4/4 Violin hunting

It's so nice to hear a child appreciating and treating his/her instrument rightly - an instrument made with great care deserves it! I am sure his viola teacher can give you advice, but meanwhile it may be good to start some research slowly and start making a visit now? We learnt so much by just visiting luthiers. For instance someone like Alex could give you advice from the player's point of views? Good luck with your hunt!

4tune (I love the name!), thanks for joining the thread! Is the viola for your DS? Where do you live? I heard good things about Alex Violins (Alex Hillairet) in North London. He is a violist himself.

Your DS is a lucky boy to be able to own WJ's violin. I once read an article about him and he was addressing his aim to become the top 5 violin makers in the UK or something. Nice to have such ambition and it shows how passionate he is for what he does.

Oh, I should have added this info to the review. The reason why I am taking this long to write each review is to include as much information I gathered as possible and I really need to think and remember what I found and how I felt at the time. But I am not doing a good job here!

Granny, thanks for the info! I really need to find a trustworthy luthier who would help us maintain DS's violin locally. I'm afraid North London may be a bit too far (we live in SW). Any suggestion any one?

NeverEver, I understand your fear! Currently I am always with him when he takes violin out somewhere as he is still at primary school. Once a while he has to take violin to school when he joins their group sessions (he doesn't have lessons at school). I'm with him to and fro school but can't keep my eyes on it at school! He leaves it in the room where violin teacher uses for lessons so it's relatively safe (I think). He will be away with his violin for a week or so this summer when he goes to NCO residential. Scary. And I do worry once he starts secondary from September. He takes bus/tube for 45 mins journey every day, ALONE... Well, if something happens, then Mr. Allianz will save us...

We had choices - buy a spare for school use, buy a student ranged violin to use for everything, or buy what DS loves but then be brave! We went for the third option.

I must add that the Old French was one of very few violins among our selection the teacher was not very keen for DS. She did like the colours DS managed to produce on the violin when he played some very slow moody piece. But it was too noisy when he played something energetic with lots of chords. She was also concerned about the dominant sound of the lower registers. It did project well, and Bridgewood & Neizert seemed to think it was one of the best options in the price range so it would be great for someone else but sadly not for DS.

Silly me! Yes, I meant LOYAL.

Just a quick note! The teacher saw our violin very briefly when we first got it in February and didn't issue any concerns at the time. We brought the violin back to her yesterday to get her final approval (though we had already purchased it...). We were a bit nervous what she would say... After spending good 45 mins to assess the sound, she gave us a big thumb up! Yes, she loved it! Yaaay!!

Anyway, here is another (very subjective) review..

Bridgewood & Neitzert
I have slightly bitter feeling towards them, simply because I had to pay for the congestion charge penalty TWICE to get there... Nothing to do with them, I know. I just completely forgot to pay for the fee, TWICE... Sign. Anyway. They seem to have many royal customers. They have a bow specialist (Neitzert) and a violin specialist (Bridgewood) and some knowledgeable staff. The Old French came from them. They kindly let us have the violin for nearly one month (usually one week), they offered to adjust the sound, changed all the strings to maximise the effect of the adjustment. When we finally decided to return the violin, they were very understanding and told me they hope they could help us find a bow. So, yes, they are good. Not my most favourite, but it's nothing to do with their quality. Perhaps it's because of the bitterness of the penalty charges! Oh but they are most expensive for taking violin out for approval. While other places including those in central London charge £0 - £10, they charge £15 which was slightly surprising considering the location. Some people seem to assume those outside of London must offer more competitive price due to the location, but I find it's not always true. Not necessarily more expensive, but probably about the same.

Good luck to your 3/4 hunt, se22!

Thanks, CruCru and Olennas.

MidLife, sorry I have never heard of him. How did you hear about him? Are you planning to make a visit?

NeverEver

William John
First of all, we liked the name as a Star Wars fan. Anyway. We got his contact from the teacher. She bought a violin and a cello for her DCs from him many years ago, and I think she uses for simple maintenance for her violin. So, he should be a decent luthier! DS and I both enjoyed visiting his workshop. He is easy going, relaxing and genuine. DS liked his violin and we were very close to purchase it. But we couldn't. He let us keep his violin for a long time, but in the end we had to return as it was not fair for him and others who may be interested in the violin. He is a lot more experienced than the maker of DS's violin. Perhaps it was safer to get his instead. I don't know. He has many more violins other than the ones he made - from good quality Chinese ones to old antique ones. He can adjust the sound while you are trying. He is very handy to know I think. I am willing to keep in touch with him. And I can happily recommend him without hesitation. He also has a few good bows. DS was shown two bows - one was an old German without name and another was a modern bow with fairly big name. He recommended the old German for DS telling us it would suit DS more. It was a lot cheaper than the other one. He was not pushy at all nor trying to sell more expensive ones.

Thanks NeverEver and cingoli.

Old Violin Workshop in Hampton
It's like a little gem in the middle of nowhere. DS's 1/2 and 3/4 came from this shop and I was really hoping to buy 4/4 also. They price very honestly, very open with their opinions, friendly and kind. They tried to help us find DS's dream violin and got two lovely ones from auction thinking of DS. Unfortunately DS didn't choose theirs this time, but they are still my very favourite. They sell quality old violins, for instance, good enough for pupils at Menuhin School (one of them is our friend's son who is very happy with the violin). But it doesn't mean they deal with expensive violins only. DS's 3/4 was well under £1000 but we received so many compliments on the sound and got offered more than £1000 from a few people to buy. I have firm trust in their honesty of pricing and valuation, and they are just so helpful in general.

Blackburn Stringed Instruments in Kensington
Mr. Blackburn is ex pro violinist and seems to enjoy being a luthier now. It was great that he could give us advice from a player's point of views. He also told us how to handle violins. He even handed us a little note that explains how to treat/maintain violins when we took some for approval. I could feel he was very passionate about old violins and genuinely wanted to preserve them as mint condition as possible for the next generations. Unfortunately his violins didn't sound great when we ran a test at jd. I have a feeling that his usual price ranges are higher than our budget so perhaps didn't have something as good as the ones we found elsewhere for the same value. Or it could be just that DS picked wrong ones!

To be continued.