Taking a student violin bridge through a bridge replacement and then a string replacement and then hearing how the sound changes. In general a harder ( better quality) bridge brightens an instrument so here is a bridge intervention on my sons violin.
My son has a Gliga I for a while, Gliga’s are his weapon of choice so the upgrade from a III to a I was always going to happen. Probably I would have liked to find him something else, but violins are a very personal thing, and he is a visual creature so I suspect the look and authenticity of a Gliga is a really important factor for him. Gliga’s have a reputation for being almost works of art and his Gliga I is no exception. To my ear it’s always sounded a bit muted, and a woody tone is a comment more than a few make about the Gliga’s (see my Gliga violin review). One of the reasons for this is the bridge it comes with as its thought to be a bit on the soft side. So I lashed out on a more expensive bridge an Aubert Mirecourt Deluxe and also some brighter strings. I think there is a progressive improvement in the sound.
I’m going to do a bit more on the bridge next to lighten the weight and maybe a sound post replacement as well….
Have a listen if you like… listen as the changes are introduced and then go back to the original …its about 4mins of your life you might not get back though 😉 (just skip through to the playing bits if you like)
Last week I had a visitor to my workshop, a friend from childhood actually. Back in the last century (thats sounds old doesn’t it) we shared the front desk of Pat Mallon’s Mt. Gravatt Area String Orchestra together. After school I went on to pursue a career in Physics (and other things) and Timo went to the Conservatorium of Music to study Violin.
We kinda lost touch….until one day at my sons first violin concert they were playing Wallaby Hop by Timo Jarvela. Now I don’t know too many Jarvela’s and in due course discovered it was the same person, now a prominent area violin teacher on Brisbane’s Northside and composer too and got in contact.
Timo started his musical journey in Mansfield, in his early days having to cycle from Mansfield Primary to another school for his violin lessons, and was one of half a dozen or so violin students at Mansfield State High School, which now has 5 string orchestral groups, and something like 800 people across the entire instrumental music programme.
Dan (L) and Timo (R), an early performance. Image P. Mallon
Timo shared a little of his journey to composing, which started with writing for his own students, requests from other teachers..before he bit the bullet and started publishing with his wife through Laker Music! I quite like his compositions and my kids have enjoyed playing them.
Timo gave me some insights into the process. Its a heady mix of the uniqueness of the Australian music instruction in schools, and finding the right mix with a limited et of notes and rhythms for each level of progression as students develop. I also quite like his approach in “Tricky Fingers”, it develops a students abilities progressively. It achieves this by starting with just the left hand , building ability through reading, fingering and muscular development through left hand pizzicato, then introducing the bow and the fingers down on strings .
The skill acquisition scientist in me thinks this is great, Also it comes with backing tracks online so you can (with the teachers guide) be largely self taught. Checkout out Timo’s compositions here We also had a good chat about violin brands that come and go, some of the secrecy around luthierin, high street shops, and helping parents support their children without breaking the bank.
Love your work Timo…. I look forward to our next catchup
Parents often come to me clutching a teacher preferred violin list and can I sell them the exact brand from the list…and of course for a good price. Why do teachers have a preferred list?
Firstly teachers know the whats best for your violin student and the teacher preferred violin list is a part of making sure they have a good instrument that is right for their student for that stage of their learning journey. Its also done in desperation, because they have seen a few to many ALDI blue violins and Ebay cheapies in their time. As a parent if you knew violins you wouldn’t buy these..but you don’t know and they look like they have everything and the price it good…but they are often sub standard instruments for learning on. See my guide on internet violins for more thoughts on this.
If your learning violin in a group lesson, such as at a state school there isn’t a lot of time week to week, let alone for instrument selection, this is where a preferred instrument list really shines. If you have individual tuition, such as at a private school or with a teacher outside of school there is room for more conversation to get a good instrument. in fact i am often contacted by private violin teachers hunting for a good value instrument for their student.
