New Additions to My Fiddle Family…

(9/15/11: To see the most recent update on my “Fiddle Family”, click Here!)

As of the past few months, my violin Tommy

now has two new siblings!

Introducing Nigel:

And Flora:

Nigel is a five-string (C, G, D, A, E) electric violin from Planet Violin. It’s my favorite electric fiddle to date! It’s light-weight and comfortable to play, and has a really nice, rich tone. It blends well with the rest of the instruments of our MIDI Band! Using the fifth string took a bit of getting used to, of course, because the neck, fingerboard, and bridge are widened considerably to accommodate the extra C string, and because the angle and placement of all the strings was slightly different than a regular four-string fiddle – I felt like a beginner again, at first, hitting neighboring strings like crazy! 🙂 But now I feel right at home on Nigel, and I’m having a blast!

Oh, and Nigel has company now when he’s playing:

Timmy the Monkey would be proud. 🙂

Flora was an AMAZING find! I was in need of a really decent “spare” violin that I could use in small concerts during the time when Tommy was outfitted with gut strings for an upcoming Baroque performance, and I stumbled upon this beautiful instrument while browsing eBay one evening. I was immediately impressed by the color and mother-of-pearl inlaid designs, but, naturally, I was hesitant to trust the real quality of any concert violin found on eBay. All the same, the seller, Mary Anne Wilson of Belri Music Company had a very high satisfaction rating, and her offer included a one-hundred percent money back guarantee (and free shipping!). So, I figured, why not try it? If I didn’t like it, all I had to do was send it back. Well, when it arrived, I was very impressed and extremely pleased with the lovely craftsmanship and attention to detail – the mother-of-pearl floral designs on all the ebony parts are just so lovely, even more so in person than is noticeable in the photo! But what really convinced me, even beyond the external beauty, was the feel and the sound of the instrument. Flora speaks and responds so easily – it’s like playing on a much newer version of Tommy. And the sound is full, round, and bright. All this for only $400! Flora is simply a joy to play, just as much as Tommy is.

Kudos to Mary Anne Wilson, for all her kind help during the buying/selling process, and for her truly beautiful work! I would highly recommend her instruments to anyone needing a lovely-sounding instrument for a beyond-decent price. As it happens, one of my adult students is also a happy customer and owner of one of Ms. Wilson’s student model violins – my student, already being a fine pianist with a trained musical ear, was desperate for a finer, more “serious” sound; she could not afford to purchase a standard intermediate or advanced instrument, but she couldn’t stand playing with standard, student-quality tone either. Upon receiving and playing on her new Belri Music Company student violin, however, she is extremely impressed and happy with the quality of tone and ease of playability!

You can view Belri Music Company’s eBay page here!

I’m greatly enjoying these new additions!