Rescue Violins: The Violin Rescue Centre

 I just picked up a Romanian 1/2 size violin today. Some pictures of it follow. The label says it is made in Reghin Romania  "MUSIKINSTRUMENTENFABRIK REGHIN" Lower on the label (not visible in pictures) it says: "I. P. Bv 40. Shining a snake light through the f-hole and using a mobile phone we managed to get a couple of shots of the bass bar and the violin's own little dust bunny. The sound post is not set straight and is making poor contact with the violins back. That will be one of the first thigs to fix. It also came with a full size bridge that was not even carved to fit the violin table. Label and dust bunny  Bass bar and sound post Reghin is considered the city of violins in Romania. See https://reghincity.ro/en/places/reghin-city-of-violins-rouhij3chez2pg In contrast to the link  above informing us that that Hora and Gliga are the only violin making companies in Reghin, there are apparently many, and here is just one of them.  I am not sure who made this vi

I just bought this in an eBay auction (archive of the orignal listing here ). From the little I have been able to find out, this was originally sold as a lower end beginner "trade" violin. One Luthier expert judges them as the equivalent of a Stentor Conservatoire (archived here ). Those Stentor violins in 3/4 size sell for £269 brand new and about £170 on eBay.   As you can see from the archive original listing (above) I won the 100+ year old Bienfait violin in an eBay auction for just £12.99. Yet I see that someone else on eBay has a 3/4 size Bienfait for sale at an audacious £650! (archived here ). Another sold at auction for £220 ( here ). One full size sold for £300 on eBay (archived here ). I found another full size, in need of a little renovation, went for £180 at auction (archived here ) . I found a dealer selling a full size one of these for £395 (archived here ). And yet another for sale by a dealer for £850 (archived here ). And one for sale at $911 (archived her

  My Nottingham Neighbours are a Wonderful and Joyous International Inspiration . It's an exciting day in the Kanneh-Mason household - 'Carnival' is out now! https://t.co/QQLmPz6oVO We're so grateful we could make the album despite everything this year and hope that it brings you a moment of joy. pic.twitter.com/2Hj9myDTSn — Sheku Kanneh-Mason (@ShekuKM) November 6, 2020 .

 My 4 year old granddaughter wants a violin this Xmas.  So I had a browse on e-Bay for 1/16th size violins. I was shocked to see a mouse nest violin being advertised by the children's charity Barnardo's as being in "good condition". I archived the link.  https://archive.is/EKERF#  and the mouse damage can be seen in the picture below from that advert.  It is being sold (supposedly) by the children's charity Barnardo's. Am I right in believing mice do this in order to nest inside violins? If so, maybe they are marketing the violin as a hole. Ahem! Sorry  - Freudian slip typo. I meant ...as a whole...in "good condition" for a mouse?  They do say the violin shows "signs of use" - so that hypothesis is not disconfirmed if they are marketing it at mice rather than humans. Follow up on what the experts say about this:   https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/347172-mouse-chewed-f-hole-violin-on-e-bay-as-in-good-condition/   . When a seria

This is my newly acquired supposedly French violin, supposedly by Thibouville Lamy of Mirecourt circa late 19th early 20th century 3/4 size. Its original eBay listing is archived  HERE I bought this nice violin off ebay by way of auction this month (October 2020) for a shade over £100. The violin is a suitable size for the average 9-12 years of age player. The violin has a lovely original golden vanish. The previous owner bought it a a boot fair some 25 years ago and had it hanging on their wall ever since.  Like so many old violins, including the most expensive in the world, this violin has served as a host for wo odworms in the past. Woodworm damage might at times - as some experts think - even improve  the tone of a violin  by thinning the wood, and creating little channels here and there that transmit sound beyond the dreams of violin  makers. The little blighters! The lava of the furniture beetle (a common woodworm), can only live in and feed on wood that has a moisture content  o