So what makes “the list” ? well generally they need to sound OK, be reasonable priced and also be widely available in shops at the moment. So , depending on the teacher you will see Enrico, Arioso, Arco, Gliga and a few others (that are commonly stocked in stores) listed – or they might say anything from the XXX store. Brisbane has most of the popular national brands, but not all of them so there are a few that you won’t see, like the Kreisler from the Sydney String Store and the Glanville family of makers . The other thing about these instruments are they are usually setup well, thats is the bridge height, fingerboard and nut heights are all good, pegs greased so they turn without getting stuck. All violins, these ones included, need to be ‘setup’ to be playable, an ebay or ALDi instrument isn’t and I suspect this is what the teacher is most concerned about…as well as the quality of the build.
Secondly there is also the *dark side* of the musical instrument business, where teachers receive an undeclared commission or gifts from music stores(2Set violin have a nice video about this) . This is more common on the expensive violins and is a practice that might be fading, but its definitely a factor.
As you get to be a more advanced violin student, it can take a lot of time to find the instrument that is right for you…and usually won’t be a list instrument…but thats a story for another day.
I sometimes pick up antique violin cases from the fabulous Animato strings on Brisbane’s Northside. They usually come via old European instruments, sourced and hand picked from attic’s all over Europe as they make make their way to Dietrich, who specialises in fine one of a kind European instruments.
The cases while potentially beautiful, need quite a lot of work to get them up to standard for the exterior and interior, and they come less protective of a violin than their modern counterparts. All up they take around 20hours to get them up to scratch ( Antique cases ) and make a fun project, but you need a lot of different skills to get them there, so are not for the average punter. Hence you can buy them quite inexpensively for around $30
This beauty is a timber finish on the outside and felt on the inside and made a good project for my 11yr old. First up the outside is sanded and repainted (we like Danish oil which is a fine furniture timber finish), is a combination of tung oil – which gets in deep and a urethane for the surface and surface protection.
Inside the felt and lining frames need to be taken out. Then we add a frame near the neck to give the case some more rigidity (this makes sure it closes properly by reducing flex) and gives somewhere to attach the neck support later on too. matthew also replaced the rosin box and added some frame elements for the bow spinners to screw into. Then we put down a layer of polar fleece for padding. We lined the sides with EVA foam , this is a closed cell foam, which gives good protection. Next up is the velvet, Matthew favourite colour is green and a quick trip to Spotlight Haberdashery gets us a meter. Then we add the bow spinners. Finally some Velcro goes onto the neck and we add the foam pads for the suspension elements, so the violin floats on its frame rather than resting on the lower table. The tolerances are really fine here , as these cases weren’t made quite height enough to accomodate this, so it s a bit of fiddle with foam thicknesses to get it right .
It’s a lovely compliment to Matthews European Gliga violin, and something he can show off at school and his scout group (this was a special interest badge he did). What I like most is seeing his pride in the work and instrument it houses, my hope is to continue to foster a love of all things violin as he grows up.
Its taken a while but finally got around to hanging my shingle out. It’s a surprisingly difficult thing to do, in a world of anonymity, to put a mark in the dirt and put yourself forward in my village. I’d like to thank all the neighbourhood for their hand in it. Grant on the ivories just around the corner who hung his Grub Mountain studios out 20 years ago, and never looked back, BP Laser down the street who custom cut the sign out for me, Glen around the corner who I bounced a lot of ideas off, Dave, Ross and Dwight – luthiers of violin and guitar who said have a go, John a former music store owner for the encouragement and all the blokes at the Mt. Gravatt mens shed with centuries of wisdom.
Special thanks to wholesalers Chris, James, Max & Andrew and who have trusted me with their brands and taken a punt.
Enrico’s, Enrico’s boy I see a lot of these violins. At around $300 for most of their violin range these are the entry level violin for most parents, solid reliable at a great price point and available everywhere!
