sunnybear

you may get more ideas over at The session www.thesession.org

by less obtrusive are you meaning aesthetically or phisycally? I had tried a playonair several years ago and for me it was more like getthedamnedthingtostayonyerviolinair...

I'll just stick to the chamois and the rubber band... but does the chamois ever wear away the varnish due to friction rubbing?

thanks for all the replies...after reading this I'll stick to a rubber band...I liked the idea of it though...I don't mind the junking up look of a rubber band, but the rubber cement seemed a little easier...one less step...trying to uncomplicate things....but whenever I do that it seems to become more complicated...why is that?

Will rubber cement hurt the varnish of a violin? I am playing without a shoulder rest and have used a chamois cloth to help keep the fiddle from slipping around. Recently a friend showed me her trick...apply rubber cement on a cosmetic sponge and let it dry. The sponge then can be placed on the back of the violin and removed at will. I've tried this on a lesser quality violin and it looks like there are no adverse effects. What do you think? thanks

so David, perhaps you could comment on who makes the best choppers...Orange County or Big Bear?

I didn't know that Prince played the violin!!!!

I would respectfully disagree with that statement. If violinists playing "traditional" music only listened to the scratchy old fiddlers with poor tone playing out of tune, then the tradition would surely die. In a sense the tradition is still evolving and fiddlers who play with the style and sense of Jamie Laval are helping that along just fine. Jamies roots are in the Scottish tradition and in that idiom there is a long history of musicianship that goes hand in hand with the tradition.

so, Ken, you like the big smokey petie Scotch, ehh? I like the Glenmorangie cask aged stuff..the port aged is delicious... I've seen a couple Hardies, and played them too..yours looks like the Hardies i've seen...

my parents were looking for a sportscar... they had driven BMW motorcycles all their lives... they drove Porsche Boxter and hated it...did not handle well or seem to be made well they drove a Mazda Miata and said that it was a much superior car than the Porsche then they drove a BMW Z3 and came home with that.. but I think they really liked the Miata better... amybe if the BMW didn't have a label that said "made i Germany" (well now South Carolina...) having said that there are a couple young luthiers from Italy who are quite nice...like Tadioli but I imagine that he could have been born anywhere and made some nice fiddles ...just because you're from Italy does not mean that you can make spaghetti!!!

indeed, Happy Birthday perhaps a special dinner is in order...

well, if you have it in your blood to get the Forberger, nothing much is going to change that. But I can have a lot of respect for a shop that will tell you that they would love to sell you a new fiddle, but can "fix" yours for a lot less.

I think the Guarneri Quartet are more likely candidates,right Manfio? I really enjoyed watching that too.

I do not know of any other string that responds so well to a change in E string than Dominants. They are still my first choice after my love/hate relationship with Eudoxas. I have not used the Special E. I use either the Gold Label, or a Jargar Forte. With Eudoxas I use a Golden Spiral. The seduction of trying new strings is very strong. That is what drives a new product,not necessarily need, but allure. I have tried a lot of the strings on the market, and always come back to Dominants (or Eudoxa).

No that is to say, if you don't read music, how are you going to use an "advanced" book? there are some things published that have some music and a cd together like the Irish Session tunes Orange Book, or the Comhaltas books but what are you asking, per se?