Full sized

Kieran was ready for a full-sized violin.  We tried probably 5 or 6 different violins.  3 Eastman's, 1 Schoenbach and a Yamaha.
Finally we can stop renting.

We'd been renting from the beginning.  I still remember
the 1/8 one.  My fingers would touch 2 strings.  And I could play twinkle on that violin and make it sound like a cat in agony.  That's skill!

I always wondered why his teacher's violin sounded so much different.  Her violin seemed to emanate emotion when she played.  His tiny ones seemed to only make you cringe.  Like when you sucked on a lemon or lime.

But when he got his 3/4 I asked if he could play it before he selected the one to rent.  So he tried a few and chose the violin that he liked the sound best.  His 3/4 was either a Höfner or Schoenbach.  But we were noticing now the difference between the various makes and models.  That's when we found out about his rental credits.  We'd been renting for so long, there was enough credits to buy a violin.  We didn't even know that was happening.  It was a pleasant surprise.  And something that Kieran was looking forward to.

So when he selected his full-size, he played them over and over carefully listening to the sound.  The one he decided he liked the sound was a bit of an issue, because we had accumulated so much credit renting. The one Kieran chose was a lot less than the credit because it had been rented so much.  I didn't understand what the issue was.  It didn't matter to Kieran that it had been rented, it sounded better to him.  But then it dawned on me that they wanted us to buy something that was more than the credit.  One, so that the credit could be cleared, and two they could charge my card again.   However, we didn't like the sound of the one that was more than the credit.  The way the rental credits work is that it would go towards the purchase of his rental violin.  Only problem was they didn't have anything like the one he liked the sound.

So the fellow who was helping us talked to his manager and, we got lucky.  Kieran ended up getting a brand new one, a higher model, that sounded even better than the one he wanted.  He noticed it was also lighter, and that other one was lighter than the other model that he didn't like.  So wood used, and dryness of the wood to construct the violin must be different.  And made it sound different.  I think the other one he liked was a higher model than the other newer rental Eastman.  But since it had been rented quite a bit, it was a lot less, but still sounded better than the other newer one.  So we had to spend a bit more for a higher model, but it sounded beautiful when he played it.  He knew right away it was the one for him.  Today he called Samatva over to show him.


His case is quite nice.  We both didn't like the smaller case that is shaped like the violin. It was hard getting the violin out of the case.  This case, although not exactly like the hard case one he had originally chosen which was a bit beat up, is pretty nice. Plus it's new.   Tresa's happy about the fact that no other human has rented this.  The sound didn't matter to her as much as that simple fact.  If it was UNTOUCHED by human hands, then that would be the one to buy.  But it's hard to find one of those.