This specimen of
the violin maker's art, described on eBay as an
English violin, which would benefit from some new
strings and some attention to the bow but
otherwise is generally excellent. But …
Firstly: It is Chinese, not English. The company is English, but the violin isn't!
Secondly: The bow may as well be consigned immediately to the bin as the cost of repairing it would be greater than the cost of a new bow.
Thirdly: Where is the bridge?
Fourthly: How about getting some adjusters when you get the strings?
Conclusion: To put this in playable condition you would be looking at a bill of around £60 on top of the original purchase price. You could use that money to buy the current (and better) version of that model and have some left over. There are bargains on eBay if you can find them, but this is not one of them!
This, would you believe it, is a genuine Strad!
Well, it has to be because the label says so.
There's one born every minute!
There is no truth in the rumour that we are getting new labels to go inside our violins.
Here is arguably the
worst bridge we have seen. We are still trying to
work out how it actually stayed on the violin long
enough to let us picture it.
!
Left: Are you going to take the word of whoever
set this up about its playing condition? I
wouldn't!
In Somerset perhaps this is known as the Highbridge model?
Right: This one came from a music shop which has a website as well as eBay sales. One would have thought that they would know how a bridge fits on a violin, wouldn't you?
Apparently not.
.
This
eBay marvel is new. The seller said so, and in
case you are wondering, yes, it does have a back.
He forgot to take that off when he removed the
strings, bridge and tailpiece. All new violins
come that way, don't they? And it was not the
brand he said it was either, but why be fussed
with little details like that. Just toddle along
to the repair shop and all will be well; the
repairer will be happy pocketing the £60 or
thereabouts he has to charge to put it into a
playable condition.
This interesting specimen was described as "all
in very good condition." His definition of "all"
apparently did not include a bridge. Possibly he
thought that was an optional extra. We ran
into another seller who considered the soundpost
to be an optional extra - and did not supply one!
A case that actually fitted the violin would have been a useful addition too.
Savour this eBay description:
"HIGH QUALITY STUDENT VIOLIN, CASE AND BOW: A very nice violin constructed of good quality maple ... in great physical condition and fully playable order. The violin was made by Skylark - there is a label inside the sound box ... The inside of the case ... includes a pocket to contain spare strings - wax etc. ... The violin has no splits or cracks and produces a lovely sound, it has all it's strings and parts intact."
The seller who thinks a violin uses "wax" is hardly in a position to judge either the tone or the quality of the maple, or even whether the violin is fully playable or not. It probably is - we've seen worse - but "high quality?" No way!
Another disaster. "Seam to be repaired." Not only
that but also it has no bridge and it will need
adjusters fitted if it is ever going to get into
tune!
An uneconomic mess and fit only for the bin. Of course it could be repaired but a similar new violin of this budget quality would be cheaper anyway.
This
violin evidently was not set up by someone who
adheres to Highbridge standards! Basically though
it is a good bridge but it has also got itself the
wrong way round. The ebony but should go under the
E-string. Not a disaster though if you have a
teacher to put it right for you!
Sometimes
faults are easy to pick up from pictures:
sometimes they aren't.
Look at the picture on the right. The seller described it as being in "very good condition" but can you see anything amiss?
Well, we didn't so we bought it. When it arrived we found the neck hanging off but one would not pick that up from the photograph. Not one of our happier moments.
It
looks as though this violin has been restrung as a
leftie. Nothing wrong about that except that the
seller should have declared the fact!
Talking of lefties reminds us of our favourite 'vile violin' from our initial collection and to round off we will include some from that collection too.
And if
you do want a real left-handed violin, don't
forget that we get real left-handed violins from
Gliga, not ones that have been adapted but ones
that have been made thoroughly
left-handed!
This is a Parrot. Like Monty Python's Norwegian
Blue this is in the ex-Parrot league, or rather it
is a reversed Parrot!
The seller did not even know which way round it goes, or perhaps he prepared it for the left-handed market! And look at that bridge. Another job for the repairman.
Now, what do you think we are going to say about that bridge ...
A wonderful gift, and another wonderful
opportunity to present your repairer with a gift
of £30 for that bridge (guess you expected
that!)
Note the bow still in its wrapper. What a pity the seller did not unwrap his copy of 'How to fit a Violin bridge', or perhaps he's in league with our repair man
One more bridge that is going to cause
difficulties. It's too high so it looks as though
another visit to our friendly repair man is on the
cards!
And
now we come to our final picture in this
collection of some of the 'interesting' violins we
have glimpsed on eBay auctions.
This one we dubbed 'The Honest Trader' because although the picture does not tell the full story the seller gave the details in the listing. The picture also reminds one that the cosmetic appearance of an instrument is no guide at all to its playing condition.
In this listing the seller was honest and disclosed the fact that the soundpost was down and the bow screw was broken. That would cost around £45 to put right. The seller was honest about it although the picture did not tell the full story.
Please do not get the impression that eBay is a bad place to buy and sell, because it isn't. The point is that one has to be careful and even if you are in the business it is always possible to make mistakes as we have done and still do from time to time. Our eBay selling is done through the ID of elizabethward. We also sell a lot through this website and would like to thank many people who have said nice things about our site.
Please feel free to contact us by email or phone and we will do our utmost to be of service. We welcome your comments and suggestions, and look forward to hearing from you.