future. Wood is a material that changes its dimensions based on fluctuations in external temperature and humidity conditions. Here is an excerpt from an email I got from a reputable violin maker: “The wood we use at the construction of our violins has been dried up for several years, out in the open. It witnessed the succession of the four seasons several times and was exposed to direct weather, temperature, and humidity changes for a very long time. In hot summers the wood lost water and lowered its dimensions. In rainy autumn days, it absorbed water from the air and increased its dimensions. In cold winter days it froze, and preserved its dimensions, trying to find balance. After a few cycles of successive dimensional changes, the wood got to the point where it reached an internal balance, and all internal tensions at the molecular level disappeared. If there were any tensions in the wood that would cause cracks, those would have affected the wood in the manufacturing process, when the wood was severely “abused”. It almost never happens that a finished violin experiences cracks due to wood aging. Cracks can appear by exposing the instrument to sudden and extreme changes in temperature and humidity, but those changes should be really extreme to favor such an extreme response.”

  3. The Varnish: String instruments in general, and violins in particular, can be finished with either nitro or oil varnish. My recommendation is to choose the violins finished with oil varnish. While the nitro varnish is sprayed on the violins, the oil varnish is applied manually, with a brush. The varnish is applied in several coats, regardless of the nature of the varnish. Before applying the next coat, the previous one has to dry completely. The difference between the oil varnish and the nitro varnish is that the nitro varnish dries up very quickly, and the next coat is applied within 10-20 minutes. The oil varnish takes longer to dry out, up to 24 hours, and after each coat, the varnished is leveled with a very fine sand paper, operation which ensures a homogenous distribution of the varnish and a perfect adherence of the varnish to the body of the violin. No air particles are allowed in the varnish applied on top of the violins, and the sanding phase ensures this. A violin can have 8-10 coats of oil varnish applied to it, but they all are extremely thin and light. The oil varnish has overall superior qualities. It has a better resistance and behavior in time. The oil varnish is very elastic and can take the dimensional changes of the wood very well. The nitro varnish, due to its limited elasticity, will crack if exposed to sudden changes in temperature and humidity. For example, if a violin finished with nitro varnish is stored in a room where the temperature is very high, the wood will dry out, which means it will loose water, and its dimensions will reduce. If a violin finished with oil varnish is stored in the same room, under the same temperature and humidity conditions, you will not notice anything. The oil varnish will follow the same pattern and will adjust its size accordingly. Unlike the oil varnish, the nitro varnish, due to its lack of elasticity, cannot lower or increase its dimensions, and it will simply crack.

  4. The Size: Violin are made in several standard sizes that will accommodate violin players of different ages and arm lengths. In order to establish the correct violin size that you need, you need to extend your right arm and measure the length from your neck to the middle of your palm.
    Here is a chart that will help you determine the correct size, based on your measurement:

    Arm length  Recommended Violin Size
    23″ or more
    4/4 (full size)
    22″
    3/4
    20″
    1/2
    18″
    1/4
    16″
    1/8
    15″
    1/10
    14″
    1/16

  5. The Price: The price is not always a reflection of quality in the violins’ world, and I am sure all violin owners have come to this conclusion. Here is how the same violin store that I quoted above explains the pricing difference between the several violins they carry in their store: “The difference between the several violins in our store stays in the quality of the wood, the workmanship, and the set up. The price is a reflection of all factors, summed up. The better the wood, the workmanship, and the set up, the higher the sound quality, and the higher the price. We go progressively from $100 violins to $2,000 violins, to cover a very broad clientele, with different playing skills, sound quality needs, and budgets.”
In my next article I will try to make a few good recommendations for those interested in buying their first violin, and maybe offer even a comparative chart with features that some violins have and some others do not.
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