Is the 'Resonance Sound' of a violin normal?

April 11, 2012 at 05:39 PM · When a violin lacking those resonance, it sounds like the violin has intimate voice and doesn't carry. When the resonance is overpowering the core of the tone, it sounds hollow.

Regardless of the core or the resonance, a good violin will have pure and clear tone to begin with, with a smooth blend of the resonances.

April 11, 2012 at 06:21 PM · I used to play on an old german violin for many years too. It has, like you say, an very closed, intimate, not very resonating sound. But beautiful! Now I have an Genovese italian violin most likely an original Lorenzo Bellafontana, wich has much much more resonance. But still an beatiful tone colour and somewhat of a good core to the sound. It is a different world compared to the intimate german sound.

As I was looking for a violin I was testing lots of good german Instruments and some italian ones (all in the price range between 4-15t, some even more expensive but that was just for fun). I can speak only the best about german makers. I played two Franke violins, wich really stood out in my journey, they had good power while still having a very good core to the sound. Solid violins! Unfortunately I tested them with bad, old strings. I can imagine with new strings they would even gain clarity and resonance so I had considerd to buy one of them, but luckily I didn't, because they weren't cheap, around 13t€ as far as i remember.

I think if you refer to "german violins" you speak about old ones right? If not, I can recommend the violin maker Joachim Schade to you (the father of Jens-Peter Schade) I played some violins from him as a friend was testing them and they were all great. But also they were not cheap. I think they are at 15t€ now. Also you will have to wait, because they sell quickly.

I would recommend to you to ask collegues and friends about something private for sale. I made the experience, that in a shop you have much more trash than if you buy from an private person/collector/amateur or whatever. Plus you will not have those high prices.

So back to your actual question, my experience says, that you are right about this resonance and closed sound regarding italian and german violins, but still there are differences from every maker to the other and from every violin to the other. Especially good instruments from a good maker will have each their own character, because a good maker works outside the box and adepts to the wood a lot, wich is obviously naturally different all the time, even if its the same tree...

Edit: I personally also didn't like the over resonating sound wich is so open that you cannot really feel inside the string anymore. But that totally depends on the player too. And some italian violins will blow your mind due to tone colour response and playability even if they are resonating very much. I am speaking of an Degani right now. But on the other hand, it must not be your instrument still, because you prefer a sound, wich you can form more under your hands and not outside in a hall. I am not sure, what sounds better in the hall but I believe that a solid core in the sound is something good. Resonance until a certain point, before it starts disturbing the colour and round core sound.

Damn... its difficult for me to find the right words, even in my language its hard to speak about sound of violins... But I can assure you that my old teacher, who played on lot of good instruments, had the same feeling with the core of the sound like me. Too much resonating violins she disliked.

April 11, 2012 at 08:38 PM · Hi Finkoo Kam;

The best advice I could give you would be to try many more violins, including those which are way above your price range. Without testing those above your budget, it's difficult to decide the point of diminishing returns.

If you have a chance, take along other players when testing violins. What you choose will need to be right for you, but other experienced player opinions can be valuable too, in knowing what will eventually be right for you. You don't want to go through a succession of buying and selling fiddles, like many people do, when there's a chance you might "cut to the chase", and get it right the first time.

Verbal descriptions of sound will always pale, compared to educating your own ear, with concurrent feedback from others who are listening live to the same thing, and who have been through the process a few times.

Best of luck in your search, and I hope that helps a little bit.

April 11, 2012 at 11:27 PM · I think if a Violin maker choses to build violins instead of living from restauration and repair, he must accept, that there are many old violins on the market for less than 10000.- Euros. And these old violins have already prove if they degenerate with time or if they develope a good sound.

Many todays makers who want 15000 and more for their Violins will try to make you believe that their instruments will get better with time. That may in fact be true but is no excuse to sell crap like I had in my hands from time to time.

Ok, i think we are clearly not talking about the beginner violin market here, where there may be chinese and other factory made violins, wich are not up to the standard of violin makin in general and far from being good instruments. But I would never underestimate the chinese productivity and I hear more and more from good chinese makers. They are very clever in learning and they want to learn to high standards these days. I think we already have today very good chinese violins around and considering the fact, that they aren't very long in the business...

