Sending the Violin to the Luthier and Masking Up!

With the lockdown in The Netherlands starting to ease up a bit, I figured it was time to pay a long overdue visit to the violin luthier to fix up a few things with my Baroque Violin whilst it wasn't in heavy use... although, to be perfectly honest, I probably have the rest of the year to do this!

Anyway, when I had bought this violin, the luthier had also agreed to replace the pegs with a new set of pegs which would better suit the violin. Just a bit of a cosmetic touch, but a nice touch none the less! However, that would mean that the violin would have to be out of my hands for around a week or so as he would need to fit the pegs to exact dimensions of the holes in the pegbox. Not something that takes a lot of time, but this wouldn't have been the only job that his shop needs to do!

I had picked out a nice set of ebony pegs with ivory highlights... I do also like the ones that are on the instrument, they do look quite nice with the graining that they have... but it is also nice to replace them with English style pegs of the type that it would have originally had in the 18th century!

Of course, the first time I had made the appointment, it was the start of the Coronavirus lockdown. Concerts were starting to be cancelled, and I had thought that it would be a good time to make the appointment. However, soon afterwards, all non-essential travel was being advised against... and I don't really think that I could really justify the violin repairs as been "essential". At least, not enough to be travelling on public transport....

Now, the restrictions are being eased up a bit and so I figure it is as good a time as any to travel to Amsterdam to get this all done. In the end, I drove most of the way there and then caught a mostly empty Metro line to get to the luthier. I had no real desire to drive into the middle of Amsterdam, although when I did get there, it was pretty empty in the centre of the city... so I probably could have done it!

The other more pressing repair, not urgent but something that I wanted fixed as soon as possible, was the damaged purfling at the base of the instrument. Again, in the sale of the instrument, it was something that the seller agreed to have repaired at their expense. The purpose of the purfling is to channel any potential cracks from the edge of the instrument along a weaker channel... thus directing it away from the main soundboard. Pretty cool for old tech!

Next door to the luthier was a costume maker and theatre seamstress... obviously, her work has also crashed to the ground like crazy. However, she has started making washable and reusable facemasks to try and replace her lost work. She has a few models available and they are really quite well put together... I figure it was a good idea to pick up some good quality ones so that we don't end up using so many disposable facemasks (it will be mandatory on public transport in the coming month).

The model that I ended up getting had adjustable straps and also some inner pocketing to be able to fit ad-hoc filters such as ones cut from vacuum bags or coffee filters. Seeing as disposable masks are selling at around 1.50 euros per mask at the moment, and are in short supply.... I guess it makes sense to have something that is going to have a longer shelf life!

It is actually quite comfortable to wear... although, maybe after a few hours it wouldn't be so nice! I had seen something on the local children's news show (Jeugdjournaal) that might help with that... a 3D printed hook for the back straps. I might look into that... I have a friend with a 3D printer!

I have to say... it looks weird, I feel like I belong in an Apocalypse movie or something... and I will have to think about how it fogs my glasses a bit!

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