The Violin¶
Fix¶
I've been wanting to play the violin for quite some time now. I'm now 70, and it's now or never. At the moment, I can't afford an expensive instrument: expensive to me is actually anything over $150. Eventually, I might be able to justify a $5000 to $10,000 instrument, but that time is well in the future.
As I do, I've been looking at everything I could find on getting started: instrument pricing, courses on learning how to play the thing, maintenance... everything. I even explored the art of the luthier: violin-making. Looks fascinating!
The most obvious place to start looking for a used instrument was Ebay, but I decided that Facebook Marketplace would yield results where the seller was closer to home and I'd save myself the hassle and cost of shipping.
There was a lot to choose from! After a false start in Arana Hills on 12th of January (the violin was a 3/4 size: I needed a 4/4), finally starting to find what I was after.
23-01-16 - The Stentor¶
The first student violin (purchased in Stretton) I actually brought home went for AUD$150.00 on Facebook Marketplace: I was pretty sure this Stentor was going to be the one I learned to play on. And it has been sitting in my closet pretty much since I bought it.
Eventually, we'll have to see what to do with this one.
23-01-23 - The Czech¶
A Gem in the Rough
To practise restoring/maintenance skills, I found a violin (in Algester) for AUD$80.00 on Facebook Marketplace. It has the following inscription:
Antonius Stradivarius. Cremonensis
Faciebot Anno 1713
Made in Czechoslovakia
So, there's that.
What inspired the purchase of this particular this violin was this video:
I couldn't find what Kevin recommended: Joha varnish cleaner.
However, the cleaner that appears to be available in Australia is Hill's. I actually ended up getting this OldWood Italian Cream Hg.
The violin itself hadn't been used in ages: the A-string was missing and it clearly hadn't been cleaned or tuned in a while. The image on Marketplace looked promising:
It was really meant to be a 'violin cleanup' project, not the instrument I'd be learning to play on. I first started trying to clean it with just using a cloth, cautiously:
It quickly became apparent that using brown t-shirt material was not a good choice:
Was it varnish I was removing, or something else? No idea: all I could see was that any rubbing wasn't going to remove the rosin residue as much as dull the polish. Also, there were these spots:
...which sort-of looked like mould to me:
The bridge needed adjusting:
Not sure about this neck:
Here, you can just make out how rubbing was dulling the polish a bit, only just:
So I stopped doing what I was doing. It seemed likely I wasn't removing the rosin residue so much as smearing it around. The cloth needed to be white, clearly.
Removed the chinrest (carefully, with a bent clip, so as not to scratch the varnish) and this is the cork and sticky stuff it left on the violin:
That's been carefully cleaned off, now. Might go with a better chinrest, perhaps. Also, investing in a proper chinrest removal tool (AUD$5.00 at Simply For Strings.
23-01-25 First Cleaning¶
Last night, I started using a white cloth (feels like microfibre) to clean the violin - these were sock-like thingies that the lenses I purchased came in. The approach to cleaning was this:
- breathe on a small section
- carefully 'polish' in line with the grain, hopefully removing rosin residue
- "rinse and repeat" (not literally, no water came anywhere near the violin)
I made a point of not pressing hard, particularly around the f-holes, which seemed particularly fragile. Long way to go yet, but I reckon I'm seeing an inprovement.
The area around the f-holes required extreme caution. It looked like someone had not-too-carefully adjusted the soundpost and damaged part of the edge. That might need filling in or something.
It seemed that the varnish had like micro-cracks in it. The cloth seems to snag (horror of horrors!!) noticeably around the f-holes. Pretty sure this needs addressing, in some fashion.
Although the purchase price of the violin initially emboldened me to undertake polishing this violin, with time and watching more of Kevin Lee, Luthier's YouTube channel I've been changing my view on how to approach the task.
I had purchased some Pirastro Tonica strings at Vivace Music in Sunnybank Hills for $60 as replacements, of which I've replaced the D, A and E so far, changing out the strings one at a time. Tilted the bridge towards the tailpiece after letting the violin get used to the new strings first. Did the graphite thing on the bridge and nut, as well as applying peg-paste on the pegs.
23-01-31 Peg Adjustment¶
After my chiropractor appointment, popped up to Red Hill to meet with Michael at Simply For Strings.
He very kindly not only showed me how to revive the rather used-up pegs so they would work for a bit longer, but gave me all sorts of incredibly valuable tips and ideas on violin maintenance and care.
When I buy my next violin - the upgrade - I'll be purchasing it from Simply For Strings ... they have been simply wonderful!
2023-02-01 - The Enrico¶
This violin hadn't been touched since 1999. Her strings were toast and the soundpost has fallen:
23-02-04 Initial Cleaning¶
Did a bit of a 'dry' polish tonight, and discovered that the base is likely coming away from the rest of the body. Which means: removing the whole thing, sanding carefully and re-glueing. Wow, am I really ready for this? I did sign up for a Violin Maintenance course for April 14th at Simply for Strings: might have a word to them as to the advisability of embarking on such an adventure.
23-02-05 Polishing¶
Did a bit more polishing with the OldWood Italian Cream... a bit with that, but mostly breathing on the wood and polishing with white microfibre:
As one can see, the issues under the fingerboard and near the bridge are pretty much resolved:
The bridge is positioned correctly: upright and not leaning towards the fingerboard, which can easily happen with much tuning:
The bridge slots - where the string passes over it - have been 'lubricated' with soft pencil lead:
Whilst it is recommended to keep your violin in its case, I'm defying those instructions:
...only just because having the violin visible reminds me to practise.
Playing¶
Initial Exercises - Feb 1st¶
Michael kindly emailed me some exercises to do - just until I sort-of engage a formal instructor. Not trivial, these exercises! Just getting a decent sound out of 'open strings' is a challenge. And yet, oddly enough, achieveable, with a bit of work.
Practising - Feb 22nd¶
Self-teaching is actually a very hard way to go. Having an instructor would indeed make things significantly more consistent and would accelerate my progress, but it's not in the cards at the moment. I have been practising simple open-string bowing, trying to get the bow-hold right, stop the chattering (seems to be a down-bow phenomenon) and scratching ... and to just get nice, clear sounds.
It's slowly actually happening, though - the sound is slowly improving.
I do clean my violin before I put it away, and am still noticing a bit of thread-grabbing around the f-holes. Wondering if sanding - perish the thought! - or polishing or indeed what would make this less of a problem. Might try polishing.
Am signed up for a violin maintenance workshop at Simply for Strings taking place of the 14th of April.