A few questions for any classical musicians:
I’m not really a classical player–I play traditional Irish music on violin. The tunes are easier to learn and it pays a lot better. Trust me–There’s no money above second position.
My instrument? It’s a Hopf–a German violin, made in the 1880’s. All in all a very good serious student model violin. I found it in a pawn shop in Lebanon, Tennessee five years ago. Didn’t play violin at all, but I played guitar very seriously. I knew right away it was a good instrument. I was struggling then, but I knew I needed to have it. I knew the shop owner, and he agreed to let me put 10% down to lock it in place and pay the rest of it over the next two months.
Well, I was REALLY struggling–I paid 390 bucks for it.
It was the best money I ever spent in my life–I’ve made thousands with it since, and it’s given me so much joy and helped me make some of my closest friends.
Plus I’d probably have to spend 5000 dollars or more to get a comparable replacement.
It’s not an “IDEAL” instrument–it’s a balanced tone, but not as bassy as I’d like sometimes. And It could use a setup job–I’m sure I can get a lot more out of it if I put it in the hands of someone who really knew what they were doing.
Sure, I’d love to play a Strad. But the best instruments cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Hell, if I had that kind of money, I’d probably be better off using the money for lessons and taking time off work to practice intensively.
Violin prices are way out of control. Many of the very best guitars don’t cost more than 5,000 dollars, and that’s a student model violin.
I play all manner of stringed instruments–tenor banjo, violin, guitar, 5 string banjo, mandolin, bass…whatever. It’s all good.
Piano (primary instrument). Guitar, saxophone.
Well, I started taking piano lessons in the first grade, so that’s been my instrument of choice for a long time… Then did music as part of my double major in college (primarily piano performance)
The piano I have right now is an upright (a spinet, with actually quite nice sound and touch, for an upright). Brand is “Aerosonic”. Didn’t cost too much, since it was acquired from a friend of the family when they moved. And it didn’t cost me anything, since my folks bought it for me as a birthday present several years ago. My guitar is a Sigma (6 string). I think it was just a couple hundred dollars, and I’ve had it for about 15 years now (since high school). (As for the sax, it’s a tenor sax, and I played it back in jr. high and high school – not too much since then. I don’t remember the brand!)
Ultimate instrument? Hmmm… Probably a 9 foot concert grand – a Steinway. Although it probably wouldn’t fit in my place. 
I wouldn’t mind having one of the pianos that I got to practice on in college – a 6 foot Kawai
Big maintenance bill: Not very. For a piano, you just have it tuned every so often. Mine has stayed in tune just fine for quite a while, and has a very nice touch. The guitar – just a matter of buying new strings every once in a while – not expensive.
Yep – covered above (piano, guitar, sax). Pretty much anything keyboard related, for sure. I’ve played the organ (pipe organ) a little, too.
1) What do you play?
Viola
2) What influenced your choice?
I played violin from when I was 10 to about 16, then changed to Viola. Been playing viola for about 3 years.
3) How much did your instrument cost? Does the make, uh, make any difference?
First violin outfit cost me $289 (Outfit = Insturment + Case + Bow). I got my new viola in January and paid $1800 for the outfit. Brand new 16 1/2 inch, german made viola that I got from a mail order catalog. Kind of interesting, my conductor ripped the company during rehersal the first week I had my new insturment, yet still insists it is one of the best sounding insturments he has seen in a while.
Does the maker, make a difference? YES! I actually ordered 3 violas from the SAME maker, and they sounded radically different. Sometimes it is just the luck of the draw. Luckily in my case, the price tag on the three were $1200, $1800, & $2100 and the $1800 one sounded the best.
4) Is there an “ultimate” instrument you’d like to own and play (eg. Stradivarius for violinists)?
A Fazioli grand piano. No, I don’t play piano, but my school just sold the farm to buy one and it is the most amazing insturment I’ve ever listened to. And this includes a $388,00 violin I heard once. (Hey, nobody said you had to PLAY the insturment!)
5) Does your instrument have a huge maintenance bill?
Nope. Most maintenance can be done at home. Occationally you will bust a string, costing about 10-$15 a pop. Other than that, just a nice rag wipe down and an occational polish will do you right fine.
**6) Can you play more than one instrument? **
Other than the violin, which I am probably rather pathetic at by now, nope.
A Viola Player here, for about seven years, first with school and private instruction, now with a few friends in a not-really professional string quartet.
Fate, destiny, the fact I picked one up and it felt natural to me is probably it.
The instrument I currently play right now I bought from my instructor for about $1000, under half of what he did from a small producer in the Seattle Area. I’m glad I have it, it’s one of the best sounding ones I’ve heard for not costing a literal fortune. And I have to agree with Cyberhwk here, make does make a difference, although it never is a substitute for skill.
Well if I had a few million around I’d like to get a Stradivarius Viola.
Not really, just the odd string here and there. Sometimes rosin for the bow.
Violin, Cello.
