Naming your instrument

April 16, 2013 at 06:36 PM · there's been threads on this before, might consider searching that.

April 16, 2013 at 06:58 PM · Is it better to revive a dead thread for a year+ ago or start new and get insight from possible new members? Also not quite the same as asking just the name, asking if there was anything that spoke to you to tell you his/her name.

Worst comes to worst we can all go to complaining about shoulder rest and other picky violin topics :D

April 16, 2013 at 07:09 PM · I name the instruments I make. Violas are named with feminine names and violins and celli with masculine names (viola is a feminine noum in Italian and violino and cello are masculine).

I am mostly a viola maker. I made series with name of saints, and with names of renassance Italian courtesans... Now I am naming them with names inspired in Debussy ("La Cathedral Englutie, Nuages, Images, etc.).

In the case of comissions in general the comissioner that names the instrument, now I am making a baroque viola "La Folia".

The name goes in the label and in the documents, but many players will rename them.

Samurais used to name their swords, their flute, and their tea cup.

April 16, 2013 at 09:28 PM · Me, I named my viola Mouschy.

It seems like an endearing name. (I think it is a feminine name, though I am unsure) I think the main reason I chose the name was because my viola was made by Francois Mouton. :)

April 16, 2013 at 10:28 PM · My violin have by no means an official name but I like to name instruments with animal names.

I like to think my violin is like a tiger... strong yet beautiful, clever and smooth paws (very important for me since I love smooth playing rather than dry attacks or vibratos) In addition, it's striped and orange (wood) and black (tail piece and chinrest) So I would name my violin "le Tigre" which means "the Tiger" in french since I'm a frnch speaker.

I love to name my bows with famous racehorse names. So many poor horsies died and lived in poor conditions to do our bows that we owe them this little honor... (so is my philosophy) My current bow is Big Red (he's heavy and reddish) and Big Red was Secretariat's nickname.

Anyway, that's also how I would name instruments if I was a Maker :)

Good luck...

April 17, 2013 at 09:28 AM · How about Poopsie-doodle or Tucksie-butter?

April 17, 2013 at 11:53 AM · Oh goodie - another name topic! I started one too soon after I joined V.com (well, soon after I started posting here regularly).

My primo violin is called Gravitas - because its luthier surname is Newton - caboom. I could have called it Amazing Grace too - because that was written by a John Newton (a different one). Hmmm... maybe I should reconsider...

April 17, 2013 at 12:42 PM · Kindly see my current blog, "A Tale of Two Fiddles", which includes their names. Re arguing some more about SR's, yes, I think at this point that walking over hot coals and even practicing Sevcik would be more fun!