A $50 Violin?

[JeffLearman]

I've often thought of grabbing a mandolin, exactly for these reasons. Just haven't done it yet. I need another instrument and/or hobby like I need a hole in the head!

Yeah, me too. Plus, why add one to the long list of instruments I suck at?

[Bookumdano2]

I rented a violin and viola about 20 years ago from some little shop, took a couple of lessons, and then decided to teach myself to play them so that I could overdub my own small string parts in the studio... that being in the days where samplers were nowhere near as capable as now.

 

I ended up buying the rental violin back then. Dunno about its quality, but it still works. So, going with a rental model seems like good advice.

 

And for the little I can play, it has always sat in tracks really cool along with string samples when I overdub small bits at a time. Even along with my vsl stuff.

 

Anyway, I also agree that the bazillions of youtube lessons are cool and helpful. And free. I plan to get into those a bit more myself to see if I can become something like a real player.

 

Country fiddle is probably the easiest to pick up if your plan is to work it into gigs.

 

Speaking of bows, the bow with mine is fraying. Is it less expensive to buy a new bow rather than having new hair added to mine? As you can see, I still know nothing about bows.

[MyAccount]

For $50 I'd expect a fine mahogany 2x4 with some strings on it. Can't go wrong for $50 if it's actually a functional instrument, but my guess is that it's not for $50.

[RockViolin]

Whoa! A violin thread! We've got ourselves a convoy.

 

Sorry I'm late to the party.

 

ggm, if your interested, shop around a bit and hook up with an instrument that you have some reason to believe plays well. You might get lucky for $50, but it's mostly like everything else. If the only reason you are giving it a thought is 'cause that sucker is cheap, well, that's not the way to approach it. But that's just my dirty, rotten, stinking opinion. So is this--there is precious little to be gained, besides limitations, in holding the violin country fiddler style. Methinks it's probably easier to do a jig while you play with the fiddle braced against your chest. Your chances of making sounds that resemble music will be considerably higher though if you hold the violin under your chin, like 99% of the violinists in the world do. Yes, L Shankar plays a double neck that he holds in his lap da da da...where there's a will there's a way. But generally speaking, there is no good reason to hold the violin low other than to look a certain way. There's nothing that hard about holding it correctly.

 

"a bit out of tune, sounds like real music" is totally a loaded statement, in a good way.

[philbo]

I had one years ago that my mom found at a garage sale. I made a new bridge for it, then was able to get quite a few sounds that were similar to what you'd hear if you tortured a cat.... Lots of fun though.

[scarecrowbob]

"Speaking of bows, the bow with mine is fraying. Is it less expensive to buy a new bow rather than having new hair added to mine? As you can see, I still know nothing about bows."

 

It depends on the bow. It costs about $50 to have a bow rehaired, and you can get a cheap student bow for about that much.

 

You can take it to a violin shop, and they will tell you if it repair or replace. My wife gets hers rehaired about once very 12-18 mos, but she plays 5-7 hours a day (well, like 3 of that is practice, the rest is working with students).

[karlw]

"Speaking of bows, the bow with mine is fraying. Is it less expensive to buy a new bow rather than having new hair added to mine? As you can see, I still know nothing about bows." It depends on the bow. It costs about $50 to have a bow rehaired, and you can get a cheap student bow for about that much. You can take it to a violin shop, and they will tell you if it repair or replace. My wife gets hers rehaired about once very 12-18 mos, but she plays 5-7 hours a day (well, like 3 of that is practice, the rest is working with students).

 

Ditto. Any "decent" bow is worth re-hairing, and it is a routine thing to do. By the way, one of the reasons bow hair frays is a kind of bug (worm) that lives in dark places and eats bow hair. No joke. The way to get rid of this thing is to take your case outside and let it sit open in the sun for a while (without the violin inside).

 

By the way, the violin I have was purchased at a yard sale in Tucson in the late 1980s for $40, and it was a wreck. But it looked like a good, old instrument so I took a chance on it. It was more than 20 years later when I finally had it restored (at Robertson & Sons, by Justin) to the tune of $500. Yikes. But now, it plays beautifully, and although there is no label in it, thus the value is limited, it is clearly quite old - at least 150 years. Value? Who knows. But I do know this - to get a violin anywhere near as good would cost at least $2500. So, not too shabby for $540 and 20 years.

 

[karlw]

Oh, and [video=youtube;O7EcT5YzKhQ]

[WRGKMC]

I bought a $100 ebay special about 10 years ago.

Fiddle was my first instrument and I hadnt played on in at least 10 years.

I was able to pick it up faiely quick cause I was formally trained on it and

played classical music orchestras. The cheap fiddels arent much better than

a cigar box for tone. i stuck a piezo bridge in it for recording but it still sounds

like crap.

 

My buddy was inspired by my playing and bought a cheap electric violin.

Thin saound dam good for $89. I still plan on getting one. He went and spent $1200 on

a custom made electric violin that has frets. Sucker sounds like an electric guitar.

Its a flying V version that will hang on your neck.

 

http://www.davidsonviolins.com/viper_electric_violin.htm

 

Heres a video of Mark Wood playing one http://www.markwoodmusic.com/index2.html