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Showing results for tags 'modern italian'.
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Hi Everybody, I am an amateur violinist who has been playing since high school (over 10 years ago) on a German trade violin purchased for about $8k. Although it is not a valuable instrument, my teacher and I picked it out of many instruments on the market, and I find that it has a powerful tone that exceeds its price. My playing has not yet exceeded the instrument's tonal limits, but a bit as a personal reward for myself and just out of love for music and instruments, I am considering getting a new, better violin. I have set a wide budget at this time, from $20k up to $50k at the absolute maximum. I am still figuring out what I want and need, but the purpose of this post is to gather some input on that side of things and also to ask for suggestions to look out for. I recently went to a well known shop and tried six violins around the $20-$30k range. Out of these, two I disliked and four I liked. To be honest, out of the four I liked, I would be hard pressed to rank them, as they were all powerful and beautiful in tone. Perhaps it is my inexperience playing fine instruments that I could not rank them. I would say the four I liked were indeed slightly better than my current violin, but not drastically so. Power was similar, but the instruments seemed to have a bit of a sweeter tone and faster response. Surprisingly to me, three out of those four were new fiddles made within the past year and the two I disliked were old Germans. So in this price range, the violins by new makers were indeed very appealing to me. Given that I already own an old German, I decided to discard the one German trade violin I liked from consideration (I believe a fine example of Roth) and focused on the three new fiddles. The cheapest (surprisingly) was made in Italy, for $20k. The other two were by modern American makers and had won prizes in America, they were priced close to $30k. The sales assistant told me that competition in Cremona for new construction is fierce, which means new Italian instruments are often priced more aggressively than the American violins. I did note however, that at the $20-$30k price range, if the goal was to get an antique, it seemed far too low to get a fine French or Italian fiddle. I must admit, that when I was a violin student, I only cared about quality of sound. Now that I am older, making my own money, and playing only for hobby rather than performance or competition, I must disclose that my motivations are more impure, as I am now also somewhat concerned with the issue of collectability and appreciation in conjunction with sound. I wonder if I were to extend my budget to $40-$50k, what types of violins would become available? I am also aware that at the higher end of the price range in the title it is also possible to acquire a new violin from one of the more well known new makers. So to distill my thoughts into a series of questions. 1. What antique violin makers are available in the range of $40-$50k? Some Italian makers I have heard of include Poggi and Scarampella, although I fear my price range is much too low? 2. Do you find antique instruments in the $40-$50k range to be better, worse, or equal to modern violins (speaking in huge generalities, of course). I unabashedly claim that the modern violins I have tried in the $30k range to be tonally outstanding and perhaps superior to antiques in the same price category. 3. From an economic perspective, do you expect a modern or antique violin in this price range to hold value better (or perhaps even appreciate)? Of course for violins like my current one, the issue of collectability is a moot point. Thank you for reading this long rambling post, I would love to hear everybody's thoughts. Best, Jason
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Just bought this violin for 360, hoping that I got a good deal, and I hope it sounds good! Thoughts on the origin? Could it really be a modern Italian?
