V.com weekend vote: Have you ever had an accident that damaged your violin?
A few weeks ago my fiddle suffered a minor (thank goodness) injury while I was teaching a lesson - in a clutsy moment I knocked over a metal music stand, which fell sideways onto my violin.
Much to my relief, the damage was mostly cosmetic, requiring just a little bit of fill, varnish, etc. and a week-long stay with the luthier. I'm so grateful it wasn't worse, but wow, I sure miss my fiddle.
It is actually pretty amazing how well a violin can be repaired, in the right hands. I have a friend who had placed his fine fiddle on the car and forgot about it - until he accidentally backed over it. You would think that would be a fatal blow - but it wasn't. The violin was restored, and it sounded pretty much the same as it had. However, it had lost its considerable monetary value, which was dependent on it being in pristine, never-damaged condition.
A similarly horrendous thing happened to the famous German violinist David Garrett in 2008, when he tripped and fell down a set of steps with his 1772 Guadagnini violin on his back. He was okay, but his violin - a $1+ million instrument which he had just paid off - was not.
Have you ever had an accident that damaged your violin? How serious was it? Did you get your violin repaired? Have you known anyone who has gone through this? What was the story? Please participate in the vote and then share your stories.
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I put yes major damage, but I'm unsure if it counted as major or not. I was at an orchestra rehearsal, with stand and instrument in one hand (a poor choice, as it happens). The stand smacked into my viola, and there was a big crack to the left underneath one of the F holes. I hadn't noticed until a few weeks later a friend pointed it out to me. This was about 2 years ago. I finally got around to it a week ago just over. My teacher warned me the repair by itself would be around £1,000, but when I got my quote from the luthier she sent me to it was just under £300. And that was with a bow rehair and a repair to the button under the chinrest and some peg work to! Really pleased with that!
Yes - I played it.
P.S. Nobody ever asked Paganini that !
For me, my violin is a dream instrument. I purchased it at about 45% off its appraised value, because it had such a diminutive voice. (My luthier had been unsuccessfully trying to sell it for years.) I called it my not-loud violin. Turned out it had three big things wrong with it, and when they were repaired, it sounded, and continues to sound, terrific. I really lucked out; I truly enjoy playing it.
Not that D.G. wasn't, but consequently, I'm very careful with this violin. For me, it's irreplaceable. If ever I leave it in the car, it's for no more than a couple of minutes, and it's fully hidden from view. We have a compact vehicle, and when traveling, the violin goes in the back seat, versus in the rear, hatchback area of the vehicle. (In case of a rear-end collision.) After all the horror stories I've heard, I would never take it on a plane. (Nor will I every need to.) Most importantly, as soon as I got it home after purchase, I bought a medium-sized Liberty safe to protect it at night and when vacationing, and at the recommendation of my luthier, I obtained a Clarion Insurance policy on the violin and bow. It's a flexible policy, and it covers potential loss of value, even after a repair.
The one thing I wonder about, is a better case for the violin. I really like my case, with its black canvas cover and lots of red mohair like material on the inside, etc. But, I doubt that it could protect the violin, if something heavy were dropped on it. This is probably something that I could consider replacing.
I would be curious to know the repair procedure for your violin Laurie.Could you post an " after" shot of the violin?
My fiddle came pre-damaged, or at least it looks like it's been down some rough roads. When I went to a shop to invest in a good violin, they laid out about a dozen violins in my price range and let me play them. As lovey as they were, none of them had the sound I was looking for in a violin. Then the sales person brought in this old fiddle. Stained black and brown, markings on it like someone attacked it with a pen knife, it wasn't a pretty sight. He said, "I've tried to sell this, but people seem to want pretty violins. What do you think?" I played it and the sound was full, dynamic, and rich. It may look like the Ugly Duckling, but it sings with beauty.
While practicing high up the E-string, I lost control of my violin and it fell on the ground, scroll broke off. I didn't have it repaired, it was an antique violin, but quite a lousy one to be honest.