Purists tend to turn up their nose at them of course but I recon they are a solid performer for someone just getting started, and streets ahead of an ALDI Blue ;). Yes the tone is a little on the tinny side (especially on the smaller instruments) , but they are well setup and reliable performers and really robust. I pair the smaller ones with a good multicore steel string (I can put better strings on of course but they add to the price and people buying these ones are very price sensitive). For a full size Enrico Thomastic alphas on the better models, or an equivalent string that is a bit cheaper. yes Enrico’s like the Enrico student extra, Enrico Custom can come with much nice tone woods even with modest flame on the back at around $500 – they don’t tend to be sold so much – I suspect its a brand problem you can’t really be a budget brand and a higher end brand at the same time.
What to look for
If you are buying one new the thing to watch is the setup, as they are supplied from the wholesaler not setup – so the bridge heights and fingerboard nut are often too high. So make sure the store you get it from has had someone do a setup! The strings at the top of the fingerboard (at the nut) should have just enough space under them to fit a business card – otherwise they are too high and will be too hard to play, down at the oher end of the finger board if you can just fit your pinky tip under the G string and can’t see daylight between the bridge feet and the violin its been setup OK! Some reviews on Product Review make note of this as well.
By the time I see an Enrico it might be 10 years old…yes they keep going forever, though the cases often need a bit of work and it often gets a bow replacement too. Its tough replacing parts because secondhand around $150 is the right price and a new bow is $50 so often there are all the margins gone for putting my time into servicing the instrument.
In any case if your here and your wanting to know if they are a good starter first instrument (especially for the clumsy)…yes go for it, save your $$$ for the next size up!
Its National Recycling Week Started by Planet Ark, Australia in 1996 its about changing our take, make and dispose culture and making sure anything we have is used for as long as possible to reduce waste. Its a higher goal that just recycling, a mindset change in our approach to stuff!
So this is a shout out to anyone that has an old violin not doing anything, even if it’s in bits I’m interested. I’ll either get it going for the next family to love or use the parts to get another one up to speed.
Recently I put together a student violin that had been sat on, the front cracked open in multiple placs (and the bar bar on the inside) and the back split open as well. Whats most interesting, is that whilst I was in there I managed to clean up a lot of the work done during manufacture (it’s a mass manufactured, albeit better quality $400 student violin) and once it was all back together, with a good new sound post it sounds better than one I have that wasn’t damaged. Of course though it doesn’t quite look as pretty any more….I guess we all get we all get cracks…err wrinkles with age though right 😉 Its a few hrs of life I’ll never get back and doesn’t make sense financially, but its one less bit of forest relegated to landfill though!
I’d love to give this one away but my teacher has set his apprentice (me) the task of carving an entirely new bass bar for it, the only catch though is he says I gotta make the clamps, and the planes to do it though…….
I caught up with near neighbour Grant recently, someone who’s been hanging his music shingle out for a bit longer than me ..like 20 years. Grant is an accomplished piano player and teacher…with a pretty full book of students. His real passion I think is composing for which he has quite the setup down his Grub Mountain Music Studio. Grants compositions appear in the current AMEB piano syllabus as well…which is seriously impressive!! He also has a violin tucked away in the corner…talk about multi talented.
I was privileged to be able to hear a little of the Sonata he has been composing for the last little while. Sonatas are classical in form, but you can hear his other influences coming through. We didn’t quite get around to the coffee…sometimes music is more sustaining I think?
Anyway its finally finished and lovely to listen to.
I can’t imagine the journey towards and the process of undertaking such . Here are Grants reflections on the creation process of the Sonata
Hey if your here chances are you have come across an Aubert Violin for sale and want to do your due diligence on wether its suitable for you and a good quality violin. The good news is Aubert is a trusted name in the violin world, the not so good news is they only make bridges not violins, so you are almost back to square one…but not quite.
Hey if your here chances are you have come across an Aubert Violin for sale and want to do your due diligence on wether its suitable for you and a good quality violin. The good news is Aubert is a trusted name in the violin world, the not so god news news is they only make bridges not violins, so you are almost back to square one.
