c.1930 Czech Strad Copy 4/4 Violin

This customer's instrument was in for a light setup, seam repairs to much of the upper bout "shoulders" and lower bout bottom, and a hairline crack fill/repair. It's labeled with the usual Antonius Stradivarius copy lingo plus "Made in Czechoslovakia." Judging by the style and equipment my guess is that it's a 1930s, pre-war instrument.

It's got a powerful midrange tone with a touch of sweetness but right off the bat it had a tone of extra ring on the A string. I had to play around with muting to eliminate that overtone but after it was gone the instrument became really pleasant to play.

Rosewood (like on this violin) is often seen as a lesser wood vs. ebony for the fingerboards but I've always been partial to rosewood boards on instruments (I don't personally own anything with an ebony board) as I like the "warmer/softer" feel better.

The funny "felted" stuff on the string portion after the bridge is a bit of sticky-backed felt to mute any odd overtones coming from that section. There are prettier ways to do this but this was free and easy and stays put!

Note the tiny dab of painter's masking tape in the high E slot -- the plastic sleeves that come with strings will do the same thing but tend to mute more than just a bit of tape.

Nice flamed maple back and sides... and surprisingly there are no cracks except for a tiny one on the top near the endpin area.

Well-fit pegs...!