I've just got to start a new thread because I'm rather excited. This is for all the 'techies'

I found, well my teacher put me in touch with, a lovely luthier who lives only 20 miles away!!!! He's quite an elderly gentleman but 'studied' violin-making in Cambridge (is that the 'Newark school'?) and has made dozens of instruments. He made my teacher's viola specially to fit her hands and I think it won an award at a luthier conference.. I'm not sure, but it's gorgeous. He made the neck almost like a violin's in scale for her small hands.

Anyway, he took a look at Pan and thought he was 'beautifully made'. He showed me some of the dimensions and proportions to look out for - all very fascinating, and he measured bits and looked up books. Then he did agree that Pan's neck was rather 'fat' which is why I'm having problems. So he's going to 'scrape' it down for me (yes, he is an expert), adjust the nut and re-polish it with linseed oil... there's lots about the proportions of the pegbox etc that he will adjust for. It will be shaped to the correct lines for supporting the thumb in position changes too and he reckons it will be much easier to play. He said it's far too clunky as it is

He's also going to fit a new bridge and check out the soundpost.

Then he spotted the bow that came with Pan and was quite excited about it! This is one of Yitamusic's bows.. which came with the T20 viola 'outfit'. He had a really good look at it and reckoned it's a lovely piece!!! I was quite surprised because I thought the bows Yita sent out with their outfits were not too great. At one point my teacher thought it may have warped but that was just a trick of light we think.

Anyway the only problem the luthier found was that the wedge holding the bow hair is slipping out and needs to be knocked in ... but he reckoned the bow was beautifully made and worth well over £100!

In fact he said what I paid for my T20 with a bow of that quality would impossible to find anywhere near the same in the UK!

I'm just excited!!! Pan comes back home in about a week and I'm dying to play him!

(p.s. the title should read Yita not Yta...missed the key! And you can't edit titles)

What lovely news, lottie. I hope Pan is really gorgeous when you get him back.

fantastic news Lottie, now you know that whenever Pan is ill or needs attention you have careful expert hands to heal him

No, that's in Newark

It is indeed!

W

Lovely story, Lottie, just shows how music has a habit of bringing together really interesting people you might never have met otherwise.

Enjoy Martha for now.
Perhaps he has some good ideas for her, too?

Last week the luthier knocked the wedge back into the bow but it has started slipping out again

He's not a 'bow man' so I'm going to have to send it away to be repaired.

Why couldn't this have happened after my exam!!!

(My teacher has lent me a spare but I liked my Pan-bow )

The bow-repair person is on holiday

I doubt I'll get my own bow back in time for my exam now.

Wonder what my OH would say if I bought a new bow because it could be here by the end of the week!!! ... if he finds out mwarrrrr harrrrr harrrrr (evil chuckle)!

Well...

You need a spare bow anyways, don't you.

That's exactly what I thought - every musician needs a spare in case something goes wrong

And the postman arrives when OH is still at work (oooh I'm bad )

I have two new bows arriving on approval on Friday

I'm going to get a second bow for Chloe at some point - and waiting until I can play well enough to tell the difference between bows though. I can already tell the difference a bit, because when I got her bridge done I played her with a 'random' bow the luthier handed to me and she felt so smooth and silky. He didn't tell me until I'd played her with it that it was a £1000 bow. Think that's out of price range...

The bows arrived a day early... off to unpack them now

Happy bow chosing.

It only took twenty minutes to decide:

I've gone for a German pernambuco bow, a bit heavy at around 74g (eek.. I used the kitchen scales), but it produces a rich sensuous sound and a huge dynamic range

The other bow was a CF (around 68g by my scales) but there was something wrong with the leather wrap at the thumb and it hurt to hold... but even so it danced about and just wasn't drawing the same richness from the strings.

Well that's how it felt which is all I can go by

I'm sending the CF back to the shop tomorrow. My thinking is that around Grade 3 or so it's okay to have quite a heavy bow because I'm not doing anything spectacularly acrobatic and if I do need a lighter one in the future I will try some and buy a second... people do change bow for certain types of music????

The good thing is the German pernambuco is vastly superior to the chinese bow (that came with Pan) which is also currently unplayable for a few weeks until I can have the wedge fixed. But at least now I have a bow I'm very happy with

That sounds like it was an easy decision.