I´m looking for a new violin, and some friend says me that the Czech violins "Strunal" are a good choose. I´d like another opinion about this. In I make concrete is the "Strunal 3310 Concert violin". What can you say me about this violin makers?

Thank you very much.

We sold them at one stage - in fact we still have some but not that model. We found them almost impossible to sell even at below wholesale price and so we are not importing them any more. There seem to be two reasons for the fact that we couldn't sell them: 1. on the ones we had (two batches imported direct), the factory set up was not good, and this meant we had the choice either of paying a repairer to set them up (which we did with one but we still couldn't sell it, but then to be fair it's distressed finish which doesn't appeal to many people) or of trying to sell them as they were. The bottom line is that once this was explained to people, customers generally went for a Romanian brand instead.

The 3350 was quite nice I recall - list price on that would be about £900. We never had a 3310.

The tone comes somewhere between the dark Romanian sound and the bright German sound -at least, it does with the factory set-up.

Liz

Thank you Liz,

first of all excuses for my bad english, I´m from Spain. I was mistaken with the violin model. In effect the one is the 3350 that I´ve been seeing. Sorry.
When you say "the factory set up was not good", what do you mean in particular? strings, fittings... What would I have to change to the violin?.
If as much question is not an abuse can you recommended me another violin?

Thank you very much, another time

The 3350 was quite nice but you would certainly do well to have it properly set up. At least a new bridge, perhaps more (it's hard to tell without seeing it).

We do have a soundfile of the one we had, it's here:


soundfiles link

this was without any extra set-up, just as it came - for some reason it says 3320 on the page but it was definitely the 3350, they just sound similar. The 3320 came with a major fault that rendered it unplayable - the neck had to be reset. We should have sent it back of course but we didn't.

Me, I always recommend Gliga. The gliga Gama is about half the price of the Strunal 3350

Liz

Thank you for the sounds link.

The sound of Gliga Gama seems to me to be wonderful, very warm and bass, so much that it looks to be a viola. The Strunal one has a sound much more brilliant. Now I have a great doubt: buy a Strunal or a Gliga. Anyway, I think Gliga has no dealer in Spain, and it would be very dificult for me to buy one of them....What can I do?

Thank you very much, Liz

Gligas are very easily imported from various internet sources - and that is also how you will get the best price.

I'd suggest you go for the one you most like the sound of.

Liz

Hey there,

Yo tambien te recomiendo el gliga - tiene un sonido muy rico y suave, si que es menos brillante que los violines alemanes, pero mas agradable. Echa un vistazo a la pagina internet de Liz www.elidatrading.co.uk, estoy seguro que te mandara un violin gliga aun hasta espana!

(I'd second the recommendation for a Gliga - the sound is very rich and smooth, it is definitely less bright than the German violins, but more pleasant. Have a look at Liz's website www.elidatrading.co.uk, I'm certain she will send a gliga even to Spain.)

Allan

(who recently retired his Gliga gama, but only after playing French antique violins from the 1800's... honestly, nothing came close until we severely changed price bracket.)

What a talented man - SPanish too! How many other languages are you fluent in, Allan?

And - how much did you pay for your French violin from the 1800s, if one dare ask?

Gracias Allan por tu contestación en español (thank you Allan for your answer in spanish).



I fall in love with gliga sound and, it would be possible buy a gliga from your web, Liz, and send it to Spain?

If you want email me to copert@ya.com

Some people might say I'm fluent in nonsense most of the time... (but I'll eventually find out where they live ).

As for the price of the French violin... (innocent whistle...), well let's say I won't be buying a car anytime soon.

It was an interesting experiment, actually, the gliga you sold me held its own well into the 6000 euro bracket (and for the rest of you curious people, I didn't pay much more than 1000 euro for it from Liz when I got it...)

Allan