Often on facebook or gumtree you will see an Aubert violin advertised. This is because if you don’t really know violins and are looking for a brand the most likely one you will see is the brand of the maker of the bridge, stamped on their bridge. Aubert bridges are made in France, they have several grades of bridges . Those marked Aubert, Aubert Made in France , Aubert a Mirecourt, Aubert a Mirecourt Deluxe represent the grades of bridge of increasing quality. There are knockoffs of Aubert bridges too…the grain kind gives it a way though if you know what you’re looking for. Bridges and bridge quality really matter for tone production…but we are talking about violins.
So what about the maker of said Aubert Violin? Rarely do makers put their name on beautifully polished timber, though sometimes you will see a stamp on the back of the body where the new joins it. To find out the maker you have to take a peak inside the f hole near the lower strings (the left hand of the violin if you are facing it). Inside here is usually a glued parchment with the maker of the violin, place its made, date (often prefixed with ‘anno’) and perhaps a model / serial number.
Also you will often see Stradivari, copy of Stradivari or similar written. But don’t get to excited by that, violins are made often on the template of older famous violins, so its unlikely its actually a Strad, just in the shape of one (you might also see Guarneri, Amati and others famous shapes). Mentioning Strad also has a bit of brand recognition… for the young maker or factory pumping out violins out of a workshop in Europe or Shenzen for that matter
Anyways the fact that it is a name brand bridge of some quality (even if it only costs about $10 for a student Aubert bridge), and that probably means it’s on a credible violin…but do play it, check the inside label to find out the actual brand to make sure! See my tips on Buying a violin on facebook or gumtree? Some tips… or come checkout my range
Something I see from time to time are Gliga Violins, actually I’d like to see more as they always sell reasonably quickly, I suspect because of brand reputation. So here is my Gliga Violin review. Value for money and great sound people usually go with my Hidersine Violins.
There is no doubt about it there is something lovely about a European instrument, made from European timbers (and the much vaunted Carpathian mountains where Stradivari is rumoured to source his timbers…great marketing!) and Gliga violins really fit the bill in that regard. They are a solid instrument tending towards a mellow tone, so sound good (well not squeaky) too. if you hunt on discussion forums they are discussed quite a bit The Gliga range starts with a III, II, I, Vasile and then some higher models as well. Recently the Gliga Romanie has been added as well , I suspect to reach into the lower end of the market. (same violins but with a durable finish thats quicker and cheaper to apply than the trad finish)
With each step up through the Gliga models you are getting progressively finer timbers and accompanying workmanship.
Of course the founder of Gliga violins Vasile Gliga can’t possibly make them all ( a maker can only make a few a year generally) so how does he do it? As best i can determine after he found success as a maker, he began acquiring and building up violin workshops with his methods and under his supervision…genius I recon and a wonderful cottage industry is born. Gliga violins are based in Romania, this is formerly an Eastern block country, where wages are lower, at around 1/3-1/4 of those in Western Europe today according to google. Violin making is labour intensive so this is how he can make his violins for the price. Some people think they look a bit chunky on the corners and a bit mellow (some say woody).
You can see Gliga’s today in most music stores right across the planet…that is manufacturing on a serious scale so I don’t recon he can supervise all of them. As a result there is a fair bit of variability across the range so a Gliga III might sound better than a Gliga II and so on, its just going to depend on the instrument and what you as a buyer are looking for. In a music store its often all about the Brand, so being European and at a great price point they fit the bill well! To further keep the price down you often see the Gliga’s paired with a much cheaper bow than you might expect, this is ok if you are just a few years in, but you’ll want to step that up to get the most from the instrument. After all a bow is 1/2 the sound production and there is quite a bit to the bow. A rough guide is 1/3 the price of your violin should be spent on the bow (see bow science)
Price wise, for the sound you are paying a premium for both the brand and the European place of manufacture and they have good resale value (actually all quality violins do) ). You can get better sound for your $$$ I recon (hear my comparison here with the violins I sell), but of course they are’t made in Europe and don’t look as beautiful.
My son currently plays a Gliga I with a one piece back, I think for him its mostly about the brand, though of course it sounds nice too. I have Tonica’s on his violin which suit where he is at . At the time of writing this he’s been playing about 4 years now, so will step up the strings when he is ready to get more from his violin.
