For Sale!!
I am currently selling my first violin. The going
price is $500 which includes the violin, case, and bow. The violin is a
Hopf shop fiddle from Germany circa 1880. It has some nicks and scratches,
none of which show out very much at all. It has had some seams open up
between the table and ribs near the neck as well as a pressure crack on
the table under where the chinrest sits. These were repaired by John
Waddle of St. Paul, Minnesota. I also had the sound post adjusted by
him for the best sound quality as well as had the bridge retuned to better
fit the fingerboard of the violin. I still have the work order from him
for the sound post adjustment but I can't find the other repair orders.
I also have an official appraisal done by Miller & Fein of St. Paul.
The appraisal also contains values of the bow I am selling with this violin.
The bow that I am including is a simple, Brazilwood bow with an ebony frog
and nickel/Mother of Pearl inlays.The bow is also haired with horsehair.
The strings I left on that violin are Pirastro Oliv and Eudoxa strings
of the best quality. They are a little over a year old and have been played
only a little. The case is just the case I got this violin in and isn't
anything special. This violin set is great for beginners as that is what
I used it for. The sound it produces is slightly muted-sounding but will
still outperform most commercial build violins out there. It is a full
size violin (4/4) but tends to feel more compact than a full size as its
body is slightly shorter than normal without shortening the rest of the
violin. The strings have worn away at the ebony veneer on the fingerboard.
Beyond that and the few nicks this violin looks like it has survived over
100 years of playing. I wanted to start with a violin that had some history
and that's why I like this violin so much. If you are interested please
email me at sturzl@aero.und.edu.
If you would like to see it in person let me know as I can arrange to fly
out to meet you if you live in the U.S. for a fee of $40 for airfare. Outside
the U.S. is probably not worth it, sorry. My price of $500 is pretty firm
as the appraisal will tell it is worth a bit more than that.