JohnCockburn Report post Posted November 20, 2007 New (?) tonewood company in Bratislava. Anyone dealt with them? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnCockburn Report post Posted November 21, 2007 I'll take the silence as a "no" then. I just ordered a set of maple for a viola from them. It looks quite nice from the pics. I'll let you know how I get on........... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dean_Lapinel Report post Posted November 21, 2007 Just thought I would post a note so you know you're not being ignored. I'd love a report when your wood arrives. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wm. Johnston Report post Posted November 21, 2007 I looked at the website but I don't have any intention of buying european maple in the forseable future. I'm happy with lightly figured or unfigured red maple for now. Anyways I just thought that it was intereting that there are now two maple dealers in Bratislavia. I'm just curious about how these two supliers may be connected. Is the new guy a disgruntled SVS former employee with some good stories to tell or just some new guy? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ispirati Report post Posted November 22, 2007 violinmaple.com is not new. As far as I know, the website has existed for more than 4 years.... It used to be a different style. They changed the website design about 3 years ago. But I have never tried them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NewNewbie Report post Posted November 23, 2007 quote: Originally posted by: ispirati violinmaple.com is not new. As far as I know, the website has existed for more than 4 years.... It used to be a different style. They changed the website design about 3 years ago. But I have never tried them. ispirati you get another cookie! "http://web.archive.org/web/*/violinmaple.com">http://web.archive.org/web/*/violinmaple.com 2002! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fiddlecollector Report post Posted November 23, 2007 Didnt they used to claim to be the suppliers of SVS?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnCockburn Report post Posted November 23, 2007 well i did say "new(?)" not "new"! I have no idea whether they are linked with SVS or not. I like the site better than SVS, though. because the photos of the wood seem much better...... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fiddlecollector Report post Posted November 23, 2007 I think svs seems to have one type of wood only,there is no variation in all their photos.(the wood is characterless!!! to me anyway!) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchViolins Report post Posted November 24, 2007 No this is not a new company. I have experience with them. And it's best understood by some pictures. In july 2006 I ordered some wood of which a one piece viola back selected from their picture gallery number #88. Picture no. 001 is supposed to represent 1st quality wood. But once received I saw the back side of the wood. The defect is still too large and too deep to be used for a 16" viola. After my complaint by E-mail they suggested me to visit an exhibition in Germany where they had a booth (Munich I think it was) and to bring the wood there and to give it back. After I decided not to spend money to go to Munich and to give them back this piece of wood they offered me an extra piece of wood for free (but of less quality) that I accepted. Later on I received a second quality piece of wood. After this I decided not to order any wood in future. I was very disappointed by such a way of treatment. Frits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NewNewbie Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Thanks for the information. It would seem that they have a hard time doing the right thing. I would not want to have to deal with a mess like this! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David Tseng Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Among the Internet tonewood suppliers, I deal more often with www.liuteria-antica.com because "I get exactly what I see on his site". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchViolins Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Internet tone wood suppliers must be reliable. Most people are not in the position to travel around in Europe to e.g. Bratislava Germany or Switserland to select themselves a nice piece of wood. If the tone wood that is selected from the pictures is not delivered or the picture does not reveal how the wood really is than they don't deserve any business. That's my opinion. Frits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NewNewbie Report post Posted November 24, 2007 quote: Originally posted by: DutchViolins Internet tone wood suppliers must be reliable. .... If the tone wood that is selected from the pictures is not delivered or the picture does not reveal how the wood really is than they don't deserve any business. That's my opinion. Frits Frits, that piece of wood shouldn't have even been Quality 1 in the first place, so one has to wonder, could that have been deception on their part. Maybe somebody got greedy ? Then to not replace it with a piece of wood that was of equal quality, or even better, shows poor customer support. Fortunately they aren't the only wood suppliers out there. Did you manage to get a violin out of it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NewNewbie Report post Posted November 24, 2007 quote: Originally posted by: David Tseng Among the Internet tonewood suppliers, I deal more often with www.liuteria-antica.com because "I get exactly what I see on his site". Nice looking wood .... just one problem. If you click on the Japanese flag instead of the British flag, then you get a discount for some reason? 