Thanks e-Bay

April 14, 2007 at 11:15 AM

Call it dangerous - call it stupid; but I just hit a home run on e-Bay.

I purchased a Gotz violin, one owner, 1991 that cost $1250 new and at a very reasonable price; he couldn't sell it because he would not offer a return privilege (my thought).

I had many emails with him and got the feeling he was more than O.K. and could be trusted. He had an appraised value of $1,000 to $2,000.

It arrived yesterday and my impulse was to tune it right now - but I put my hands on the wood and it was very cold (sitting wrapped up in a UPS truck in Idaho all night and it dropped to freezing). I let it sit three hours while I ran into town.

Wow - I hit a home run. Very dirty and cleaned up to new looking and the sound was rich and even, three times better than my old violin. I will replace the strings.

Don't try this unless you are willing to strike out or get "ho-hum" results.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on April 14, 2007 at 11:42 PM

Congratulations! I had a similar experience. I swore that I would never buy a violin that I couldn't touch and play, but I was browsing on ebay and found an unusual violin ad. It was obviously written by the violinist who owned it, and it was very detailed, lots of photos, etc. I corresponded with him and found that he was a professional symphony violinist who was retiring and selling some of his instruments to simplify his life. It was obvious that he cared more about finding a good home for the violin than making money. The violin was made in France ca 1900 and very well used and cared for. What happened next is nearly incredible. I bought it from him for $350 and had it assessed by a good luthier for insurance purposes. The assessment was $3000. I love that violin. It is warm, sweet, and mellow. I was very, very lucky to get it.

From Richard Hellinger
Posted on April 15, 2007 at 3:50 PM

you can get very lucky on ebay. I have never purchused a violin off of their but my case was off of there. I wasn't dissapointed at all! Obviously though I would never trust one of those mass sellers that sells a violin avertized like such "~$200 off retail!! Professional violin! New bow! Case and strings!!~"

-I had a friend who bought one of those once, what did they think they could get a good violin for $50?

From Man Wong
Posted on April 16, 2007 at 4:58 PM

Congrats! I don't know anything about Gotz violins, but it sounds like you did very well. I assume it passed your tap tone test? :-)

I'm still not sure I understand how you do the tap tone test. Maybe I should check out that link in your recent blog entry.

FYI, I've also been doing quite well buying some instruments off eBay so far though it has not been w/out incidents, including one 7" long crack due to shipping problem in an otherwise very promising 1920s John Juzek Master Art violin (that still needs to be repaired). :-/ I bought the now-cracked Juzek for ~$600, and it came w/ a promising looking, old EM Penzel bow that needs to be repaired/restored.

Currently, I'm learning and playing on a nice 1966 Juzek Master Art that I also bought off eBay for ~$1100 -- and it sure seems to be worth quite a bit more than that though I have not had it appraised yet. In the case of that violin, I did get a 7-day trial/return policy, so the risk was minimal. I also bought a pair of 16" Juzek Master Art violas (from 1948 and 1992) for ~$700 each that are easily worth a good deal more -- the 1948 one sounds just wonderful and makes me think of the cello, and the 1992 one is quite nice also, but not as resonant perhaps due to the age diff, though it was a great bargain considering it came w/ a decent pernambuco bow, nice oblong case *and* stack of good sheet music/books.

I've also bought some Juzek instruments off eBay for the kids as well, and they've turned out great for the $$$ spent so far.

_Man_

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Thanks e-Bay

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