The Flames Match !

[Fellow]

Hi All,

I have one 40 years old German trade violin.(cheapie you may call it)

The flames on back do match but only in inverse V-shape. (which is

no surprise to anyone). What was a total surprise to me I just found out today that the

flames match the flame on the ribs. Who in the world would

givE such a consideration! You must be kidding. Back flames match ribs flame? .I must give these "the factory fiddle maker " a lot of credits. It certainly not machine made as we all believe it to be. I also see pencil marks too. Who were these maker? No name

for sure.

I bought it from a small shop in North side of Chicago,

brand new in a paper box. The shop is no longer in business. Nothing could be described as an eventful of such purchasing. A beginner's violin. It has a humble beginning of its life (in a paper box like a pair of shoes)?. From that day on it never disappointed me. Not a scratch after car accident. It has been good as ever. Even today I have many more expensive violins; this is still my favorite.

There are so much good feeling to own a violin expensive or not. I am sure you must have more exciting experience.

Please share your with us.

[ispirati]

It is not so difficult to match the flames on the rib to the back. As long as the back plate is thick enough, you can take thin slices from the back to make ribs. Many maker does this. It is also cheaper. It conserves material and looks good. But you need a very good bandsaw to do it.

Some tonewood suppliers to claim their wood are cut thick enough to extract rib.

[MANFIO]

Yes and sometimes wood supliers gives you wood that is so narrow that you have a milimeter error margin!!!

I have some wood from rivolta, it's very generous in size, you can make ribs from the neck block as well as from the back wood.

[Fellow]

Replies from luthiers deserve much of my esteem.

After all it was not such a big deal. A trade violin is a trade violin, with humble origin or not. I took a careful look at its scroll I know it was carved on some Friday about 4:50 pm in Germany. Do you how I figure it out?

( I am very pound of myself) Thank you for listening.

[MANFIO]

My first violin was an old German, factory made also, I still remember every detail of it, luckly when I had to give it back to it's owner I just had finished my first violin!

[jmasters]

I have rebuilt many old "factory" violins if I liked the wood. Sometimes just for the hell of it. The interior work is what is lacking generally. There is nothing wrong with many of these violins. When the linings and end blocks are replaced or made right, one can reset the neck and have a very nice violin. I do not have any compunction about revarnishing either, if it is already a violin with no claim for "respect" from anyone.

I think too many people make a fuss over origins and provenance in non-descript violins. Many of these have very good wood because they come from an era when good wood was more common. Also, many have been well played. Likely this is because they sounded pretty good to start with. But they are rickety and weak. A rebuild can add a lot to the functionality.

[Jacob]

To add to what you've said, with which I agree entirely:

1. It's fun, and satisfying;

2. Cost-wise one can end up with a violin which out-plays anything else you can buy for that money, if one can live with the fact that whatever pedigree the violin may have had effectively gets cancelled by the operation if a re-varnishing formed part of the process. But, as you point out, the pedigree of the type of instrument on which I, and apparently you as well, do such rebuilds is negligible to start with.

That's how I got started - if I didn't do that kind of thing, I would never have started making. Whether that's good or bad is another issue altogether...