I took my new violin to the shop Teacher recommended.  It’s not conveniently located for me at all, but the moment I met the man at the helm I knew it was worth the trek and that Teacher had not steered me wrong.  I plopped the instrument on the counter, told him that I’d received it as a gift from my father-in-law and that I seriously hoped it was in good enough condition for me to enjoy playing.  From the moment I saw him in his shop I had no doubt I was talking to a man who means business, and who knows his business.  He said, “Give me five minutes,” and he walked off with the violin and bow.

Three minutes later, he emerged from a back room and said, “The problem with this instrument…”and I got a little worried.  He rattled off about 5 things wrong with it, gave me a modest estimate for the cost of the minor repairs, then told me the value of the violin – a very nice estimate in line with other quality instruments I’ve seen for sale produced by Roth in the mid 1920s.  The bow surprised me too – a decent stick!

The degree to which this veteran luthier inspired confidence in his assessment cannot be overstated, and when it was clear I intended to have him repair the instrument he warmed noticeably – I think he gets a lot of people in who give up on good pieces.  He said, “This is going to be a nice instrument.”  I left the violin with him and walked out into the snow giddy.

I cannot wait to get my violin back.  It will be ready Friday, but it’s going to be very hard for me to get out there before our big Christmas trip next week.  We’ll see.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan