Choices, choices.....
Today, I had a the pleasure of going to Amsterdam to try out a couple of violins! This is like going to a sweets shop... well, actually, probably going to a hands-on gadget and computer store (with no-one bothering you) would more like that, but this is a really close second! Of these three violins, the one on the left is "mine" (well, it is on loan...) and the other two are ones that I was trying. Just before Christmas, I received an email from a luthier who knew that I was looking for a Baroque Violin to buy (well, it isn't so urgent... I've been looking for over five years now, but I'm just so happy with the loaner!). I immediately arranged for an appointment to see the violin...
After a half hour of trying them, I think I'm pretty interested in the one on the right... not enough to drop everything and buy it, but interested enough to take it on loan in a couple weeks time, when I have a few more performances on Violin and some other people who will be able to listen to it. However, in the intervening week or so, there is at least one other person who will be looking at it... hopefully, they won't snap it up! The luthier did offer me the right of first choice on it.... but I couldn't take it in good conscience... if the other person takes it, I will find something else in my own time!
The Real Reason
Actually, the trip to the violin luthier was a bit of a side excursion... the real reason that I needed to go to Amsterdam was a bit more mundane. Just before Christmas, one of my violin bows damaged itself. On the end of the bow is a screw mechanism for tightening and loosening the horse hair on the bow, and as this particular bow has the angle of the screw slightly off centre, it means that over time the thread of the screw gets worn away. After, I turn the thing probably about a minimum of ten times every day, on pretty much every day of the year.
Well, the last time this had happened was around seven years ago and I didn't have the time then to have the guide hole for the bow re-bored and straightened. This time, I also didn't have time to do it permanently, however if the time for failure is around seven years then it isn't too bad... However, I will be coming back in a couple of weeks to see the violin again, so I am going to make time to have the bow properly fixed, as the screw tends to destroy itself right as I'm about to step on stage (luckily, I have spares... but it is one of my favourites!). Whilst I'm there, I will have the bow maker look at another bow of mine which I had written off as destroyed several years ago. Hopefully, he is able to repair it and make it sing again!
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FOR TSE ---> Very interesting. Just out of intuition I was immediately attracted to the dark one. That was before I even started reading your post and learned it was the one you use. My least favorite is the one on the right. Which makes me wonder -- since like @squishysquid I know squat about violins -- what are your criteria for choosing an instrument? What puts the one on the right in the running? Why isn't it a final selection? What is the difference between the two you were offered? What makes the one in the middle "inferior" -- and is that simply a personal preference ... or is there something objectively undesirable about it?
Also, I can see how a person might have a favorite violin (or any musical instrument.) But I never thought about having a favorite bow.
To me, that seems like one of those things you'd go pick up a new one at the drug store when the old one wore out. Like you get new batteries for your flashlight or the TV remote. Clearly though, they're not the same at all. (You even refurbish / recycle / repair your old bows ... instead of tossing them in the trash. See ... I learned something by reading this post, even though I'm left with even more questions.)
So ... I have questions. You have answers. Your turn.
Phew... simple questions with complex answers!... but I'll do the best I can!
Well, each violin has a pretty unique sound to begin with... also one that isn't the same all through the complete register from low to high and across the different strings. They also all have a different response to different styles of playing and technical demands. I guess, if you compare them to cars, there are different types of cars for different situations, and it mostly doesn't have much to do with the paint job on them!
Choosing an instrument can sometimes take quite some time... or conversely very little time! I have some instruments that I fell in love immediately, generally as they had qualities that suited my style of playing quite well (tending to fast response with bright sound on the violins). Others, like the dark one in the photo, are good for me because they temper my personal playing style (it is a very dark and deep sound), in the way that two people with different strengths make up for each other's weaknesses to make a more formidable team.
In the case of this particular violin (on the right...), there were many things that I enjoyed about the instrument (it is really a very good one!), but there were things that I wasn't sure about... which might just be a fault of the set-up (different gauges and types of strings, or other more drastic measures), or might be an issue of learning the instrument (we tend to prefer things that we have much familiarity with, giving the unfamiliar an unfair disadvantage).
The one in the middle, had a very shallow sound/tone range with no ability project or to have much variety. So, it's natural sound was not good, and then there was not a good deal that you could do with it as a player... it was also sluggish to respond, which in combination with my faster style of playing tends to annoy me! Players that use a slower, heavier style of bowing might prefer this sort of response... but not me!
Whilst the violins steal the limelight, the bows are just as important. They are considered to be the breath of the instrument. The response of the bow in your hand is watch produces the sound of the violin, and the differences in sound is quite amazing if you know what you are listening for. So, I guess an analogy is the user interface for a computer. If you have ever used a great keyboard with a good layout, and then compare it to a crappy one... it doesn't matter what the screen and the CPU/GPU combination is, it just makes your interaction with the computer terrible!
