How to know if the violin is good
Determining an Instrument's Quality & Value - Classic Violins
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hello
and welcome to classic violins with the
holiday season coming up
many people are considering purchasing
instruments as a gift either for
themselves or for a loved one
maybe a player they know that's looking
to upgrade equipment or for somebody
that they know that would like to start
playing an instrument
this is especially popular for children
who may ask for instruments as a
christmas gift to get started in their
musical journey
the issue becomes how do you purchase
one of these instruments online shopping
is very very popular in doubtless you've
seen
ads already for black friday and cyber
monday sales from major retailers
but purchasing an instrument this way is
that a good idea or a bad
idea and i'd like to talk about that a
little bit today
this is a subject often of a lot of
heartbreak this time of year
we see a lot of instruments come into
our shop from parents grandparents aunts
uncles
oftentimes their children are with them
and they have these instruments that
they purchased say on amazon or on ebay
that may be brightly colored or came
with a bow and a case and a rosin and
all these accessories
and they bring it in and they simply ask
you know can you tune this or can you
make some adjustments so we can play it
and the issue is that generally probably
95
of the time or more the answer is no or
at least we can't do so economically
uh purchasing an instrument is an
investment and it's kind of a big
process
and these instruments that you see on
these retail websites like that
are really not set up to be played and
are really not even designed in the
first place to become playable
instruments
now i understand that there are videos
on youtube and various things you can
see online where professionals will
demonstrate these instruments or show
them that they can make some sound and
you might look at that and say oh this
sounds really nice
but what you're really hearing is not so
much the instrument but you're hearing
the skill of a professional
was able to adapt their own technique to
make up for
shortfallings in a particular instrument
if you are a student
and you are trying to learn on an
instrument like this it's almost sudden
death for your musical experience
a lot of this gets into the fact that
simply a violin or viola or cello or
double bass orchestral string
instruments
are very complicated pieces of equipment
there are many many parts that have to
fit together and function just right
precise relationships between heights
and distances
the way that things need to fit
specifically so that the instrument can
vibrate and produce sound
and not only produce sound but to be
actually physically playable to allow it
so a player can produce sound
and this is especially important if you
are learning now to take an analogy to
this we oftentimes talk about cars or
compare the instrument to a car or a
vehicle purchase
if you are purchasing a vehicle save for
your son or daughter when they've just
got their driver's license now it's
understood that you don't need to buy
them
a ferrari or a lamborghini or a super
high performance car
but the car still needs to work and
there are expectations you have for that
vehicle
you expect that when you start it the
engine will run you expect that when you
go to stop the vehicle the brakes will
work the brakes aren't made out of
cardboard or something weird
they're fully functional and it provides
a safe driving experience
when you turn the steering wheel the
vehicle actually turns these are all
things that
must exist for this car to even be
usable never mind that it's not some
incredibly expensive supercar
a lot of these same criteria apply to a
violin
the pegs need to be usable they need to
fit and allow you to tune them so the
instrument can be tuned and then stay in
tuned
the bridge needs to be of a correct
height and a correct shape
that allows the bow to actually pass
across it and pick out different strings
transmitting that vibration to the top
of the instrument
through the sound post which needs to be
correctly fit to the back
and make a complete musical experience
the strings need to be of decent quality
the fingerboard needs to be a decent
shape
and this is all just on the instrument
all of this um
sounds like a lot and really it is when
you're purchasing an instrument and when
you're purchasing a violin you are
expecting and you are hoping that these
things are going to be right for you
when you purchase from a place that is
not a shop that is a dedicated musical
instrument seller
you don't have any guarantee of this
quality you often whine that these
particular instruments in order to save
money and to lower the price
they cut corners and materials they use
i mentioned cardboard brakes on the car
well sometimes pegs materials like pegs
and fingerboard
high contact areas of the instrument are
made out of at worst sometimes a chipped
particle board kind of material
or even plastic or something that really
cannot be shaped or used
at all or maybe they have quality pegs
that were not actually fitted
it's one thing if you buy a set of
brakes but you have to install them on
your car in order for them to actually
be useful well
same with these different parts on an
instrument a technician who knows what
they're doing needs to be able to take
care of these
all of this gets into the consideration
of the price of an instrument and quite
often
to perform these duties and to actually
do this kind of work
winds up being considerably more than
the value of the instrument was or what
you paid in the first place
the other thing to consider is when
you're buying these outfits you're often
getting many things included with them
like bows and other kinds of accessories
a decent bow for consideration this one
that i'm holding here is a very basic
glass or fiberglass bow we've talked
about these in other videos
these are usually somewhere between 60
and 70
depending on where you're getting them
from maybe a little less a little bit
more
and if you were paying and this is again
just a very baseline quality reliable
bow that has actual horse hair and is
usable
if you are paying for example a hundred
dollars for a full instrument outfit
knowing that even a usable bow is more
than half that value
you have to consider and think about
what you're actually getting in the rest
of it the other
part of that to consider as well as
strings even a very general set of
dominant strings is still around 60 70
dollars
and if you're paying around that for
your full instrument outfit
you have to either consider that you're
probably not getting decent quality
strings
or that money is coming out from
somewhere and again these places have to
make a profit in the end
so hopefully that is something to
consider when you're thinking about what
the overall investment is for what
you're getting
all of this is to say that if you are
considering purchasing an instrument or
would like to provide the gift of music
to somebody that you love
you would do far better to seek out an
actual music store like
classic violins or a violin dealer
somebody that actually works on these
things and is going to stand behind them
additionally especially if you're
talking about a beginning player um a
good option to consider rather than
maybe purchasing right away is actually
renting
um you have an that will give you an
instrument that you can put under the
tree
something that you can actually give
physically as a gift it gives your
student a chance to
try the instrument without making a
large investment up front
and it also especially in our case comes
with maintenance and repair so as
they're learning that instrument and as
they're growing and going through that
process
as things need to be maintained on the
instrument just like when you purchase a
car
um it's new but there are still parts
that you understand you need to replace
brakes oil changes things like that so
is the maintenance with the violin
family instrument
renting is usually a good way to make
sure these things are taken care of for
you
so you are able to focus your attention
on having that musical experience
versus maintaining a piece of equipment
all of these are very
uh very abstract and very big ideas and
i understand this is a lot to think
about
but if before you purchase an instrument
online sight unseen
um i hope you would please consider
giving us a call and we'd be happy to
talk with you about what you're seeing
and what you're looking at
and help you make sure that what you're
going to be providing as a gift for
somebody this year
is really going to be a merry christmas
and not a holiday letdown
again if you have any questions you can
contact us through our website
classicviolins.com
or email us info info classic
violins.com
thank you very much take care
[Music]
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