1940s Gibson V-15 4/4 Violin

Overview: Gibson made violins from the late '30s into the early '40s to supply shops while imports from Germany, Japan, and central European countries were disrupted during the war. There's a lot of interesting history involved in the project, but suffice to say they had a few old-timers around the factory who knew about violin making and they headed-up a team to produce the Gibson instruments. This V-15 was their entry-level model but it's quite a nice instrument and is well-built, has nice materials, and a good voice.

Tone: It's clean, balanced, and has a "creamy" sort of voice -- not harsh and not too mellow. It's easy to get the notes you want without a lot of bleed into overtones.

Feel: It plays quick and easy and has a fairly standard, medium-heft, not-too-narrow neck.

Interesting features: Well, for starters, it has nicer wood (domestically sourced) than your average German import-style violin from the time -- the figured maple is pretty stuff and the finish is clean and "glows" under the light.

Repairs included: Andy gave this an extensive setup and it's playing spot-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 1 lb 2 oz
• Scale length: 12 7/8"
• Nut width: 7/8"
• Neck shape: slim-medium C with a steeper radius to the board
• Body length: 13 7/8"
• Body width: 8 1/4"
• Body depth: 1 1/2"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid flamed maple
• Bridge: maple
• Fingerboard: ebony
• Neck wood: maple
• String height: between folk/classical
• Strings: unknown

Condition notes: It's surprisingly clean for its age. The fine tuners at the tailpiece and the chinrest are replacements but it's otherwise original throughout. I spy no cracks or damage. There's light handling-wear throughout (with most of the finish chipping-out confined to the scroll and headstock) but it looks like it could be just a decade or so old at a glance.

It comes with: It actually comes with a decent, period bow. There's no "official" case but I have extras upstairs in storage so it will come with something.

Consignment tag: CKM