Violin Valuations — Free and Without Obligation

Every violin tells you something. Even the case it comes in can be a real indicator of what is inside.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, we tend not to look at the label at the beginning. We start with the back.

I think because you can tell so much from the way the button is cut, but it is quite hard to explain really. We look at the back first because we always have.

Then the type of wood – nothing, for me, is as beautiful as oppio, the wild Italian maple you see so often in late Cremonese instruments.

We also look at how the work is carried out. A blunt chisel can tell us so much – the good makers may have worked quickly, but they always kept their tools sharp.

The purfling – whether it is inlaid, scratched or painted on – and even the materials in the purfling. The scroll and the f-holes, which are as individual as handwriting. The varnish, and what is underneath it.

It takes about fifteen minutes, and you will leave knowing more about your violin than when you arrived.