V.com weekend vote: Have you ever commissioned an instrument?

February 2, 2025 at 10:12 PM · I'd love to, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to offer any cost savings to buy directly from the maker instead of a dealer with the same makers work already in hand. I'd love to go direct and skip the middleman, but in this case there's no advantage in doing so.

February 2, 2025 at 10:23 PM · I can't see the point. There would inevitably be a long wait with no guarantee that I'd like the instrument or bow in the end.

February 3, 2025 at 01:25 AM · I wish it were possible to select more than one option. I’ve made my own, but I also had the privilege of playing a 1/2 size violin my grandfather made for me when I was little. It was such a treat to play a violin made by him and to be able to occasionally glance at the label and see the inscription that identified it as having been made for me. Good-sounding fractional violins aren’t all that common, so it really felt like a treasure to have that violin. It sounded better than any other 1/2 size I tried, and when I was later gifted a 3/4 from a family friend, the step down in tonal quality was so extreme that I ended up playing the 1/2 well after I outgrew it. As a compromise, I waited until I was big enough for a full size, then played the 3/4 for a week to familiarize myself with a larger instrument before going to the 4/4.

If you’re hunting for bargains, it’s hardly reasonable to expect a custom item to be priced for the haggler. You pay for exclusivity and for the ability to correspond with the maker of the instrument you play. Not everyone has the luxury of speaking to the person responsible for the possibly lifelong companion that gets use every day. While that is not necessary and does not equate to a bump in value (unless you yourself are a very famous player), it does carry a personal significance to many buyers.

Some makers will make instruments to their own specifications, some will make them to suit the individual player; it comes down to the personal philosophy of the maker. It’s not uncommon for the maker to involve the customer in the process, through meetings to get a sense of the player’s needs or a correspondence throughout. I’ve had a few instruments made for me by a Ukrainian maker, and he always sends pictures of the violin at a few stages. It doesn’t make them any more valuable, but it’s nice to see that and to have the opportunity to make requests when it comes to things like the varnish style or the model of the instrument.

Violin making is not a straightforward nuts-and-bolts craft, and the results of extensive customization aren’t guaranteed to yield the ideal results, but it is meaningful when it all comes together.

February 3, 2025 at 07:57 AM · I did commission an instrument. However, like others have said or will say, I don't always see the point. I'm not so sure about the reality or possibility of "making an instrument" to my own liking anyway. But the biggest factor is the waiting time. This just usually makes it untenable for me.

February 4, 2025 at 12:38 AM · I commissioned a violin from Ottawa luthier Guy Harrison in 2011. We live in the same city, so it was very convenient. I had tried out several of his instruments and loved their sound and appearance. The waiting time was a factor, of course, but he let me know at different stages of construction, so I could come over to his shop, watch him at work, and take photographs. And I had my excellent old German violin to play in the meantime. I was fascinated by the process, and the finished instrument did not disappoint my hopes and expectations. It is a copy of the Lord Wilton Guarneri Del Gesu of 1742. It has a powerful, warm and richly nuanced sound. That's it in my profile picture. Couldn't be happier with the result.

February 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM · Interesting... When we reach the level where we are no longer buying "off-the-rack." The world of "Bespoke" clothing, designer houses,... A very small percentage of humans live in that economic strata. In my lifetime I did get to the made to measure suits, almost but not quite "Bespoke."

My instrument is, as I have often noted on these forums, a family fiddle from one of the Mittenwald factories that produced copies of notable violins. Mine had it's plates re-tuned back in the early 1970's and after decades of playing I have finally achieved the skill level required to justify the purchase of another "better" instrument as I can match the tone quality a professional playing my instrument. Sadly, I'm 77 and no longer perform as my osteoarthritis is making it harder and more difficult to play for long periods of time.

I can dream but reality says that I'll never commission a violin and no more made to measure suits - the geezer fashion for me. My violin will go to a trusted friend who will see that another aspiring musician will use it and treat it well when I can no longer play.

February 4, 2025 at 04:54 PM · With respect, George, I do not think that commissioning a luthier to make a violin is anything at all like "bespoke clothing" or "designer houses". I really don't like that analogy. I felt I needed a better violin at the time. It was my 70th year, I had been playing since I was six, and my violin, decent enough, was my first full-size instrument, acquired when I was about 15. Guy Harrison had made several of these Guarneri Lord Wilton models, and his work had been highly recommended to me by a member of the NAC orchestra with whom I'd been studying. I am an amateur player, by the way.

I tried out a "Lord Wilton" owned by a friend, and I liked it very much. I thought it played exceptionally well, and sounded wonderful. So, since he didn't have one currently available on the shelf, I asked him to make the same model for me.

Guy was not tailoring it to my whims. I had no choice in the fundamentals -- he was a master violin maker and he constructed it and finished it exactly as he saw fit. He offered me a limited choice of fittings, of course -- boxwood pegs, tailpiece, & chinrest that matched. The rest was up to him as the artist, & I greatly preferred it that way. It was after all a Harrison violin. I had previously tried out many different instruments, at his own shop and at others, and this was the violin I liked best. He had an outstanding reputation and the price at that time seemed quite reasonable.

It took him about 10 months to craft it, from two rough pine and maple slabs to the finished instrument that I was finally allowed to take home. (He was working on several other instruments at the same time.) It was as I mentioned in my previous post, a fascinating process, and I was lucky to observe it at each major stage. Guy told me that if I was not fully satisfied, after playing it for a few months, then I could return it for a full refund.

Needless to say that was not the case.

I thought it sounded great right off the bench. But as the violin began slowly to adjust to my daily routines of practice and playing, Guy called it in several times during the next couple of years for free minor adjustments, until he felt satisfied that it was performing at its best.

Fourteen years later it seems to me to sound as strong and beautiful as ever, but to have matured, and grown even richer and warmer in tone. Like a good friend. Guy has remained a good friend, too. I hope to play this violin he created for years to come, but there's no telling at my age. When I have to stop, I know a keen young(er) player it will go to. . . .

February 7, 2025 at 07:00 PM · Parker, et al.,

We can disagree. Going to a Luthier's shop and purchasing one of the instruments made in the shop isn't the same as "Commissioning" an instrument.

Commissioning a product of any kind starts with a discussion about what the customer wants and that gets extremely specific. In many ways it is exactly like getting "Bespoke" clothing made or working with an architect to design a custom home. Or,as one man I met, having and Indie Race Car Built.

Commissioned products are very-very special. Also very-very expensive. Way out of my league.

February 8, 2025 at 07:12 PM · I went through a period of looking at— and occasionally buying— contemporary equipment.

For makers with wait lists, a commission was really the only way to get any new one and not trust to finding something at a dealer.

As it happens, the violin I use most was a commission, and the very best modern bows I use are also commissioned. To some degree, I did express some preferences. Strad model, plain finish for the violin. Tourte model for one bow. Another, I auditioned for the maker and we chatted about what I liked and didn’t, with several examples in his shop. That one was very much customised. But I don’t know that it made an enormous difference with the others, except for convenience and some aesthetic details.