I'm kinda confused. My teacher said it shouldn't take long to fit a new bridge to my violin, and would probably cost about £20. I took my violin today and he said he'd need it for a few days and it'd cost £70. I couldn't leave it as i wouldnt be able to get back to collect it right now, but why does it cost so much to fit a new bridge? I know it's gotta be done precisely and carefully, and atleast i'd know he'd be doing a good job of it, but is that how much it usually costs?

Again - i'm probably asking a silly question as per usual

That sounds like an awful lot of money!

W

I know
Well it was £65
He said the bridge blanks cost £20 :S they must be pretty darn good bridges! Don't they usually cost like £10 if that?
Thing is i did trust him as i bought my violin from him last year and it was immensely good value for money. But now i dunno about this?

Because he'll take the good quality blank bridge & sand and shape it to fit your violin precisely, and will do it all by hand. So it will take some hours.

cool well aslong as that's how much it usually costs, that's fine as i said i trust him, and i know it takes time to fit a bridge, it just seemed an awful lot of money

That seems about right for a good quality bridge, properly fitted by an expert. My luthier charges between 75 and 150 euro depending on the bridge quality - so it seems to correlate.

It will make a great difference to the fiddle, you'll see.

Great I'm looking forwards to getting it sorted and seeing the change it'll hopefully make. My bridge had been dodgy for a long while now!
I'm gonna take it back to him in the christmas holidays. I'll be lost without Fidelio for a few days though *sigh* but it's for his own good what am i going to do with my spare time when i have no violin?!

Well you seem to be able to play an impressive range of instruments so you could play one of those instead

Yeah mine was quoted at £60, so that's about right.

thanks, and it is a pretty good suggestion! but the others are no-where near as fun as violin i suppose they will have to do! though i do have a stentor violin somewhere in my cupboard, maybe i'll have to dig it out, just for a day or two!

The price of fitting the bridge will depend on how good your violin is and thus how good the bridge needs to be and how well it needs to be fitted. The last time I had my bridge changed it cost £120 so £70 isn't so bad!

That kind of explains it He was like 'oh... it's a pretty good violin! i thought if it was a cheap nasty one i could just put a bridge on there but i'll need to fit one to this' etc.

If you ask him really nicely, he may lend you a violin that you can use during the couple of days that yours is gone.

Ive just got mine back today and its amazing, so so different. I had a new bridge, Soundpost, fingerboard sorted out and new Obligato strings. The Bridge was £60 for a standard one and £80 for the best one. I opted for the better one as I was hoping to get the best out of the violin. Im certainly very happy with mine

£70 is about right - I'm having a new bridge fitted at the moment too and it's costing the same.

Do you think he'd let me? My parents would be like don't be so stupid you can't borrow a violin But i can't not practise for days :S My other option is my music teacher, she used to play violin and has a nice violin she let me borrow for the concert as mine was bridgeless and then offered to let me use it while mine was broken so i could still practise but i didn't as mine was still playable just with a rubbish bridge. She may let me borrow hers

I don't understand why your man needs the violin for several days to fit a bridge. It should only take about an hour.

He said it'd take him many hours =/

It should only take about an hour or two if that's all he's got to do. I know that my luthier takes three days for a bridge because he fits it in in between more important work.

So find someone that's less disorganised and appreciates how inconvenient it is for a player to be without their instrument for several days.
Would you use a garage that wanted to keep your car for 3 days to do an oil change just so they could fit it in round more important work?

Well, I see your point, but I trust my luthier and the sterling quality of his work. I'd rather let him fit in minor repairs around other things and get my fiddle worked on by one of the best violin makers in the country, rather than have someone else touch it. He also kindly lends me a fiddle when mine is 'in the shop' - much like busy garages that give you courtesy car.

I don't really consider it my place to tell him how to organise his work load - I'd feel presumptuous.

Monsieur Ravatin, peut-être?
Anyway, of course you shouldn't tell folks how they should organise their lives. I think though, that if the OP was to say nicely to their chap that they really couldn't manage for several days without their fiddle, then he ought to be able to suggest a date when he could do it in a single day. That's what I was getting at, in my clumsy way........

I know you're weren't having a go Disco-pants and I see what you mean.

Maybe over here, where there are no violin selling shops, only proper lutheries, we've just got used to being at the craftsman's mercy a little. Shaking it up might not be such a bad thing after all!