6:42pm May 6, 2012

Did some more research.

Looks like from the labels, combined with the date on the receipts, my violin was made in 1914 in a German factory and then sold by the National Conservatory of Music to a 12-year-old boy.

Those violins varied wildly in quality. So either I lucked out and got one of the better ones, or my taste in violins is nonstandard (or heavily influenced by their personality rather than the criteria most people use). I wouldn’t be surprised by either. What I like about it most is a sense of depth, and I’d be hard pressed to say whether that’s from the sound, the personality, or both.

I finally broke down and bought new rosin. The old stuff I have is being a real pain in the ass to apply. It either doesn’t get on the bow at all, or I sand it and it gets all crumbly. I had a gift card so I went for some higher quality stuff that people were saying you barely have to use any of. It’s softer than what I have but apparently not too soft either.

I’m really looking forward to going to the violin shop. Although I’m nervous as to what they’ll think of my strong attachment to a violin well below the kind they normally sell. But they do say that the customer’s preferences in sound matter more than theirs, so hopefully they’ll hold to that.

I am really curious as to whether changing the strings will make it sound even better. Given that the strings are at least 30 years old and literally falling apart. It will be interesting if they can show me a selection of different strings and what they sound like. I have an idea of what sound I’m going for, so hopefully they’ll know what I mean.

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