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John Silakowski
5-string #7003 (37th fiddle-8th 5-string)
submitted 7/24/2007

Submitter

Kent Todd

Where Purchased

From John Silakowski

Year Purchased

1996

Price Paid

Don't Remember historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

I am a bluegrass fiddle player mainly, but do play some country, southern rock, and even some rock with this fiddle. The fiddle has a remarkable tone. It has beautiful bass and treble blending. I do occasionaly run a Fishman V-200 pick up with this instrument and its pretty tough to beat the pure tone of this instrument, you can still get a nice warm tone, if you run through a decent pre-amp or DI box.

Sound Rating

10

Setup

The fiddle was set perfect for me. Since John built the fiddle to suit my playing style, which is pretty heavy on the bass end, it was perfect for me to play. I didnt any growling from the low C, unless I wanted it. I have played the fiddle with D'Addario Helicore's both medium and heavy gauge strings, it was set up with medium, but I tend to lean towards the heavy for a better tone and durability.

Setup Rating

10

Appearance

This fiddle is a really deep dark brown finish which I love. It is one of very few that he finished in that fashion. I really like it, but his newer instruments have a phenominal finish on them.

Appearance Rating

9

Reliability

This fiddle hasnt let me down yet. When I was playing on the road, I bought a 4 string from John that I kept as a back up, but it just stayed in the case, I had it for a year and a half and ended up selling it because I didnt want to play anything other that this 5 string fiddle!