A violin/guitar perspective

[ChicagoDogs]

I think this is something that's touched on tangentially in a lot of the posts above, but as somebody with a foot in both the guitar world and violin world, I figured I would add one observation -- 

A key point in the valuation of classes of instruments, assuming they're workable/desirable as instruments and/or collectibles, is the scarcity of them relative to the demand. There are not a lot of gold-top 50s LPs or Korina Flying Vs/Explorers out there, nor are there old Italian instruments.  There are literally millions of German trade violins  around, and while they're perfectly serviceable (like, say, a recent LP or Strat) they're not going to demand the same price.  On the acoustic side, you could say the same thing about Martins - there may be a dog of a prewar D28 with a bunch of damage and repair, but it'll still go for more than a well-playing 50s or 60s one, which will go for more than the recent versions that are perfectly serviceable for most players.

One thing that I have found interesting is that the approximate price difference between a basic "nice" new acoustic guitar and a really sharp well-crafted one (say a nice Collings) is about an order of magnitude - say, $700 vs $7000, with some flexibility up or down.  I think you could say the same about new violins -- a nice new Chinese instrument, parallel to a $700 guitar, could be about $2000, while the work of a well known comtemporary maker could be in the $20K range or a little up from there.  I don't know if that's just a coincidence, or if there is something similar in the relative costs of operating a small high-end shop vs. a larger production operation for both guitars and violins. 

[Garth E.]

Well said. I have a 1979 D-28 that still has that 70's stigma about it. However it plays beautiful. I'll never sell it.

[_Alex]

On 7/1/2020 at 9:50 PM, Garth E. said:

"it doesn't have to hold it's own in a concert hall all by itself"

Totally agree Alex. Although many guitarists have been trying to play scales like the violinists.  

•  

The worlds best rock guitar players all do have very distinctive, 'million dollar' tones that are easily recognizable as their own. Slash (Les Paul), Andy Summers (Fender Telecaster), Eddie Van Halen (some sort of homemade thing held together with wires and duct tape). But their guitar is only a small piece in that puzzle.... the amplifiers, effects, etc... And of course now that 'art' is sort of becoming obsolete, as any kid can buy a computer program that can simulate any of these amps and effects within seconds... 

[Marty Kasprzyk]

9 hours ago, _Alex said:

The worlds best rock guitar players all do have very distinctive, 'million dollar' tones that are easily recognizable as their own. Slash (Les Paul), Andy Summers (Fender Telecaster), Eddie Van Halen (some sort of homemade thing held together with wires and duct tape). But their guitar is only a small piece in that puzzle.... the amplifiers, effects, etc... And of course now that 'art' is sort of becoming obsolete, as any kid can buy a computer program that can simulate any of these amps and effects within seconds... 

The same thing is happening with electric violins.  The acoustic violin acts as filter to change the vibrating string's sound character.  This filtering action can be modeled with a computer program and it is possible to generate different filters to mimic different violins such as famous Strads, DGs etc. on the same electric violin.

 

[Garth E.]

1 hour ago, Marty Kasprzyk said:

The same thing is happening with electric violins.  The acoustic violin acts as filter to change the vibrating string's sound character.  This filtering action can be modeled with a computer program and it is possible to generate different filters to mimic different violins such as famous Strads, DGs etc. on the same electric violin.

 

It's been happening for a few years now. Nobody (with exceptions) wants to work and practice to get good at anything. Just reset and try another sound. Disgusting.

[Byrdbop]

Custom Shop Fender or Gibson's have hugely inflated prices as (I suspect) do many supposed 'fine' violins.  Buy the best instrument you can afford has always been my motto.