Spelman

I'm not terribly qualified to comment on the violin but I have to say that Danish fiddling is awesome. Kristian Bugge, Kiristine Sand, Henrik Jansberg, et al. are amazing musicians (and really good people).

This

The reason it's been done like this for centuries all around the world is because it's easier to tune stringed instruments with flat headed pegs. If were easier to do it a different way, it would have caught on by now.

Damn, a bunch of close minded people ITT. Carbon fiber bows are unequivocally REAL bows and can be absolutely fantastic tools. My Arcus S9 and my JonPaul Vetta are excellent bows and have been my main and backup sticks for more than a dozen years. Arcus bows require a different technique from wood bows. If you don't know how to use them properly, you won't be realizing their full potential. I started with an P7 and it took me a few days of playing it exclusively to figure it out. I didn't like it at first, then loved it. Arcus bows are generally either stiff or soft (relatively speaking) and heavy or light (relatively speaking). The letters indicate the configuration and the higher a number indicates a better grade. The S line is stiff and light, the T line is the same but a little of the weight focused at either end to settle the bow down some. Octagonal sticks are a bit livelier than the round sticks. When trying an Arcus, play it *exclusively* for a few days to learn how to handle it. It's not a wood bow and is not trying to be one.

Great show!

Another vote for the Ambers by Warchal. I went from Oliv stiffs to Passione solos to Ambers on one of my fiddles and was pleased with the Warchals when comparing them to the Olivs and the Passiones. Nothing is quite like the real thing but these were nice. In general I am a big Warchal fan.

Perhaps you should find a better English instructor.

I have a pernambuco fitted violin (pegs, tailpiece, and end pin). It was a little dark and sweet with the original ebony fittings, the pernambuco brightened it up and give a bit more edge, which I like. I'm not sure if I heard much of a difference with another of my violins when I switched from ebony to boxwood fittings. Maybe pernambuco is just such a lively wood that it makes more of a difference than other woods?

Are electric cellos fake?

Yeah, he said it snapped but the pictures look like the neck popped off the body perfectly cleanly. I don't see any damage to the head...unless it's on the other side we can't see. If you have an inexpensive cello with a broken neck, might be able to replace the neck with this one? (I am not a luthier so feel free to laugh at me if I'm loud wrong.) Relieved to hear that the player was unhurt if shaken. I'm sure it was quite traumatic to destroy an instrument.

I'd recommend contacting @The Violin Beautiful. He's done a fair amount of work for me and my students and I've been quite pleased with his work.

You are asking people here to do for free what they would normally charge for, in order to facilitate your business. Certificate writing is also a business. I can certainly understand why Martin et al. may not want to be involved in any sales you may try to make by citing their informal opinion on a message board. If you want a professional opinion upon which to base a profit making transaction, you should pay for it. I am sure that there are ways to work this, no matter your location.

I would have thought the last part of the title was the attention getter, lol

Gold is definitely the way to go. I'm not a fan of imitation whalebone (although real whalebone is quite nice) and prefer wire windings. Gold wire winding looks great. I have fairly caustic sweat and melt pearl fairly quickly so a simple gold ring on the cheek of the frog is my favorite. Blind frogs have a simple elegance to them which is quite classy. Don't overthink the thumb leather, it's easily replaced and not expensive.