Hi, just putting in a plug for Michael Richwine at KCFiddles -- I was in the market for a new fiddle and it turned out to be well worth a three hour drive! He asked in advance what kind of sound I was looking for and, based on that as well as my price range, he had some videos prepared in advance to make sure we were in the right ballpark. When I arrived he had a brace of fiddles set up and ready to try out. So I played the crap out of a bunch of fiddles over a couple of hours, and eventually I settled on one that really 'spoke' to me & had great playability, and I took it home for a very reasonable price. No regrets! Nothing against purchasing over the internet, but it's a big advantage to be able to play, listen to and compare a bunch of fiddles in real life before making a decision. No affiliation, just a happy customer.
Thanks for the kind words, Jon! It was a pleasure meeting you, and I enjoyed working with you! I do send instruments out on approval, but nothing beats having a selection of instruments to try and compare against one another. I really enjoy working with people who have a clear idea of what they want, and being able to prepare a selection is a big help.
I manage to stay pretty busy just through referrals these days, but I hope to be posting a few instruments for sale in the next few days.
Jon you sneaky bugger, I had no idea you were shopping for another fiddle. Can't wait to hear and play it!
I never needed to rely on mail order to purchase a musical instrument as I lived my entire life in L.A. until a few years ago. In keeping with this, all my musical instruments except one were purchased from stores in Los Angeles except one, an M-38 Martin guitar I mail ordered from the Mandolin Brothers in New York. The reason for that was simple, too. At that moment in history nobody discounted Martin guitars except the Mando Bros. If I had bought the same model guitar at McCabes in Santa Monica it would have cost almost twice as much. I got to say, too, that the M-38 I purchased from the Mandolin Bros. was actually better than the one I played and fell for at McCabe's.
