Regis

Although I have not sold anything via Tarisio, my understanding is that the seller and Tarisio agree on a minimum value or selling price (reserve). What I would like to know is if they use tonal quality as a major factor in that analysis. Or strictly, provenance, workmanship, and then condition. Regis

A luthier friend called me today and said that I should come by and see a bow. And, to my supprise, she was rehairing a Nurnberger with an amazing frog. There was a silver star on the side with a small glass center. When you looked into the glass, there was a picture of Nurnberger himself. What a wonderful piece of work. She had only seen one other and knew I would like to see it. How common is this and do you see same/similar by other makers? Regis

"Smaller" tailpiece? How much latitude do you believe we have there? If I put a 3/4 tailpiece on a 4/4 and get the afterlength right, will I run into other tonal problems?

FWIW = for what it's worth

Quote: It only means that the afterlength is a desirable ratio of the string length in front of the bridge. It doesn't relate to stop length or bridge position at all. This mixes threads for me but; Is the bridge shoulder shaped to help achieve or fine adjust a specific afterlength of individual strings? Or am I putting too much into this? If it does, that sure compounds setup for me and helps explain some of the difficulties I've had. Regis

CY, Yes we agree on that statement. In restoring, I 'try' to make the bend inversely proportional to the stiffness(usually thickness). I don't understand how that is "distributed in the hair" (in Andres response above). Does that mean that there is different tensions along the length of the hair? Is there some relationship between hair tension and where/how much bend occurrs? Regis

Quote: FWIW 'good' camber is not just about tension, it's about how the tension is distributed in the stick, and in some weird way which I don't grasp yet, how it feels to be distributed in the hair. Interesting. Would you be so kind as to expound on this? Thank you, Regis

Anyone have recent experience with violins being made in Poland. Heard one recently (couldn't get name) that sounded a 'lot' better than higher quality Chineese or Romainian factory violins I've heard. I don't know anything about Polish violins and would like to learn some. I'd appreciate any opinions or references (in English). Thank you, Regis

Not specifically for violins but, excellent. microstamp Regis

Quote: "it's been from inadequate foot height, for a violin with a very severe arch" Was there any distinctive tone in common with these? If so, other than having enough foot to cut, did you have to make any other bridge change (e.g. thicker or thinner)? Regis

Looks pretty new and exactly like a pernambuco Peccatte stamped bow that I have. In my case, somebody put a Peccatte stamp on a bow of probably $100 quality. Not necessarily this seller did such a thing.....perhaps bought it that way. If you're looking for a $50-$100 bow, you probably can't go wrong as long as you don't try to resell it as authenic Carl or Fritz Meinel.

There are some that simply set a starting price and have an un-realistic high reserve just to get a "value opinion". They may be establishing a price to convince local buyer or curious if they got taken in what they bought, elsewhere. I know of one person that did the "value" thing a couple years ago but, I don't think she does that anymore. I have noticed that there are fewer and fewer violins to buy that you can expect to restore and make back what you put into them. A couple years ago, you could buy $50 - $200 and expect to cover your labor and parts. That has now moved up to $150-$400 to get something good enough to even put the work into. This is all based on buying from pictures of course. I don't sell much but, like Jesse, I will not have an unhappy customer....'almost' whatever it takes.

I bought a bow from this seller. It was what was claimed but, they would not ship until PayPal put the funds in their bank account and they verified (which took well over a week if I remember correctly). I have 100% positive feedback on well over 100 transactions and have never encounter something like that by a seller. Regis

Thanks CT, I started this because I caught myself spending a lot of time (and frustration) trying to match the top and back arch. Then I asked myself "why?". Thanks to all, Regis

I enjoy restoring bows and violins BUT, I've decided to make at least 3 violins. First as a personal challange to understand each component better and then to see if I'm actually any good at it. Then, of course, my 4th should command a very high price

So, I'm taking from this discussion that I should just set some cross arches and then concentrate on smooth flow/transition from area to area and peak to edge on each plate independantly. I should not invest time into matching the plates. And as long as my top and back are within the range of 15-16mm each, I'm ok?? Then, I have to ask, how do you go about improving the arch on subsequent violins for better(?) tone? Do you alter the arching of only one plate?

I'm interested in how crucial the top and back arching symmetry is (in relation to tone, not appearance). Another way to ask this: If I've cut the long and all the cross arches down to the templates, then take the rest down. How important is "exactly" mirroring the transitions? Is the smoothness of the transition and graduation of each (top and back) a lot more important than matching the top & back arching precisely? In reference to tone. Thanks, Regis

Quote: "There comes a time when you have to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and does, and simply decide what you will do yourself - then do it. Life is short, I say, when in doubt, build! " Pretty profound there CT. I like it. Maybe you should have some kind of 'hotkey' for this statement. I've seen a number of places over the last couple years that this would have fit perfectly.......and will again.

Quote: "how do you decide what type of strings to try on the violin" I've asked similar question and the answer was, "Dominant is the default unless client wants somthing different." I sure hope you get a full/better answer to this (even though I currently have a drawer full of Dominants). Regis

Quote: What you have here is a Chinese factory bow mounted in sterling silver and ebony with a snakeskin grip. Probably make of cherry wood. If anybody's interested, I sell these for $150 each (without the stamp). The stamp on it is bogus. What is the frog made of on the ones that you sell? If ebony, do they (and silver parts) seem to be of good quality (fit and finish)? Thanks Regis

A year or 2 ago I tried to find out something about Lucchi meters and read a lot of 3rd hand information. And disagreements about consistancy and availability. In that process, I learned of a technique of measuring stiffness by placing weight (2lb) on the center of bow and measuring movement. I can confirm that better bows($$'s) fall into the low 300's mm bend which means stiffer. Cheap bows fall into the 400+mm. I like this because there appears to be some lower quality pernumbuco bows that are not as good as some higher quality Brazilwood bows for approximately the same weight. Please bare in mind that I don't have access to $10,000 bows. I'm trying to develop enough data to supprt/help me with playability/quality measurement of bows in the < $2500 bow range which I encounter. There are other folks doing this that have a lot more experience and data. Perhaps some on this board. Regis

All, Let me correct a mis-understanding. I did not buy this. I contacted the seller (pawn shop) to see if they had any more violins. Mostly because I was going to visit family just down the street from them(in Houston). Seller emailed back and said they still had the Landolfi(?). I suppose buyer backed out??? Korngold, Thank you for giving me something specific to look at. I've learned that lables are not very reliable(on ebay anyways) but, I like the way you analyzed it. Regis

It's in Houston and I'll be "just down the street". I don't beleive it is real Landolfi but, I was looking for some tips that will help me when I actually get it in my hands so I can learn a bit more. If it looks close to real then, I have something to learn when I have it in my hands. Of course, while in a large city, I will try to look at any violin shops in the area. I don't get "hands-on" authenic, high quality, old violins very often. Regis

This sold a month ago. I'll be able to see it this weekend. ebay-Landolfi?? Any comments or helpful tips? Thanks, Regis

Guilty.....and you never see more that 3 unread messages when you check!