135 Euros vs. 124 Euros for the top quality. Guess I'll have to move to Japan and learn Japanese! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchViolins Report post Posted November 24, 2007 quote: Originally posted by: NewNewbie quote: Originally posted by: DutchViolins Internet tone wood suppliers must be reliable. .... If the tone wood that is selected from the pictures is not delivered or the picture does not reveal how the wood really is than they don't deserve any business. That's my opinion. Frits Frits, that piece of wood shouldn't have even been Quality 1 in the first place, so one has to wonder, could that have been deception on their part. Maybe somebody got greedy ? Then to not replace it with a piece of wood that was of equal quality, or even better, shows poor customer support. Fortunately they aren't the only wood suppliers out there. Did you manage to get a violin out of it? I did a check how deep the defect was. My hope was that the defect may stop somewhere half it's way of the one piece back. But unfortunately it was too deep. Another option could be to inverse the direction of the flames in such a way that the smaller bout would come on the defect side. But as said before the defect was too deep and at a very unfavourable location. I didn't check if a one piece violin back would be possible because I wanted a viola back not a violin back. The piece of wood is still in the state of having carved out the defect and is waiting for it's new destination whatever it will be. Frits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David Tseng Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Marco Ternovec is a maker and a good businessman. In addition to the quality is represented by the price, he will also describe the general quality of each piece of wood I select. If I like a particular piece of wood, I will ask him to find more from the same log. I use his Mq and IIq wood for violins and am very happy with the quality. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magnus Nedregard Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Dutch, I still would not hesitate to make a viola out of that! Plenty of fine instruments have little flaws like that, in my opinion they just add some extra character and interest to the instrument! It just has to be dealt with so that it doesn't constitute a weakness. However, you should not pay full price for a piece of wood like that, of course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchViolins Report post Posted November 25, 2007 I paid the full price but got an extra plate of less quality for free. Maybe it's a good suggestion to use the plate as viola back with a small(?) defect. Frits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David Burgess Report post Posted November 25, 2007 Wood suppliers, don't jack us around! I understand that you need to get rid of your junk, but understand also that there is a lot of "behind the scenes" communication which has the potential to make you or break you. No, I won't marry your daughter to get access to your really good stuff! If wood is outstanding and carries a 50% price premium, most established makers don't care, so charge a premium price if you must. Send less than your best when asked for, and you'll be trashed from here to tomorrow. I'll spend 50K plus at one time. Mess with me, and it will result in not only no further business from me, but in no business from a lot of other people. Right or wrong, that's just the way our business works. Your call. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Berl Mendenhall Report post Posted November 25, 2007 Here Here David, well said. There is way to much information sharing on forms like this for bad business practices to go unchecked. Bad deals and crappy service will eventually break a company. Berl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Melvin Goldsmith Report post Posted November 25, 2007 Never had a problem with a wood supplier period.... With the best wood you are dealing with guys who work 24/7 just cutting....or sourcing......business may be their worst talent....Understand 'em Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnCockburn Report post Posted November 29, 2007 Update: the wood arrived after only eight days. It's lovely stuff, defect free and generously sized. I couldn't be happier with it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dean_Lapinel Report post Posted November 30, 2007 Glad that worked out. As far as the CK...my lips are sealed...only silence from me. Hope that works out as well We keep quiet about the CK Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchViolins Report post Posted November 30, 2007 @John, Oh yes, they do have nice pieces of tone wood (maple). In one of my previous posts I did not say that ALL their wood had a defect but amongst a set of several pieces for violin and viola they delivered a Ia Quality viola one piece back with a huge defect in it. If a company wants to be attractive for buyers and be reliable this should not have been happened. Also their after sales service is below the normal standards. The other pieces I received where of excellent quality. Probably like yours. Frits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