Not sure this can be called an accident but major damage for sure. This was right after I graduated and as I wasn't going to be playing over the summer, I put my viola in its case in a walk-in vault at my workplace for safe keeping. When I took it out in the fall, the viola was covered in mold and had completely fallen apart. I brought it back to the shop where I had purchased it. They said it was beyond repair and gave me $50 for the case. It was a student instrument so I was only out a couple hundred dollars, but after that, I didn't play again for many years.
Jan Woo, I'll highlight that as an example of why maintaining proper humidity levels is important. Between 80 percent and 100 percent relative humidity, really bad things can happen rather quickly.
So far, no such incidents here. I’ve heard and read too many accounts already of accidents like this involving other players, so I try to stay on my guard when carrying one of my instruments or bows from one place to another. I’d especially hate to have to deal with bow breakage; but any mishap that puts an instrument or bow out of commission, even temporarily, is something I wouldn’t want to face. Fortunately, if something bad like this does happen, I have more than one fiddle and bow, and can keep playing.
I have broken the tip on several bows, that were ultimately unrepairable. I was teaching and by chair bumped my violin (20th century Italian) and it fell on the floor bridge side down. It had 2 f-hole cracks so there was a little flap that could open and close. I thought I would throw up when I saw it! It is repaired and is fine, except that it stiffens up a little if I don't play for a while.
I got an inexpensive violin for teaching and outdoor gigs and for Neil Poulson,a Musafia case that is indestructible.
I turned round while putting my Italian violin on one of those stands. It started to fall forward and I tried to catch it - with the violin slamming onto the two stand supports. These penetrated the front plate of the violin chipping a large chunk out.
Fortunately it was insured. After due diligence they paid out, less the residual value of the instrument (as assessed by an independent expert). An expert luthier I knew rebuilt the instrument - and it is now better than the original. But I think I'm at least a year older because of the experience!
PS don't use those metal stands~!~!
My first violin, I somehow managed to break the bridge in the first year, got a replacement and then put the violin aside for a good long while, and when I picked it up again in 2009, the bridge was bent over and ready to break again. So I replaced that bridge, and the end of the nut screwing the frog tight ... just disappeared, though I could still turn the nut. I picked up a viola after the Christchurch (NZ) earthquakes cheaply because it was an earthquake survivor, with some scratches and a gouge on the soundboard towards on of the corners. Doesn't alter the sound, but gives it a bit of character.
My violin+viola case opened while on my back.
I am sure someone opened it in my absence and failed to shut the clasps.
I have since added sections of cat's collars, to make opening more fastidious.
The violin was unscathed, but my beloved viola had a belly in 3 pieces.
I was as shatterted as the viola, and too embarassed to take a photo.
Adrian wrote:
"I am sure someone opened it in my absence and failed to shut the clasps."
__________________________________
Was likely them music-hating terrorists.
Now that I think of it, I did have an accident that damaged my violin. My luthier had recommended installing a Hill type fine-tuner for my E string. Rather than him take the time, I said that I Ould install it.
Unfortunately, I over-tightened the tuner on my Pernambuco tail-piece, and the latter broke. I found another Pernambuco tail-piece that weighed about the same and tried to replace the broken one using a nylon tail-gut. Long story short, no matter what I did in attempting to repair or add a new tail-piece myself, the violin sounded terrible. (Crushing!)
I finally took all the pieces back to my luthier, and after his efforts, the violin sounded great. For one thing, he used Kevlar for the tail-gut. He also adjusted all the distances involved.
I've come to the opinion, that there's no substitute for having a good luthier as a resource, when one owns a violin.
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March 31, 2024 at 04:02 AM · When I was a teenager I lopped a corner off with a violent upbow. Luthier fixed it like new. Snapped a bow near the tip an the luthier fixed that too. That repair held for 30 years. Luthiers name was Banosky. I might not be spelling that correctly. He was so old that he didn't care about money and charged a pittance for truly expert repairs.