I play oboe and flute, I don’t play with a group now. I have played with orchestra. I do play folk harp (th string kind) with a small group, were not to regular tho. My oboe is a Rivers and Hawkins and my flutes (3) are (I’m not going to be able to spell this) Geminherdt. I have three bohm piccolos, very old I dont know the makers. Ialso have a R.W Roberts mehires (SP) llute
(8 keys) and a meires (Idon’t know which spelling, if either, is correct)
I do all my own maintenance, I buy pads tho.
I would like to have a Lyon & Heely Harp!!!
That should have been a R.W Roberts FLUTE( not llute)
Damm hamsters!
In college:
Now:
1) What do you play?
I play classical music on the flute (I own two C flutes, an open-hole with the low Bb key and a closed-hole without) and the piano.
2) What influenced your choice?
This doesn’t sound very noble or soulful, but I got the flutes for free…my younger sister had the two Gemeinhardts and wasn’t interested in playing them any more, and I was just moving to NYC and needed an instrument that was small enough to fit comfortably into a Manhattan apartment and could be played quietly enough not to piss off the neighbors. I studied organ as a kid, but don’t really want an electronic organ in the house…piano’s much more versatile. I play blues, jazz, and other stuff on it, too. Plus, I got a good price on it and was able to talk the wife into buying it because it would be “good for the children.”
3) How much did your instrument cost? Does the make, uh, make any difference?
The flutes were free. My piano, a Baldwin baby grand dating from the late 70s, was owned by a callow neighbor who couldn’t play it…it had served a piece of furniture in his parents’ home…and was willing to part with it for five grand.
4) Is there an “ultimate” instrument you’d like to own and play (eg. Stradivarius for violinists)?
Yeah, I’d like a Bosendorfer concert grand piano and one o’ them hand-made gold flutes. Actually, scratch the piano. As long as we’re fantasizing, I’d like to have a full-sized pipe organ installed in my living room.
5) Does your instrument have a huge maintenance bill?
Nah. I have the tuner come in and look at the piano every couple of years…it holds a tuning pretty well…and I haven’t had to take the flutes into the shop for years.
**6) Can you play more than one instrument? **
Yeah, I play the cornet, the tenor saxophone, and the tuba. No one’s ever asked me to play classical on them, though.
**1) What do you play? **
I primarily play classical guitar. I also sing (baritone), play upright bass, electric bass, and some piano.
2) What influenced your choice?
For my primary, Julian Bream influenced my playing mostly. Also, when I used to listen to a lot of rock music I liked the “intros” better than the rest of the song so I wanted to learn how to make and play songs like that but with that quality for the entire peice.
**3) How much did your instrument cost? Does the make, uh, make any difference? **
My current guitar is worth about $5000. For classical guitars there is a pretty big range with plateaus within them. Ie, if you hit X price the quality is significantly better. The sub $150 range of instruments are playable but the sound that you get out of them isn’t necessarily very clear or pretty. The $150-500 range instruments are a little better. Usually they have a little more playability (it fits the hand better) but still lack in the sound department. the $500-1500 range guitars have the first obvious step up quality wise with both playability and sound. There isn’t much difference between the lower end ones and the upper end ones. Mostly as the price goes up in this range you start to pay for the name. The $1500-2500 (these should be luthier made, otherwise you will be paying for a name brand of lof the previous quality most of the time) guitars are good college student models. They have all the playability of the upper echelon of guitars but tend to lack scroll work, some volume and some tone. Overall though, these guitars could be used in a concert series without most people noticing the difference in quality. The $2500-5000 guitars have the best of the $1500-2500 range instruments plus some artistic work put into them. $5000+ instruments have the quality of the previous ones but tend to be more artistic. Also they may have a name factor going in with them as well which means they will have lesser quality for a higher price. Very rarely will there be another marked plateau within these instruments. It can happen but not very often.
4) Is there an “ultimate” instrument you’d like to own and play (eg. Stradivarius for violinists)?
Not really. There are specific luthiers whom I am interested in. I have my eye on a few luthiers at the moment to buy another guitar eventually but it won’t be for a significant quality jump but for the interest in their designs around the sound hole and the scrollwork on the head.
**5) Does your instrument have a huge maintenance bill? **
I have done all the maintenence on the instrument myself. I can’t do any structural working (nor would I want to) but I can change the tuning pegs, the nuts, reworked the frets (over time some start to stick up more than others) etc when needed. I have maybe put $100 dollars into those types of maintenece things. If I had taken it to the luthier whom I bought it from or a repairman I would have probably spent about $500 on it.
6) Can you play more than one instrument?
Yes. I can play classical guitar, voice (baritone), upright bass, electric bass, lute (I recently met someone else from Texas who played the lute), the viola da gamba (I have a tenor one at home. I prefer to play the harmony parts on it), the recorder, and piano. I don’t practice the piano anymore but I used to be fairly decent at it. I mostly played accompaniement for singers (in college) and did a few show pieces.
When you get a music degree you also have to learn the rudiments of most of the other band/orchestral instruments though I wouldn’t trust my ability to play them well even though I could teach a beginner how to play on them.
Well, I’m not much of one, as I haven’t played since college, but anyway…
**
Tuba
I was a geeky 12 year old and it seemed cooler than violin or trumpet.
