Questions, and the albino violin.
Hello, I am a 15-year-old beginning violinist. My high school is on a thing called a "block schedule" in which each class is one hour and thirty minutes. I have been playing the violin for two of these semesters, and at the beginning bought a greman Helmke violin from an ebay company called great-tunes. It is the only instrument I have ever owned, and it has been okay so far.
However, within the last two months, my tailpiece has had a "ringing" or more like an annoying buzzing sound coming from what seems to be the E string fine tuner area. Another thing is that it is unfinished(albino is what my bass frind calls it, ha) and the area underneath the fingerboard has gotten rather dirty from sweat(kind of like the tape on a tennis racket after lots of use).I have a few questions i really would like some help on.
1. What is the buzzing noise? Not even my teacher(who is a professional) knows.
2. Should I get this instrument maybe sanded down and finished? It is a nice loud instrument that I like the sound to, though I have taken interest in violins older than me) or should i get a new/used one?
In advance, thank you for your help!It's appreciated.
3. I really want a good violin i can keep for the rest of my life, is there any way i can get a good violin maker to create an excellent violin for $300?(that's my budget, and my parents don't want to pay for anything except strings).
Replies (6)
Ditto.
I did acquire a Helmke violin direct ly from great tunes. pretty violin paint, not german. i heard ist chinese. ok for some months but has problems also after this time with post. good for decorate. not so much playing. österreichisch #1
I don't think it's very common, but my violin has 2 sets of grooves where the tailpiece attaches to the endpin. If it's in the wrong groove, it buzzes... don't know how helpful that is, but if that is the case, don't try to move it yourself.
That your teacher doesn't know what the buzzing is makes me doubt my suggestion, but it's quite common for there to be fine tuner buzz from the fine tuner not being fully tightened onto the tailpiece -- I'm talking about the knurled ring which screws down and secures the fine tuner to the tailpiece. Also, when the fine tuner is at its extreme adjustment -- where the mechanism projects downward from the tailpiece to the body -- you could have buzzing problems. That's easily fixed by adjusting the fine tuner back (making the string flat), then tuning at the peg, then fine tuning with the fine tuner.
There are a couple of other possibilities too. It could be that the tailpiece is a bit loose. That makes more of a thwapping squawking sound though. It could also be that your chinrest is too close to the tailpiece. The chinrest shouldn't be putting any pressure on the tailpiece.
-Laura
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May 30, 2005 at 06:31 AM · You could probably spend $300 and get $3000 worth of value if you're patient and informed and slightly lucky. Or you might be able to get a violin maker to varnish the one you have and fix the buzzing. You say you like the sound. You have plenty of time to make money and get one you want to keep forever, later. But what will probably happen is you will like one for awhile, then grow away from it and want to try another and so on. I would replace the tuner and see if the buzzing goes away.