duane88

I know that. But he mentions Poplar and Spruce. The "Gibson" is also a Strad viola, 1734. Not Poplar, but when was the last time you saw a fiddle with a Poplar back? A few, but not a Strad or Guarneri.

I like that.

You said violin. Are you making a viola?

If we properly size the blocks and use thinner glue, it shouldn't be so difficult to remove the top, should it? I agree with Don in that I feel that the blocks, top and tail, should be well fit and attached.

I began with the Kreisler and worked my way forward. Difficult to pull off the crazy later stuff if you can't see where he came from.

Agreed. I have a cello/bass reamer that I have had for years. If you don't do much cello/bass work, you might get a nice violin maker to let you use their reamer once or twice, but after that you really need your own. The Chinese ones on fleabay won't last, and if you have ever gotten the idea in your head that you can sharpen one, you can't. Well, you can, but it won't ever be right again. I think that they are all the same taper, or close.

Yep, a vielle. I have made one for a friend. Since none have survived to modern times we usually use sculptures or paintings as the reference. The one that I made, when finished, was played by a prominent early music personality. When I asked him, " does it sound like a vielle?" He replied," You silly boy, no one knows what a vielle sounds like!" Of note, he played it in a Gambia style, and the owner plays it like a viola.

Grew up in East Tennessee and learned to play the fiddle in SE Kentucky where I went to College. I learned some English Country Dance tunes while in school, but even when I play British Isles music, I still sound like a Southern Appalachian fiddler, for better or worse.

I travel to Japan often. A friend here in Seattle came over in 1971. His tickets back and forth in the early 70's were $300-350US. My last ticket to Kansai was $890US. I would hate to buy and sell violins based on that rate of inflation/appreciation!

Might have just gone too thin in that area.

Milanese Cheapjacks...

It's also available as a DVD, shipping in December.

It is not possible to answer your question as stated. Some makers come in and out of vogue, some makers don't do well in the auction market in spite of being good instruments, and some makers have instruments that consistently go up and up. Some makers die and you can then purchase thier instruments for a fraction of what they were asking, and getting, when they were alive. Some instruments do the opposite. You might be able to, and I have read some articles and papers, quantifying rates of return based on particular makers, their works being the benchmarks for historically what a violin is (Strad, Guarneri, ect), but not a general picture or metric that can be applied to the violin trade as a whole.

Here's a start: https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/search/&q="leon pique"&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

It's only a Mittenwald notch if it is on a Mittenwald instrument...