Yes, fakery is a real problem, especially in Europe, where there are some nefarious dealers like those you described who own some original brands from real shops and some reproductions that are a little too good for comfort. However, the comment about the violin not being a JTL because of the neck being low is absolute nonsense. Any violin can have its projection drop over a century. If the luthier was talking about the overstand and not the projection, then that would also be wrong, as a low overstand and high projection are a common feature among lower-end Mirecourt violins.

There’s a lot that goes into cutting a bridge—you can’t just take one out of a drawer and slap it on another violin and get a proper fit. The feet have to fit to the top perfectly and the heights, thicknesses, and other dimensions need to be cut appropriately.

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

Yes, fakery is a real problem, especially in Europe, where there are some nefarious dealers like those you described who own some original brands from real shops and some reproductions that are a little too good for comfort. However, the comment about the violin not being a JTL because of the neck being low is absolute nonsense. Any violin can have its projection drop over a century. If the luthier was talking about the overstand and not the projection, then that would also be wrong, as a low overstand and high projection are a common feature among lower-end Mirecourt violins.

There’s a lot that goes into cutting a bridge—you can’t just take one out of a drawer and slap it on another violin and get a proper fit. The feet have to fit to the top perfectly and the heights, thicknesses, and other dimensions need to be cut appropriately.

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I hear this goes far beyond my understanding of how violins work. How comes the lower bridge works well with the Stagg instrument? I like it because now I can press on strings without any effort and the chance you hear mistakes like hearing  a string that was not meant to be touched seems gone with this bridge . It has to do with lower, that's what it feels like .

If you cannot just take one out of a drawer then why are there so many types of bridges for sale? 

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Originally posted by Quincy

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

Yes, fakery is a real problem, especially in Europe, where there are some nefarious dealers like those you described who own some original brands from real shops and some reproductions that are a little too good for comfort. However, the comment about the violin not being a JTL because of the neck being low is absolute nonsense. Any violin can have its projection drop over a century. If the luthier was talking about the overstand and not the projection, then that would also be wrong, as a low overstand and high projection are a common feature among lower-end Mirecourt violins.

There’s a lot that goes into cutting a bridge—you can’t just take one out of a drawer and slap it on another violin and get a proper fit. The feet have to fit to the top perfectly and the heights, thicknesses, and other dimensions need to be cut appropriately.

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I hear this goes far beyond my understanding of how violins work. How comes the lower bridge works well with the Stagg instrument? I like it because now I can press on strings without any effort and the chance you hear mistakes like hearing  a string that was not meant to be touched seems gone with this bridge . It has to do with lower, that's what it feels like .

If you cannot just take one out of a drawer then why are there so many types of bridges for sale? 

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You won't do any damage experimenting around with bridges as long as you get the feet to fit the soundboard. Otherwise you run the risk of putting indentations into the top. And of course making sure the bridge is standing up at the same angle as when you fit the feet. Some put the bridge at 90 degrees from the top, others split the angle of the strings. I split the angle, I'm sure others will chime in. 
           Personally, I believe that the cutting of the bridge past the feet fitting is for increasing volume and sound quality that you can experiment with after you get the action you want, but a good action will make it fun to play. Then you can refine the bridge to your liking. 

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

Yes, fakery is a real problem, especially in Europe, where there are some nefarious dealers like those you described who own some original brands from real shops and some reproductions that are a little too good for comfort. However, the comment about the violin not being a JTL because of the neck being low is absolute nonsense. Any violin can have its projection drop over a century. If the luthier was talking about the overstand and not the projection, then that would also be wrong, as a low overstand and high projection are a common feature among lower-end Mirecourt violins.

 

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He said the neck was once put in incorrectly or touched up that was his idea and he said therefor probably the lower bridge. 

There's also the problem (or is that the nightmare?) of the sound post coming loose from its position between the top and back, and rattling around aimlessly inside the fiddle body.

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Originally posted by Quincy

If you cannot just take one out of a drawer then why are there so many types of bridges for sale? 

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Those are blanks, come in different wood/quality and makers. While might look like regular bridge ready to go, they are just rough cut shape. Too tall, thick; and especially notice feet. They come that way as to be fit to each unique individual violin. Feet most esp need very fine fit to make best sound; but also other physical and sonic characteristics; as well some player preferences. While blank; or bridge from another violin will function, and make sound; it unlikely is the optimal sound.

  I want to experiment myself.

There are many good resources; lot's of YT videos; not only to fit feet, and height, but how to tune bridge for different sonic adjustment.  Need a good sharp fine knife. As mentioned, make sure to pay attention to not letting the sound post fall; (unless also want to learn how to set sound post ). They also make bridge jacks; but are not required. Not overly complicated to get something to work, but to get to fit/sound best takes a lot of practice; once take off too much wood can't put it back.  Fortunately bridges are pretty cheap.

