period fiddles

[-Jesse-]

Does anyone know where to find pre-1860 (authenic) repro fiddles??

[coffey]

You can possibly get one in knoxville at a music store call siderville music but you will have to order it in more than likely

[-Jesse-]

okay thanks...others???

[Ryan Halsey]

hey Jessee. You lookin to learn how to play the fiddle? I can help you with period stuff. I have 2 original fiddles and a crap one. Just look around at yard sales and in ads in the newspaper. Stuff like that. If you have any q's ask me. See ya around. Missed ya at Sanders.

[-Jesse-]

Yeah man i wanted to be there...heard it was great.Yeah i have a fiddle (modern) and looking to try and start a string band....thanks for the information...

[eric marten]

Jesse: Not nearly as hard to find as period banjos or guitars. There are literally thousands of period violins around, in use, and in violin shops all over the country. You simply need to do some simple restoring - very easy to do - replace modern metal or synthetic strings and modern "tailpiece adjustors", with gut strings and real gut tailgut, remove any fine tuners and chinrest, and you're done. Also make sure your bow is not a synthetic or fiberglass one. It's best to keep the gut strings a little lower than modern 20th century pitch. You might do a search for period fiddle, or de-farbing a modern fiddle, and get some more useful info. Good luck!

[-Jesse-]

thanks for the information,Eric....

[Company Fiddler]

Jesse,

Good advise from Eric. I recently changed out the modern hardware & strings on one of my fiddles to make it period correct. One web site that I can recommend is The Fiddle Hangout.com. There is much good discussion about fiddling and always instruments for sale. I purchased a German Strad. circa 1870's and a French fiddle circa 1850's from members on this site. In the absence of an 19th century fidlle, any older fiddle properly set up (defarbed as Eric describes) will do the job.