I have a lot of violins and equipment come across my bench, so have play tested a lot of instruments, strings and bows in my time. So what am I running at the moment?
Main instrument
My main instrument is a German Shop violin restored by Frank Williams way back in the 80’s (thats how old I am). It’s needed a lot of work over the years too. The top plate has had bits replaced, neck adjustments and almost has more buttons than timber to keep the cracks under control. It probably doesn’t help that I took it to the Antarctic when I worked down there (not as a luthier obviously). The timber back has a beautiful flame and the violin sounds very sweet under the ear, though probably doesn’t quite have the projection of some others. Over the years i have strung it with almost every string you can imagine and these days are running Evah Pirrazzi greens, they are not the cheapest string…but I really love the ‘sizzle’. I have an lapel Audio Technica mic I attach with velcro and gooseneck for a bit of volume when I need it.
Family instruments
My two sons play violin in primary and high school, my youngest is on a Full size Gliga 1, its a dark broody instrument (might have to put some EP’s or Thomastik Visions on it next string change). My oldest son is running a late 1800’s saxony violin…so much history!! Once my wife starts cello (and Lucifer ends global warming) we can have a family quartet to delight grandma.
Bows
Bow wise I have a pernambucco Dorfler (around $1000 new these days…yikes) and a diamond weave carbon fibre bow for my contemporary music songs that need a bit of chop and attack. They say you need to spend about 1/3 of the price of your violin on a bow…I didn’t believe this for a long time , but recon its true both from a science perspective but also how it feels under my hand and the tone production.
Electric Violin
I also have an electric instrument (and a fishman pickup for my acoustic…when my son doesn’t have it on his), its a Yamaha and when paired with the right effects pedal (I’m using a Zoom Acoustic multipedal) you would be amazed what you can get out of it. Mostly I use a touch of reverb and delay to give it presence, and an ‘octave’ effect so I can play cello parts.
This a little rig I put together so when I’m jammin’ with guitar players I can still be heard. It’s a bit agricultural (car speaker, amp module from e-bay )but it all fits in a briefcase so its easy to take and just one lead to plug in at the other end. I use an 18v power drill battery so it lasts practically forever and I have plenty of batteries on hand.
The electric violin sound is not the same as an acoustic violin so that takes a bit of getting used to. See Going Electric… with Karin
