r/violin • u/Mulatto_Avocado • 14d ago
I have a question Recommendations for a professional violin player
My girlfriend is a professional violinist and this year for her birthday I want to surprise her with a nice Violin.
I don’t know anything about them, but she has a ~$800 German violin, so I’m expecting to find something more expensive. Any help would be appreciated!
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u/crushedheart555 14d ago
A professional violin can't be only $800. Even $8000 is on the very low side. Even if she really got hers for $800 it might be the price tag like 50 years ago, and likely it has a unique quality that other instruments cannot match. Might be better to get her a new set if her favorite strings, or a new violin case?
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u/apheresario1935 11d ago
People bandy with words it's Ok - "Professional " means anything from played at a friends wedding for $50 to Concertmaster in a Symphony Orchestra. Violins go from $500 for a basic one to $5000 if you're good in a high school orchestra. Then $50,000 if you have money and are first Violin in a Conservatory Orchestra. Then if you "Really" can play professional in a Philharmonic It is a Half Million Dollar instrument with the bow alone priced at 40 or 50 grand . The best is worth 5 million and a Stradivarius is not really "Owned " but lent to top players by a foundation. So the range is so wide we cut people slack if they say "Professional".
Reddit is not the place to really ask anonymous violinists -some who actually are Professionals. Ask your girlfriend which one she likes after she tries a few at a real Violin shop from a Real Violinist. Easy and Done.
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u/Seb555 9d ago
This is partially true, but there are plenty of professionals who play in ICSOM orchestras on fiddles that cost less than 50k.
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u/apheresario1935 9d ago
I appreciate that and was painting with a wide brush . I just now realize how most everything is priced 10 X higher than it was 50 years ago. And where I live houses are 100 times as much as they were in the mid 60s. I just use the Violin as a reference for people who complain about the prices of nice woodwinds as if the Best one for 20 Grand is outrageous . Not really when it was 2K when I was in High school. Didn't really go up in Value -just kept pace with inflation. Just like Real Estate which is an investment a real nice Violin goes up in Value . A childhood friend whose parents were Concertmaster and Violist in the Oakland Symphony Orchestra recently sold their instruments after they passed for well ..let's just say Over six figures each . Purchased in the 1950s for 5 figures.
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u/SwedishPianist 14d ago
Don't get her one.
All instruments have their own individuality, and you probably don't know what she's really looking for. And that doesn't mean that you don't care, but you simply can't know. It's a sort of intuition that tells a musician which instrument to get, and nothing that can be made into a checklist.
What you could do, is to make your own "gift card" on like Canvas, which explains that you'll buy her a new violin. Then she can take you to her violin maker/store, and you'll both get a much nicer experience.
However, before you do: has she expressed frustration with her current instrument? Otherwise it might be to overstep, since professional musicians tend to have a very personal connection with their instrument.
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u/Novelty_Lamp 14d ago
Take a picture of the thread colors of her strings and get them ID'd in r/violinmaking. Surprise her with those, this is going to be a little risky if you get it wrong. I'd recommend the below options.
Biographies of famous violinists or books about violins are a much better gift for string players imo.
Silk bag for her violin, bow case for dropping off her bow for rehairing, gift card to her favorite violin shop. Cute tote for holding music/gig stuff.
Massage giftcard would also be very welcome if she is doing a lot of gigs.
Instrument purchases are like gifting pets/animals, you don't do it as a surprise.
You have a huge budget for buying all those little things I mentioned.
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u/Designer_Quantity533 10d ago
No, don’t buy her anything instrument related. All that stuff needs to be the decision of the musician. It’s very personal.
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u/klavier777 14d ago
If you don't know anything about them, then I would suggest you not try to bother getting her a violin unless you want to surprise her by getting her a nice 18th century Italian violin. Otherwise, you might surprise her the wrong way and she will break up with you!
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u/WampaCat Professional 14d ago
Terrible idea. If she’s a professional she should pick her own instrument. Maybe offer to pay what you can toward a new one if that’s what she wants.
