I have this ugly old fiddle.. I love playing it and it obviously got in bad shape by someone playing it a LOT over the decades..I suppose that there were times/places where a fiddler, any fiddler with any fiddle, was of value. This fiddle was probably that ONE.... My old fiddle has Zero tonal quality.. I swear that if it was filled with foam it might sound better.. I Only bought it because I thought it might be fun to have an ugly fiddle...and for that I LOVE it..There is Something about the neck that makes holding it for play a real pleasure and others have said the same thing..
What have been your experiences with poor sounding fiddles.....
Many, many years ago, I had been playing maybe three or four years. I got sent on a business trip. It was the first time since I started playing. I got some crazy separation anxiety. In a moment of weakness, I found a music store. For a time, that's what they called a record shop, but that's for another time. This place sold sheet music and instruments for kids to learn on. I told the fellow I was having withdrawal. He understood. He fixed me up with an Angel's outfit. I was so anxious I bought it. It was even in a bad neighborhood. The clerk took me back to my hotel. I walked there, in the daylight. Anyway, if there was another fiddle on the planet, it would have been better. I sold it for not much, because that's what it was. This wasn't one of those hundred fifty year old, under the bed, treasure finds. This was agony to play and sounded worse. I can't stand to throw things away, even 3/4 violins. This wasn't 3/4, but it may have pushed me too far if it was.
I guess I’d have to say that the majority of my experience with violins that sound bad has to do with mediocre setup. The benefit to that is that the difference between the before and after with these instruments is astonishing. Of course I’ve seen plenty of VSOs that aren’t going to sound good even with a lot of work, but most violins that are worthy of the name are made well enough that they have the potential to sound good. Many are made well enough on the outside but left with savagery inside.
I’ll never forget an occasion when a great old violin came into the shop. It had been through a top tier restoration and was just on its way to be sold internationally. It was a glorious instrument to behold. But it sounded so bad it was shocking. The problem was that it was so clear that the violin had the potential to sound the way it was supposed to. I commented on this to the owner of the shop and he said “I know, it sounds atrocious! It’s taking everything in me not to put a new post in it, but I don’t want to touch it because it’s just passing through and it’s way too valuable for me to want to risk even the smallest scratch anywhere.”
No one is particularly upset when an ugly fiddle sounds like an ugly fiddle, but it can be the source of much consternation when a pretty fiddle sounds like an ugly one.
My first fiddle, a new factory fiddle from China, sounded scrawny and was severely volume-challenged. The moment I got comfortable holding an instrument under my chin and sawing perpendicularly with a bow, I gave it to charity and bought a cheap old German factory fiddle at the Fiddle Hangout in the San Fernando Valley. It was nearly as volume-challenged as the Chinese fiddle, but at least the tone wasn't horrible. BTW, at that time I was in my late thirties...or was it my early forties?
Anyway, I was now totally addicted to fiddling. I found a good teacher in David Bragger, and began to venture to fiddle jams. Meantime, I just couldn't stop haunting L.A.'s better violin stores and driving them nuts playing instruments. Long story short, I now have three fiddles. The first is the old fiddle I bought at Fiddle Hangout. The second and third are new German fiddles bought at a couple of L.A.'s better stores. Neither were cheap but they also weren't particularly expensive. One is delightfully mellow sounding. The other has pretensions to greatness and would sound truly excellent in better hands than mine.
Set up and strings - the first 2 things a new fiddle should likely get. Set up by a knowledgeable luthier and a good set of strings, ones that will complement the basic sound of the instrument. A good violin is going to sound like crap with a $10 set of strings on it. Likewise one thats set up wrong; wrong soundpost position or bad soundpost, tailpiece after length, s**t bridge or fitment - all can make a good fiddle sound bad.
Can't say I've had a truly bad sounding acoustic fiddle. Hans, my 1890's German (actually Tyrolean) trade fiddle sounds not great until it gets woken up with a few hours of playing. Electric fiddles - well thats a matter of pickups and electronic stuff you throw at it. But my Klingon Bird of Prey fiddle ( made with a a piece of PVC pipe as the body) - now that one never sounded great no matter what I threw at it. I keep it as a reminder of what not to buy on Ebay!
