Rare 310-year-old violin stolen

[Sunni Man]

And it wasn't a "competition". it was an experiment.

The whole "experiment" was focused on sound projection in a large concert hall. And didn't address tone, note sustain, evenness of sound across the strings, and several other attributes found in rare old Italian violins. ...

 

[Sunni Man]

What is your point about violins being made >>
1. in China
2. factory made

China has flooded the violin market. Go to any music instrument store and the vast majority of their $2,000 and under violins will be factory made in China by machines and semi-skilled workers. Some are decent quality, while most are substandard examples sold to beginners and barely playable.
Sure there are a few Chinese luthiers who have gone to Europe and learned under renowned Master luthiers. And now can rival the best modern American and European violin makes, but they are a rarity. ...

 

[protectionist]

China has flooded the violin market. Go to any music instrument store and the vast majority of their $2,000 and under violins will be factory made in China by machines and semi-skilled workers. Some are decent quality, while most are substandard examples sold to beginners and barely playable.
Sure there are a few Chinese luthiers who have gone to Europe and learned under renowned Master luthiers. And now can rival the best modern American and European violin makes, but they are a rarity. ...

In the 1970s, Chinese-made violins were junk, yes. But, as you correctly noted, Chinese luthiers went to Europe and learned under renowned Master luthiers. You seem to be a bit behind the times in your estimation of Chinese violins. High quality violins from China that "rival the best modern American and European violin makes," are not rarity anymore.

While the Chinese factories still make many violins cheap in price and quality, they also make many violins relatively cheap in price, but very high in quality. The small town of Xiqiao is the violin capital of the world, with about 40 violin factories, the foremost factory of which is the Taixing Fengling Musical Instrument Co., the largest violin maker in the world. It employs over 1,300 workers, the vast majority of whom work on the assembly line. But is is nothing like a Western factory assembly line. The Fengling factory is divided into shops, none much larger than a basketball court. In each, workers concentrate on a single task: sanding violins, chiseling out the front and back, carving scrolls, placing the bridge on the instrument, and so forth. No parts are made by machine. With the low cost of labor in China, there is little point to labor-saving devices.

Wages average $165 a month, or about $2,000 a year. About 1/20 of what a wage would be for this skilled work outside China. So take a $2000 violin made in China and multiply that by western wage standards and what do you get > $40,000 violin. While these numbers may not be carved in stone, they are nit far from the actual.

As for quality, Western critics have sounded off. Ex. Brian Majeski, editor of Music Trades magazine, a New Jersey-based publication. >> Unlike many other products, he said, instruments require little if any research and development. The violins built today are scarcely different from those made 300 years ago. All a competent craftsman has to do is copy.

The 2006 gold medal for violin making, at the prestigious Violin Society of America competition, which attracts fine luthiers from all over the world, went to Zhu Ming-Jiang of Beijing. Another reference to Chinese violins >> “The combination of high quality and low price in Chinese-made instruments puts everything else to shame,” said Christopher Germain, a Philadelphia violin maker who is president of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. “The quality has improved exponentially.”

Eric Benning, a third-generation violin maker who owns Studio City Music in Studio City, called the instruments from China “incredible.”

“They’re just gorgeous instruments for the price,” he said. Mittenwald, Germany, he said, “used to be this town that was just this great mecca of violin making and case making. Now they’ve essentially sold all their businesses off to Chinese companies, and it’s just a tourist town.”

While I'm no fan of the Chinese (in fact, I rather hate them), I also don't sweep aside reality. People are buying violins in America, that came from China, and are amazingly high quality for the price they pay. They probably don't even realize how good these violins are, being prejudiced by the price. I myself, have a Violin (Carlo Robelli) made in the Fengling factory in Xiqiao, that I paid only $500 for. It is smooth, sensitive, powerful, and the double stops are superb. I'm old enough to remember the 1950s and 60s. The instruments then would have cost thousands, for one of this quality.

The Chinese have put French, Italian, and German violin companies out of business, and it didn't come from just producing junk instruments.

 

[Sunni Man]

The 2006 gold medal for violin making, at the prestigious Violin Society of America competition, which attracts fine luthiers from all over the world, went to Zhu Ming-Jiang of Beijing.

A few years ago, I bought my granddaughter a Ming Jiang Zhu violin for use in her school orchestra. For a $2,000+ violin they are a good student instrument for the price. Mr Zhu's factory turns out jillions of them.
Yes, he did win a Gold medal for violin making, but that's was for the violins he personally hand carves, not his factory shop models. They are very expensive and there was a several year waiting list to purchase one. (Mr Zhu has since passed away)
Cheaply produced low quality Chinese factory made violins, using pressed wood and spray-on varnish, effectively killed the low end American and European manufacturing business.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of American and European luthiers turning out high quality top end violins for the discriminating player.
You would be hard pressed to find a professional symphony violinist or world class soloist that plays on a Chinese violin. ...

 

[protectionist]

A few years ago, I bought my granddaughter a Ming Jiang Zhu violin for use in her school orchestra. For a $2,000+ violin they are a good student instrument for the price. Mr Zhu's factory turns out jillions of them.
Yes, he did win a Gold medal for violin making, but that's was for the violins he personally hand carves, not his factory shop models. They are very expensive and there was a several year waiting list to purchase one. (Mr Zhu has since passed away)
Cheaply produced low quality Chinese factory made violins, using pressed wood and spray-on varnish, effectively killed the low end American and European manufacturing business.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of American and European luthiers turning out high quality top end violins for the discriminating player.
You would be hard pressed to find a professional symphony violinist or world class soloist that plays on a Chinese violin. ...

I doubt if that is correct. I think your assessment is about 20 years behind the times. And I sense that your involvement in this trade has something to do with what you're saying. With good quality Chinese violins (not plywood cheapies) having rose to high levels, that would not be advantageous for the trade in "buy, sell, and collect vintage violins". I, just a violinist/fiddler, and having no connection to vintage violins, am more able to be objective, having no dog in the fight, and can stand apart from the comparisons and just look at them for what they are.

Also, the idea if giving a kid in school a $2000 violin, is just about weird. Kids in school typically learn their scales and double stops etc. on cheap plywood instruments, and then graduate to the better instrument once some level of expertise is attained.

 

[Sunni Man]

Also, the idea if giving a kid in school a $2000 violin, is just about weird. Kids in school typically learn their scales and double stops etc. on cheap plywood instruments, and then graduate to the better instrument once some level of expertise is attained.

Nothing weird about it. ...
She has been playing, taking private lessons, and in the school's orchestra since the 5th grade, learning on two lesser quality violins as she progressed in her abilities. By the time she entered high school, she was 1st chair violin in her school's orchestra. That was when I purchased the Ming Jaing Zhu violin and a Codabow carbon fiber bow as her playing skills continued to progress. Using them, she participated in a behind a curtain blind audition for a chair in the regional county orchestra, and was the only high school freshman ever selected for a chair in this honors orchestra program.
As a players skill level continues to increase, many times the violin they are currently playing on hinders their advancement due to the instruments limitations. Which is why I'm currently searching the market for a $5,000 to $10,000 grand violin to up her game when she attends university next year.