N "extra/mega/giga" vintage Violin Day

[raphaël]

Hey,

I always wanted to know how to play violin.
Now I have one, thanks to my in laws





But, and there is a but, the instrument is in poor shape (as well as the case, obviously...I strongly think the case is not original btw).
My girlfriend's grand mother had it from her father, then it got lost in the attic AND in the cellar for decades...the kingdom of humidity and mushrooms
And someday (two years ago actually) it appeared again, when the grandma moved to her new house.

Then someone in the family saw a date in the violin : 1742

The violin is beyond vintage!!!!!!!!

Then the panic came to the family, like "omg omg it's 300 yo old!!!! we will buy several houses and cars!!!"
When I saw the violin I was like
It was obviously not a that expensive one...
Anyway, after several valuation, it was "just" a 5000 euros instrument, in its actual shape.

The in laws were badly disappointed, and showed a cruel lack of interest for it (that was sad)...and it got back to a cellar (that was sad as well)...

After many discussions with everybody in the family, where I promised to keep it and to never sell it (it was hard, 5000 euros means a vintage jag AND a vintage JM ), and to restore it as well, I had the chance to have it.
You bet that I took it back to home from that damned cellar!!!!
And as I wanted one for ages, I'm more than happy.
I will have the chance to learn to play on a 300 yo instrument !!!
After the restoration though, but I don't have any clue on where to begin...I have all the pieces I need but I don't know what I'm doing. I think I'll source the internet for informations.
I will do it myself, as I don't want to spend that much for a thing I'm not even sure to play correctly.
Plus it might be a great adventure!!!

Anyway,
Here it is, in all its glory, and its misery:













I think I will start to restore the case before the violin, it will be easier
All I know right now is that this will be a loooooooooong project

Ok then,
Thanks for watching!!!

[Guitarmunk]

maybe you should send the violin to a prof?
You are from France, so maybe this guy can help?
http://www.luthiers-mirecourt.com/e_restoration.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I bet he could save such an old instrument.
My first instrument was a violin as well, I traded it for a 12 string acoustic and ended at offsets.

[niemand]

.

[fuzzjunkie]

Very cool. At first I thought "that doesn't look so bad" then I saw the bottom end

Looks like the case and violin hit the floor pretty hard at some point. I would see a professional about glueing that back together and placing the bridge at least.

[jorri]

Self restoration for that i'd advise against. The wood is warped and needing regluing. Its not simply finding information to look up, and after quite few specialist tools, how do you set relief, the sound post and all those intricacies?

Though i don't mean to scare, it looks a lot worse than it is, the glue comes undone with humidity and luthiers often prize open an instrument to get to the innards..its still an expert job, and actually, who knows what beyond glueing those pieces back together needs doing: if humidity did this, you are looking at some serious neck relief and break angle problems. As well as the projectile nature of these things flinging 50lbs of string tension in the direction of your face if something has not been done right, as well as its ability to be sturdy enough to hold that tension with very thin wood.

..and self restoration might devalue it, if that is at all important.

The only thing i'd attempt on a violin is bridge cutting, though most players don't even touch that, that's way beyond guitar setup. Players often don't even like to set the bridge into a position leaving it to professionals.

[Larry Mal]

I would have a professional do it.

[andy_tchp]

Very cool. At first I thought "that doesn't look so bad" then I saw the bottom end

I was the same! "Cool, looks like you might just get away with a new bridg- oh fuck! ".

Agree with the sentiments of the last few posters; I'd be prepared to tackle fixing the case, but not the instrument itself.

[raphaël]

Thanks guys for your wise recommendations...

I don't want to make a mistake with it.

I have some professional violonist friends in my entourage. I'm currently waiting for their advices, especially with the old and traditional glue recipe luthiers used to use.
The decision will come after I get it...

There is also a local luthier, quite famous in France, I think I'll have him to have a look at it.

I was just considering self restoration because my brother in law (who had it estimated) told me it would cost between 700 and 1000+ euros...
The kind of money I don't have right now for it.

Maybe some luthier would be agree with a payment plan though