I never bought one, as I’d had horns supplied by education institutions and haven’t played much since I left said institutions.
Not as such, although I’ve seen some nice horns that I’d have loved to get my hands on for a while.
I don’t really know, given that I’ve never had one of my own, but I don’t think so. With brass horns, they mostly play until they’re busted beyond repair (which typically is the result of severe trauma); there’s not a whole lot of maintenance like there is for, say, woodwinds.
I can play baritone pretty well but can’t read the music unless the piece is slow (as most of the notes are higher than I’m used to seeing). I love to play trombone, but since I have to translate valve fingerings to slide positions on the fly, I’m very, very slow.
–Cliffy
p.s.: just checked prices; the new version of the tuba I bought in 1980 is $11,000.
Viola. Professional, Los Angeles area.
Played violin since I was 2. Switched to viola when youth orchestra was short one season.
3a. Viola: Dale Stevens, Salt Lake City 1979: $7,500
3b. Bow: Johann Suess, Nurenberger, Germany 1920: $6,000
These are a bit on the high side of average value among my colleagues.
Ultimate instrument? Hard to say. I’m very satsified with my instrument. There’s always something better, though.
Maintenance? About $40 a month on strings. $40 for a bow re-hair every few months. Occasional rosin, etc.
Play other instruments? Sure, but not nearly as well as the viola.
Jesus…has anyone noticed how many SDMB members can play the tuba?
Is it a higher percentage than that of society at large, do you think, or does TubaDiva do active recruiting?
This question may deserve its own thread…
Viola. Viola Viola Viola.
Ehhh, my aunt used to play viola and it sounded cooler and
more revolutionary than the violin. Everybody plays the violin.
Also, my father was a band director and my mother was a
choir director, so I decided to rebel.
I have a Guaneri viola – It’s got a one-piece back and cost me
about $950, but now it’s worth over $1000, not counting the
bow, which cost around $350 and is inset with mother-of-
pearl. It’s prettiful.
I’d like to buy another Guaneri, honestly. But maybe a violin, or
a stronger-sounding viola.
Ehhh, not really.
I also play piano, guitar [some] and I sing jazz, folk, rock and
classical. Fun, fun.
I play Bass Trombone.
I don’t remember, I wanted something different. I was only 10 at the time.
How much did mine cost? I think I paid 1800 for it. I have a King with double triggers, I think it’s F/D/G but I could be wrong as it’s been a few years since I cared what it was. Some people think it does, I didn’t like the Yamaha I played in college much.
I would like to have the same type of King I had in High School. It was mostly the way you held it. Mine gets hard to hold after awhile.
no. Hell I haven’t even put new slide grease on it in two years.
Yes, I can get though with a Tuba, baratone, trumpet a bit. Can’t read trumpet music though. I can also play a bit of bass. None of these though I’d like to play in front of someone else.
Actually, Ukelele Ike, I’m surprised by the number of viola players…
1) What do you play?
Violin and piano.
2) What influenced your choice?
My brother started learning the viola, and I didn’t want to play the same thing as him, or anything you have to blow into. We had a piano in the house.
3) How much did your instrument cost? Does the make, uh, make any difference?
I just had mine appraised. It’s a 1980’s German-made instrument, built for middle-school students like I was at the time. I don’t like the way it sounds, but it could be the cheap $50 Glasser bow.
4) Is there an “ultimate” instrument you’d like to own and play (eg. Stradivarius for violinists)?
The guy who appraised my violin had some interesting Chinese-made ones he wanted to sell me, saying they’re every bit as good as the German and Italian violins from the 1800’s. Regarding piano, I got to practice once on a 9-foot Steinway my school rented once. Sweet.
5) Does your instrument have a huge maintenance bill?
What Jpeg Jones said.
6) Can you play more than one instrument?
Yes.
And to answer #3, which I didn’t really do, the violin was appraised out of a catalog at about $600. Not a lot, but more than I was expecting for the quality.
Well, I don’t play much, other than a little banging on the piano, some electric bass, and the harmonica. But with a household of kids, I have amassd quite a few instruments. We have a decent Kimball upright, and my eldest (HS fresh) has been bugging me for a new piano - either a big Yamaha upright or a grand. Don’t see that happening in the near future. We recently removed the carpeting from the main floor, which improved the piano’s tone immensely. That kid has 2 flutes - her good one is a Yamaho and her beater a Gemeinhart, a piccolo, and a fife.
The middle kid (7th grade) has a Bach trumpet (he covets a Strad - maybe in a couple of years) and a bugle.
The 6th grader has a decent quality clarinet, and we just got her a cheap student model alto sax.
Add in acoustic and electric guitars, and my old bass, and we are amassing quite the music store inventory.
And we have a pile of various drums and percussion what-nots we bring out a couple of times a year to bang around a fire while getting all tribal. Just to make sure the neighbors remember that we are a bunch of loons.
They make tubas in F ?!
Um … is an F tuba a transposing instrument, the way an F horn or a Baroque F trumpet is? Or is it just tuned in F the way a trombone is tuned in B-flat, i.e. its parts are still written in C?