1930s Unmarked Nice-Grade "Sunny" 4/4 Violin

Overview: The current owner of this instrument knows almost nothing about it save that he was told it was German-made and from around the 1920s or so. I rather agree with that assessment as it bears no interior label whatsoever and German-made is a good guess since most imports from the time were built there. It has features that suggest it's a late-'20s or early-'30s build.

That aside, this is quite a good player's instrument and it has a punchy, clean, loud, uncomplicated voice with decent warmth. The proper fiddlers who have played it in-shop have gotten a lot of sound out of it. The fact that it sounds this nice while strung with a set of Super Sensitives says something...

It has a mix of older repairs (now re-repaired) and some finish muck-ups here and there, but the light, yellowy-orange finish (hence "sunny" descriptor) has a characterful look about it.

Repairs included: Manny gave this one a going-over and, as I recall, he planed the fingerboard, re-repaired a couple of top cracks, repaired a couple of loose seams, fit a bridge, cleaned it up, and set it up. It's playing spot-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 1 lb 1 oz
• Scale length: 13"
• Nut width: 15/16"
• Neck shape: medium C
• Neck depth near nut: .77"
• Neck depth before heel: .79"
• Body length: 14"
• Body width: 8 1/8"
• Body depth: 1 1/2"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid maple
• Bridge: maple
• Fingerboard: ebony
• Neck wood: maple
• String height: between classical and fiddle
• Strings: Super Sensitive medium-tension steel
• Action height at octave: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble

Condition notes: It has three repaired hairline cracks on the top. There's a weird, murky area of finish on the top to the treble side of the fingerboard extension near the bridge. The finish has weather-checked throughout and isn't quite "alligatored" but is getting there. There are numerous small nicks, scratches, and dings throughout. The chinrest is unoriginal and center-mount-style. I would imagine the pegs are not original but they are older.  There are general finish blemishes here and there throughout.

It comes with: It has an older hard case.

Consignment tag: NVRR