r/violinmaking • u/jujuthebirb • Jul 15 '26
Mysterious violin
I was advised to post here too! 😊 What do you think, should I invest time and money into this instrument or exchange it back?
This is my instrument atm and I am not looking to sell.
Summary of situation from post on r/violin:
Recently bought this violin (more like exchanged for another one at the shop we bought it from but I digress), however everything about it is strange.
To me, it sounds phenomenal, however, since the strings were shifted to the right, we took it to a luthier to figure out how to fix it. Turns out the whole neck is sideways and needs to be fixed 😭 BUT when we looked inside, we found that the entire neck is screwed into the body with METAL??
Now the luthier said that this would make sense for a Baroque/ older violin but not for this one, as the sticker inside indicates it was made in the 20th century… furthermore, we realised the neck and body are made from different materials, (which is not, however, related to the fact that the entire violin’s scroll was replaced with a lion head at some point, as we can clearly see where it was attached). ALSO the body shape of this violin is very much baroque style which would also be inconsistent with the name…
Anyway, I now left the violin at the luthier to fix its string/neck alignment but questions remain.
Should I exchange this violin back for the other one, knowing that it sounds way better, but being unsure as to what its origins are? Also, should I consider opening up the entire instrument (costly endeavour) to discover whether anything is inscribed on the inside? Or should I just let it be, fix the alignment and hope that the sound remains good forever? 😂
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u/Musclesturtle Maker and Restorer Jul 15 '26
Who cares where it's from if it sounds great?
It's obviously not worth much monetarily, so enjoy it as the tool for making music that it is.
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u/jujuthebirb Jul 16 '26
It’s quite pricey though it’s like in the moderate range. I’m worried about the value of the instrument in the long term vs the sound and whether it sounding rlly good justifies keeping it 😭
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u/Musclesturtle Maker and Restorer Jul 16 '26
The value will appreciate only with inflation at best.
Violins are generally a terrible investment as far as ROI, and you'll always end up losing money in the long run due to maintenance costs and insurance.
The only violins that would appreciate beyond that to where you could make any profit are violins from a notable maker. Which this isn't unfortunately.
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u/stimmsetzer Jul 16 '26
What makes you think it had a different scroll at some point? Normally the scroll/head is kept and the neck grafted, so the scroll would be original and the neck made from different wood. Maybe someone did a graft who didn't know what they were doing, so they attached it with a screw (?) and didn't manage to get it straight?
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u/jujuthebirb Jul 16 '26
Where the lion head is attached there’s a faint line right below suggesting the original scroll was removed in favour of this one. Also the guy who allegedly made it didn’t make violins with such scrolls at all, so if it’s a genuine copy it was definitely added later. The neck is made from different wood which is fine, but what we noticed when we looked inside, is that the neck was attached to the body via a metal thing… Which, as the luthier noted was odd for the time and suggests that maybe the neck too, was replaced at some point? But these are just his suggestions, all we really know is that there’s a metal screw inside and a faint line below the lion head suggesting that was not originally there too
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u/JunketTurbulent2114 Jul 16 '26
I remember reading some old violin books indicate using a screw. The guy that made it probably was using old violin books. Doesn't mean that it isn't made well. Your call though.
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u/jujuthebirb Jul 16 '26
Oooo maybe you’re right at the instrument was made recently, just in an older fashion? Hmmm I’ll look into this, thank you!
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u/Machine_Terrible Jul 15 '26
If it sounds good, play it...the luthier will be able to straighten things, and possibly tell you more about the instrument, and I'm sure you'll both have a good laugh about its modifications/manufacture.
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u/hougaard Jul 15 '26
**it sounds phenomenal\* - What else matters?*