So I thought I’d do a few posts about the stuff I use (as in equipment, not chemicals … ).

I’ve had this violin from new, quite unusually. It’s circa 2000, Chinese hand-made at a point when China was starting to really move into ‘proper’ string instruments as well as mass-produced student models. They’re now a significant threat to the established European luthier countries.

The Chester Violin Shop did some tweaking (chiefly of the soundpost positioning) back in about 2005, which really helped bring the lower registers and G string alive. It’s now in my opinion a really well-balanced and versatile instrument, clear and potentially penetrating at all pitches but also capable of a lovely quiet tone. It is possible to drive it too hard and wreck the tone, but what instrument can’t you say that of? It’s on the more powerful side of the violin range, which I find useful, though there are definitely louder instruments still around out there.

Here’s hoping I can continue to use it as my main workhouse for a long time to come – it has certainly been a much-loved and frequent companion over the last 15 years or so!