The way the bow is carved and weighted (and the wood type and quality) all contribute the "sound" and "response" of the bow. It can make high overtones, which can make the violin sound shrill... or lots of lower overtones, which can tend to make it sound muffled... so there needs to be a good balance. And everyone has a different preference! Some people prefer a rapier and other prefer a broadsword. In addition, every period of music has a different type of bow (and violin, but the differences are more pronounced in the bow). Different bows (different equipment) are better suited to different styles of music due to their different advantages and disadvantages (different balance distribution, weight, length, width of bow hair....), which favour certain musical techniques. However, the "modern" Classical (probably most of what you see) ignores all this variety and just irons out all the different nuances into a single type of bow and type of violin... and irons out the complete last 400 years of different national styles into a homogeneous interpretation that has nothing to do with the original visions!
Bows don't quite cost as much as violins... but they are expensive! A repaired old bow won't be as good as it originally was... as it loses flexibility in the stick. But a good bow will still retain some of it's quality. Plus, it is a tool and partner that I will generally will have had daily contact for the better part of a decade or two... so, there is that emotional attachment!
What a lovely and complete response. See ... I learned something else from you just by reading it. Your analogies were also great. They reminded me why you test drive a car before you buy it -- and why one will be just perfect while another ... perfectly good one ... just doesn't fit your style and personality.
Oddly, your explanation about bows reminded me, too, of the fact that computer keyboards are also so different in their feel and response. Being a writer, I find this just as important to me as your violin bow is to you as a musician. There is an inexpensive little basic keyboard that Amazon puts out for $15 that I just love to type on. No kidding, it is so much fun to write on it. I can't begin to tell you why except that it is fast, responsive, comfortable ... a "partner" in the effort, just as you described. I've had other keyboards that look pretty much the same, but were just awful in practice.
This little cheapo guy even beats the expensive ergonomic keyboards all to pieces, IMO ... and, yes, if they ever stop making this design I am not going to be happy. It took me years to find this fit ... and I wear out an average of two keyboards a year ... just doing what I do.
Thanks for the time you took on this answer. Srsly. I appreciate it.
No worries, and thanks for making me think about it and how to explain it! It is the sort of thing that you take for granted as a specialist and needing to break it down to a non-specialist is a good test of how well you understand a topic!
You had better stock up on those keyboards while they are still around! They might 'upgrade' them! I have a great laptop keyboard (xps 15) that is a pleasure to type on, but the thing I love best is my Logitech MX master mouse. The scroll wheel, you can just spin endlessly with a single flick and stop with a quick tap again! It backs scrolling long pages a breeze!
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Howdy sir bengy! why don't you just buy a new bow? I didn't know that bow strings were made of horse hair!
Bows are also relatively expensive, and so they aren't really disposable products! Also, they really become part of the playing team, so it is hard to let go of a great team member that you have an emotional and technical attachment to!
howdy sir bengy! An emotional attachment to a bow? Ok I get it, I just didn't realize that would be a factor, very interesing, thank you!
I always say if its meant to be its meant to be... so take your time 😉
Exactly, some things just can't be rushed!
Hope you had a nice trip, @bengy! Did you have time to do anything else in Amsterdam, besides visiting the bow maker and the luthier?
No, afraid that was all I came to do, and I had to jump on a train back to pick up my kids from school!
That darker wood color in the left looks amazing! Ah I do miss playing the violin. Well I hope the bow lasts another 7 years at least then. Finding the perfect bow and having to use something else just ain't the same!
The temporary fix is holding and hopefully he can complete the permanent fix next week! It's nice to have the view back in my line up!
They look beautiful to me :) Good luck with the repairs of the old one.
Ha ha, as a musician I hadn't really noticed what they looked like!
ohhhh i hope that you don't lose it either! 5 years is a long time to be searching for that perfect instrument hehehehe hope you got it (and hope you get it!)
they're all beautiful - but i do love the look of your loaner on the left.... how its dark wood instead of light? very pretty!
Haha... call me shallow, but I hadn't actually noticed what they looked like! I was only listening and seeing how they responded to playing and all that stupid stuff!
well you're a musician! :) of course that would be more important than the look! hehehehehe
if you would send me a video of you playing them ahem ahem I could remark on how they sounded too hehehehe
Ha ha, but a video is only for looking! Maybe if I take it on loan, I might record it to see...
And then... Dreemie sees and hears... Yes yes!
For some reason... I hear this in Yoda's voice...
Wow!! They all look great to me but I dont know squat about violins!
Very cool!
I hope you end up getting it, if you decide for sure that is the one you want. :D
It's always so hard to choose one... sometimes one just jumps out at you... other times, it grows on you! Most of my other instruments, I've fallen in love with straight away... this time, there are many things that I love, but there are a few things that I'm not 100 percent sure about....
Could you point me to an article, "how to store violins for beginner"
Something that I could read up on the proper way to savely store a Violine for years?
Do you mean to leave untouched for years? That, I'm not sure about... depending on the quality of the instrument, you would need to have the air/humidity regulated! Drying out will cause cracking, and losing strings will mean that the bridge and sound post will fall.
So it needs to be constantly checked?
How I prefer my trumpet.
"Don't let it rust" and even that would still be ok:))
Well, I have take care of it, even untouched.
sigh
What a princess of an instrument
:)
Haha... yes... they are!
_