I have a cousin who’s been playing the fiddle for 2 years and showing great promise. The fiddle she is using is not great and her parents have asked me for some advice on buying a new fiddle. They live in Newry, Co. Down, N. Ireland, and have been advised to buy a new fiddle from Jim McKillop.
I have suggested that they might be better to buy a good old one??
Somebody told me once that new fiddles take quite a while to settle in and can be alot of hassle for the first 5 years. Is this correct??
I’ve heard that a new fiddle might take a while to come to its true voice but I hadn’t heard that its that long
nor that its much of a hassle.
The more you play a fiddle the more it opens up to its voice.
By the same token, an old fiddle not played for years might need a bit of playing to wake up again.
“Set up” is important. It pays to have it done by someone who knows what they’re doing.
Btw, the quality of the bow is just as important as the quality of the violin.
I agree with hyldemoer. A new fiddle played often will open up quicker so I wouldn’t worry in that respect.
One important question needs asked. What price are they willing to pay?
A new fiddle is going to cost depending on the maker and his reputation. I’m not sure how much McKillop charges.
Even a good decent sounding older fiddle may cost between £500-£1000.
I would say buy an older fiddle as your cousin has only been playing two years.
Gerry O’Connor deals in fiddles and he lives in Dundalk which isn’t too far from Newry.
but he doesn’t advertise the prices, you have to contact him to find out. On this basis I’d say they were very expensive.
I’ve had a Gliga fiddle from new for about 3 years now, and it’s not been any trouble. It played in in about two weeks.
Provided the fiddle is set up right to start with, nothing should really go wrong with it just through playing. You’ll need to change strings, every six months is a reasonable period to start with, but more often if the fiddle is played more than a couple of hours a day.
As people have been saying above, and old fiddle is not necessarily any better than a new one, and may have developed problems such as cracks and loose joints.
The best thing is to take the girl along to a fiddle seller and have her try out a few, side by side. At fist don’t set a price limit, just try for sound. Then when she’s narrowed down the choice to three or four, try them in pairs and discard the one she likes less. Eventually you’ll have the one she likes.
Also remember, a fiddle sounds quite different under the ear than it does to someone even a couple of feet away. It’s what the player likes that matters, as that will encourage her to play more.
A former student of mine bought a fiddle from McKillop in the late 1980s, and paid a good price for it. I wasn’t impressed with the sound or the finish. My poor student was mortified when he took his pride and joy to a luthier for evaluation, so that he could insure it. I went with him. The luthier took one look and said, what’s this? This violin was made by an amateur! Or something to that effect.
That’s the only McKillop fiddle I’ve seen, and it was made nearly 20 years ago. If you like the sound and the price, by all means buy one, but based on my student’s experience it may not have much resale value.
the following is not in particular to fiddles, but to wood instruments in general…
IF you can hear and compare a number of instruments, that is always the best option. I realize that’s not always possible to do, but if there’s any way you can - you’ll wind up with the “sound” you want, and therefore will be tempted to play it more often.
If you can’t get to a store or festival or luthier to hear the instruments, if you are interested in a particular luthier, give him/her a call and see if they will play some of their instruments for you over the phone. Not ideal, but better then nothing. Or see if they will have some of their customers get in touch with you so you can hear their instruments.
As to the “settling” in factor - I’ve heard it called “Marleying”. Take a stereo speaker, and lay it on it’s side. Put the new instrument on top, and play something with a heavy, driving beat (like reggae) over and over. That will “move” the wood and help it settle in faster. We also keep our instruments in the same room with our stereo - and OUT of the cases - to help with that process.
If you purchase a new fiddle, make sure you have it set up correctly. All instruments with a floating bridge need to be set properly for intonation.
I can’t give you bow suggestions quite yet, I’m still learning (and it’s a different beast anyway for the bowed dulcimer). But I have learned to use a LOT of rosin, at least at first!
Hope you and your friend find the perfect instrument!
One thing about bying new from a maker is that you can be sure it is set up pretty close to as well as possible. If you buy an old instrument from someone who doesn’t specialise in fiddles, it may be a good instrument and sound bad because it hasn’t been played in a while, or because it hasn’t been set up properly, or because it has an old set of strings etc. I think purchasing an old fiddle without the advice of someone who knows what they’re doing is a bad idea.