1920s German-made Amati Copy 4/4 Violin

This fiddle was so pretty I had to snap a few shots. It's a customer's instrument that was in for a neck reset and setup. It'd seen work in the past but no one bothered to fix the neck joint -- they'd just worked around it by tipping-back the angle on the bridge via shimming-up the fingerboard. It's pretty dang steep now that the neck is back to rights.

What's most-interesting about this instrument is that it's both well-built, has a solid, clean, full tone -- and that it also has a ton of factory "aging" added to it in the same way that folks make "relic" guitars these days. More than half of the "loving wear" that it appears to have was added when it was made to keep it looking like an "old master" instrument. Cute, huh?

Now, 100 years or so down the line and mixed with authentic wear and tear, that aging looks refined and gentlemanly.