Good luck

I don't know if you're serious about learning these set up jobs. IMO if you're going to learn to fit a bridge you might as well learn to set a post too because it's likely to fall at some point unless it's in too tight to begin with.

The easiest way to let the post fall over once you have the strings off is to hold the violin by the waist or center bouts. Any squeezing there will likely result in the post falling over as the plates flex outward so avoid that if you're trying to leave the post in place.

Good luck if you decide to go for it. Requires practice and patience.

Also, one thing I do when fitting the feet to the top is try not to let the feet get too thin. Fit them to the instrument first then remove excess wood from their upper part as you finish the rest of the bridge.

If your fingerboard is falling you can make a shorter bridge so that your strings are not so high up off the fingerboard. There can be debates about what the shorter bridge does to the sound.

There is a procedure known as a New York pullup or New York lift. This involves loosening [separating] the belly of the violin at the upper bout on both sides, then adding a shim of maybe 2 mm between the neck end and the belly, on top of the neck block. The shim is wood that adds distance between the neck end and the belly which pushes the neck backward and also adds some mm to the distance between the fingerboard end and the belly; It pulls up the fingerboard at its end.

Once the shim is in place glue everything as usual. I do not glue the shims.

There could be other issues with the fiddle that are causing the neck and fingerboard to fall; which if you have these issues they should be corrected first.

A fiddle I have was afflicted with a falling fingerboard. A luthier found that the bottom block [tail block] had broken in half, split and separated, and was not holding. This caused the back of the violin to move towards the scroll, which moved upward, and then the fingerboard to drop. Once he fixed the broken block of wood [took the violin apart and replaced the tail block], the fiddle is excellent, spectacular. It has a very sweet E which is rare.

Ok, reading all of the answers. Another question, if I put the strange very low bridge back on the old instrument , would it be an option to make the short bridge even a bit shorter? Can I use fe sandpaper? I could experiment with the Black Stagg  VSO  and the Stagg bridge to try it out first.

My luthier fitted a tapered shimmy under the finger board which allowed room to cut a higher bridge.

I also asked him to fit a new bridge a little higher than he recommended, then I gradually sanded it down to my desired height.

I sanded down less than a millimeter then replaced the bridge and tuned up to test for ideal height, I must've done that 3 or 4 times until I found the right height for me. Each time I had to file the string groves, and re-taper the top part of the bridge because it becomes wider after sanding down, that's important because if it's too wide it will stifle the string vibrations. After each time you want to give it a good test to see how it really feels under the finger, that may take a week or more, because you dont want to go down too far where it will buzz, and then its ruined. The height of the bridge will also affect the bridge curve, the lower it is the flatter it needs to be, and a smaller curve may course unintentional bowing of adjacent strings.

That's a very fiddly and tedious process and I would not want to do it again, especially when you've got 3 fiddles to do, but now I have all my bridges at ideal heights, the luthier can use as a template.

Just remember, what ever wood you take off the bridge, you can't put back on. If going to try it, might order some new blanks.

I want to thank you all for these replies, I must now watch a couple of videos first. The plan is like this:
I will keep the Chinese violin the luthier put together and that was a gift from my mother as my good fiddle to study I will never touch this one myself, this one is up to the luthier who I bought it from.
The Stagg costed only 90 euro so my idea has always been it's for experimenting with changing strings, playing outside, playing with the dog around and now: the bridge. I will try to test out fine sandpaper on the Stagg bridge first, I like it with the strange low bridge that is supposed to be on the very old fiddle, so that action won't harm anything if I just try to make that Stagg bridge a bit lower and put it back to where it belongs, on the Stagg.
I will for now put the old bridge back on the very old fiddle. I will only experiment with the old violin and it's own bridge when I feel  informed and experienced enough.
I need to study the right way of doing all this first visually.

Am I on my way to become a crazy fiddle lady now? I see myself collecting more old fiddles in future. I just love the story of this one . What is worth nothing for some can mean a lot to others , the idea that it actually belonged to a family of Slovakian musicians who played gypsy music speaks to my imagination. If i see the old scratches on it I imagine one keen and very expressive violinist, and old it is for sure - very old if I judge the smell ... like when you open a very very old book. And even the label that was fraud must date from a long long time ago. Someone a long time ago may have wanted to make it look like a JTL.

I also just love the way it differs from my good violin and the Stagg instrument.

So nice that you are enjoying your new violin/fiddle! :-)

One thing I found about messing with my bridge was that when I put it back myself, it tended to still fall over every few weeks. this drove me a little crazy, and I was getting to the point where I was trying to adjust it a lot, like wiggling/checking it a bit every time I played, etc.

Eventually the bridge just snapped (crack!) and I think that maybe all my “wiggling around” or playing with it not set at the right angle, had caused extra tension on the bridge. It’s not common for a bridge to snap like that, I hear. So maybe just be careful about the angle/position when you replace/swap bridges…