FoxMitchell

Maybe not, but his skill as a player does. He could make even a mediocre violin sound good!

Maybe they were the original Instagram posers?

Thanks!

You mean the re-engineered lignin biochemically bond metal ions between certain segments within the macro molecule re-routing the transport flux through the Heisenberg Compensators?

They say: "[...] It may be interesting to note that Strads did not come to fame until Paganini picked them a century after they were built." That is factually incorrect. Paganini was rocking a Del Gesu in the very early 1800's before he got a Strad, and notoriously never outgrew his beloved 'Cannone'. Count Cozio di Salabue was a violin enthusiast and avid collector and promoter of Stradivari's work as early as 1773 - a mere 36 years after Strad's death. In the 1780's Giovanni Battista Viotti was already toting Strads. Giuseppe Tartini had one (the 1715 'Lipinski') in the mid 1700's and he was composing for it! Kreutzer had a bunch of them as early as the 1790's. And that's just what I can think off the top of my head. Stradivari's violins were notoriously good and reportedly pricey during his lifetime (the Hills mention it multiple times with evidence for it in their 'Antonio Stradivari - His Life & Work' book). Yes, Paganini was the original rock star and he did come upon (and lost) quite a bunch of notable instruments, but given how many remarkable people were already in the know about Strads and Del Gesus etc long before him, I don't think it's fair to say he is the reason they became renowned; neither was the time that had passed. They were good from the start! And while we're talking about old vs. new once again, let's not forget Camillo Sivori, Paganini's student, who owned Amatis and Strads and Bergonzis, but his favorite was reportedly a contemporary violin made by Vuillaume (currently played by the worshipable Hilary Hahn).

Thanks! I am rather pleased with it! My only regret is I went with budget wood instead of the fancier stuff because I was afraid I was just gonna ruin it. Thanks! Thanks! In the end the varnish does its job, just was a pain to cook, added time/steps I could have saved using pre-made varnish, and my attempt at antiquing came out less-than-satisfactory when compared to the work some folks here do. But then again they have years of experience, I'm just a noob still. But it was a great learning experience! Here are some mugshots of it! It has a different tailpiece on the video (a 'compensated harp'). I'm still experimenting with elements of the setup to fine-tune it (it likes the harp best).

This has been a long time in the making, but here's at last a little sample of violin #1! Here's a little video of a friend playing it... Overall I'm satisfied, specially since apparently most people tend not to be too happy with their first violin. But it took a lot of fine-tuning! However, it was a nice learning experience. I learned, for example, that making your own varnish is not something I would recommend for someone making their first violin. Buy some already-made varnish!! Also attempting to antique a violin without knowing what you're doing will make it look Chinese-y. And I can carve a top in a few days, but takes me weeks to do a neck and scroll... when the top of the scroll doesn't just break-off from a slight bump (that there is neck attempt #3; the first one was ugly, the second one broke, but the 3rd worked)! Davide Sora's videos helped a lot! Check out his channel sometime! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggqGrdYUEovaC9UKnSMD3g/ Thanks everybody here for their insight and all the information/knowledge you folks share! I'll post some nice pictures once I get them done. I have a bunch of cellos and violins that need attention first!

^ That!

So pretty and neatly done!

Yeah, no idea who started that trend, but I'm guessing must have been from makers seeing the darkened insides of old violins' pegboxes, and slapping some black paint in there to 'copy' the effect? ...that and some black paint is cheaper, simpler, and hides imperfections?

Some of the 'primordial' violins have a dark inside there, but it might be the gunk of the ages giving it the appearance of darkening. Here some of the darkening seen on the 1710 Vieuxtemps Strad...

I was wondering, what are people's thoughts on painting black the inside of the pegbox? Is there any specific reason to do it? Do you do it on your violins, or just varnish it like the rest of it? What do you use to paint it black?

Yes, it was worth taking a picture of it, I mean, look at that fluting!

Hey folks, got another one I would love some info about! It has a label that says "Paul Pfeil - Fecit - Anno - 1923" Anyone got any info on these? Thanks!

Looks beautiful!