1930s Jackson Guldan 4/4 Violin

I see one or two Jackson Guldan violins in for setups in a year, usually. This is the nicest one I've ever seen, however. Most are relatively low-rung instruments with only decent sound to them. They were made for the student market and that's just what they are, even if they are US-made products. I mean -- Jackson Guldan was in the business of making toys (toy violins among them) as well, so its bowed instrument line is not usually seen as the fanciest fare.

This one, however, sounds, plays, and looks just as good as most of the intermediate German import instruments of the time. It's also pretty dang clean, too, with no cracks and a a fresh-looking finish with only a bit of mild use here and there throughout. The back, sides, and neck are nicely-flamed maple while the top has decently-tight-grain spruce.

My buddy Tom left it for consignment and I only had to replace a couple of broken pegs and set it up to get it playing bang-on. Now that the work is done, it plays well and has a good, husky, sweet sound that really suits old-timey double-stops.

It is labeled as a Strad-copy by Jackson Guldan of Cleveland, OH in the bass f-hole.

Repairs included: mild adjustment of the bridge, cleaning, new John Pearse Mezzo (Thomastik Dominants, basically) strings, two replacement pegs, and setup.

Setup notes: action is low and fiddle-fast, though a taller (classical-style) bridge could be fit if desired. The Pearse strings are warm and sweet but steel-core strings would definitely give this a drier, louder, more aggressive tone.

Scale length: 12 7/8"

Nut width: 7/8"

String spacing at nut: 11/16"

Body length: 13 1/2"

Top width: 8 1/4"

Side depth: 1 1/2" + arching

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid flamed maple

Bracing type: tonebar

Fretboard: ebony

Bridge: maple, old

Neck feel: slim C-shape

Condition notes: it's quite clean and had 4 aftermarket fine tuners. Two pegs are replacements and two are original. All work decently and hold pitch but as I always suggest, modern 4:1 geared Perfection Pegs are one of the best ~$60 upgrades one can make to any violin to make them fun to use. Someone replaced the tailgut with nylon (yay) sometime back.

It comes with: its original hard case in good shape plus a presumably-original bow which has maxed-out tensioning but enough tension at that to play with. Also some rosin.