Also I think, we are not talking about the "cremonese tone" many so called cremonese makers worked in different cities to different times. I have not played many cremonese instruments yet, but some italian ones. I think that here is a certain red line throughout them. Certainly it is a big difference to german violins I guess.

April 12, 2012 at 05:30 PM · The resonance of a violin is tricky to judge, especially in a shop. If the violins have been stored at low pitch, they will sound very resonant for a while. This also depends on how new the strings are. It's probably not fair to judge until you've had the violin a week or even two. It's also a question of what you're used to. I certainly wouldn't want a violin that had too little resonance. Some violins can have a "bathtubby" sound, which I consider different, and may indicate thin plates. I think the best thing is to play the fiddle in question for a week, and then play and have it played for you in a large space or hall. I wouldn't simply dismiss a violin at the shop for too much resonance, especially as there are so many other factors.

April 13, 2012 at 03:48 AM · I have two violins. One is a 1890s German violin, probably shop-made (although I have never been able to find more than one other violin by this maker on the internet, which seems strange for a workshop), and a 2006 Polish violin. The Polish violin is greatly superior (and was much more expensive) partly because it sings with warm resonances on nearly every pitch that is played in tune. I just love playing it. The other violin is an okay violin, but only that.

April 13, 2012 at 08:21 AM · I tested 6-7 more violins yesterday in another shop. One of them China made (1100EUR) solid sound but a little dull in tone color; 4-5 of them were old German/French violins(2000-4000EUR) obvious hollow sound, but better tone quality and penetrating power; 2 of them modern Cremonese (6000-9000EUR) still obvious hollow sound but very good tone quality and penetrating power. The sounds were good when I heard others play, hollow sound was not detectable, but I could hear the hollow sound when play it myself (i.e. close to my ear). I still cannot accept/ get used to the hollow sound.

April 13, 2012 at 08:34 AM · I like the sound of my Karl Hofner/ Roth (but they cost only 400-3000EUR). But their sounds were said by a luthier, my violin teacher, my wife to be too loud/ metallic / too sharp etc...

I don't like the (hollow) sound of other violins (at this moment still), however their sounds are said to be much more pleasant (at least my wife said so...)

I hope I can find a violin which can please both myself and my audiences. I am planning to visit Violmaster tomorrow, hope I can find something good...

April 13, 2012 at 03:48 PM · Finkoo,

Are you able to sign out a violin or 2 for a week to test them out? When you play a violin that's completely different than yours, consistently for a week, you'll be surprised that your own violin will sound so different once you pick it up after the week playing on the other violin.

I think out ears take time to get used to something new, and will eventually "erase" the previous "datas" over the time.

April 18, 2012 at 06:29 AM · Thanks for all of your information!

Casey,

There is no sign out policy here. I have asked Violmaster, they only offer some kind of replacement policy (try each one for 2 weeks) but no refund.

I am considering may be to buy a Roth model 81 (~8000EUR). Actually I love the one made by Di Mateo Alessandro (~12000EUR) however the price is out of my budget.

April 18, 2012 at 09:25 AM · I would recommend you to buy th 12000 thing. If you need money for it, there are ways. Either you wait and work or you take a credit.(I don't like Credits, but there are points in life, where it could be reasonable) I would really recommend to you to buy the best you can hardly efford, it will help your playing and your career a lot! So you will get your money back anyways.

Btw: where are you from and what is your plan with music and violin?

good luck!

April 20, 2012 at 03:27 AM · Actually I am talking about the modern one No.81. It's not easy to find antique Roth in my area. Who has experience playing on a modern No.81 Roth?

April 20, 2012 at 09:54 AM · every violin is different, also different models, you have to test them in and out before even considering to buy them! Do you plan to ship/fly some Roths to you and chose then? Or do you have an dealer for roths?

April 21, 2012 at 01:28 AM · Yes, there is a dealer of Roth in my area. I will try it out when the stock is recovered.

April 21, 2012 at 02:56 AM · ok nice. My only advice, don't rush anything! If you don't find something that you like, search somewhere else. good luck