WOW! congrats!

It looks very cool…
uh, has anybody remarked it looks just a bit like you? Maybe just because there is a short beard, haha. :-)

How cool!! What about the sound??

I have one similar to that. In fact I bought two of them. The two I bought look identical until you look closely at the detail. So they must be machined down and then finished by hand. Mine has a one piece back and is of pretty reasonable quality. I think I paid something like $450 each for them about 6 or 7 years ago. They came from one of the good Chinese fiddle factories. Yita music

Here’s a couple of photos of my fiddle. Yita marketed it as their Vassar Clements model. One downside is that the sculpted head makes the instrument longer. I had to modify a violin case to get it to fit. 

NCnotes - more than one.  

Quincy, it sounds very nice, will likely open up a lot with some bow time. THis was supposedly owned by a famous street fiddler in New Orleans and is from that areas. Handling it, you can tell its well made - good instruments just have that feel about them. This fiddle has been exceptionally well taken care of for sure, nary a scratch and I couldn't find a ding on the body anywhere. Its high end is very sweet and smooth. The old man head is well carved, I think a step or 3 higher quality then others I've seen and played (except Vassar's fiddle - that one was amazing looking and played WONDERFULLY and yes, I've played it). I'm not sure I am keeping it, I'm playing a high end Scott Cao fiddle I love, but we shall see.

Cool instrument and I love the story behind it! I would know what to do with it if it was mine :-D Hope it brings a lot of joy whatever you decide for it! (Makes me think of my visit to the luthier this week , I entered his atelier and saw all these instruments on his table first thing that rolled out of my mouth was: ohhhh so many violins!!! hehe)