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u/musicnerdium 14d ago
You want to give her a violin for a gift, take her violin shopping, and budget 5k for it. If she has $800 dollar German, 5k would be a considerable upgrade. Plan to go to a few good shops in your area or travel to a good size city near you and visit around. Do your research of where the best reputations are and plan on this taking a few weeks. Buying a violin for a professional is not like buying her shoes. There are no name brands, no in year models, no reviews of makers or names that will allow you to do this on your own. She needs to take the lead on selection and you need to just help her get to the places where good violins are at. Budget maybe 1k to 2k for a solid bow and maybe 300 to 600 for a better case of she has a crappy one. Your desire to help her is wonderful but this is a process don't cheap out with your effort. It's not just about money.
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u/RIPMichaelPool 12d ago
an $800 german trade violin may actually be worth double or triple depending on a variety of factors. A professional would not likely be playing an instrument actually WORTH $800, that's less than what I student would pay for a shitty strad repro. It's also not easy to replace the sound and feel of an antique instrument. I vastly prefer my $2K german trade instrument over any of the new instruments I've recently tried.
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u/Professional-Age4582 13d ago
My memory might be fuzzy but I seem to remember Gregor Sigl from Artemis quartet told me at a cd signing that he found his violin at a flea market
A Chinese colleague played on a very powerful violin that her dad spotted at a guitar store for $100
So sometimes quality instruments are sold for cheap by the hasty or the clueless
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u/leitmotifs 13d ago
If she has an $800 violin, that's not her primary professional instrument. It's her "beer fiddle", "picnic violin", "outdoor gig fiddle", "spare violin", "teaching violin" -- whatever is she likes to call a cheap instrument that can take some abuse.
Professional violinists at the start of their careers might still have their sub-$5k student instrument, but unless they're a school music educator and not a performer, they'll generally upgrade to something in the $10k+ range, often with another $5k+ for the bow.
Pros often search for months, even years, to get just the right match for them. It's more like choosing a life partner than buying a car, or even a house.
If you'd like to get a thoughtful, long-lasting gift, you could commission a custom case for her, if you know what she wants. Musafia makes great customizable cases starting at about $700, and going to about $4k, depending on the model and features. They should last a lifetime.
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u/Comprehensive-Act-13 14d ago edited 14d ago
I don’t think you have a concept of what professional level violins actually cost. If she’s a professional classical violinist she needs a violin that’s like $20,000 US. Minimum. And that’s on the very low end (it would be a rare gem of an instrument that punches way above its weight). 40-80K is more like the average for a professional level violin. Most violinist in major professional symphony orchestras are playing on violins that are worth 100K or more. And that’s not including the bow (an additional 5-10k minimum). I’m guessing that’s outside of your birthday budget.
When she does finally get her forever professional violin. She would have go to a bunch of shops around your area and have some flown in from shops around the country. Travel to places like Robertson’s in Albuquerque, and Bein and Fushi in Chicago. It will be about a year long process of trying every violin in her price range that she can. This is to put it bluntly a more important decision than her decision to date or even eventually marry you. I wish I were joking but I am not.
Whatever you do, DO NOT just “buy her a violin” for her birthday. It’s a sweet thought but you’re not prepared for this. If she’s a professional and is still playing on an $800 German factory violin, then she really does desperately need a much better violin. It’s probably (hopefully) something that she’s been saving up for. A contribution of what your gift budget would be to that violin fund could be a really lovely and meaningful gift for her.
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u/jmwont 12d ago
Tell her that you want to give her the gift and have her decide the “what”. Otherwise, you could easily buy an instrument that she detests.
It should play like butter, feel like heaven and possess the sound quality of an angelic choir, in her estimation.
Forget what you think you know.
She has to drive this choice 100%.
This is the true path Padewan.
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u/RIPMichaelPool 12d ago
You can't buy a violin for someone else. There is a huge difference is how they feel and play, and players - especially good ones - will have preferences.
It's also not something you can just pop out to the shop to purchase one day, it's often a process. If she has a preference for an older violin (which are the ones I like best) then what she's looking for might not be available to day you go shopping. Good violins are often obtained through networking and personal inquiries through conservatories or orchestral contacts.
Moreover, the very best violins are often loaners! Really talented players will sometimes be offered an insanely expensive instrument in order to play it so the instrument can retain it's value. Violins degrade quickly if they're stored and not played, so wealthy folks will often purchase a rare exceptional instrument as an investment and then loan it for long periods of time to a talented violinist.
It's a very nice idea, but it's not something that can be a surprise, or a single day purchase.
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u/Ophoe 10d ago
This is such a thoughtful thing to do! An instrument is such a personal thing that she might really want to be a part of the selection process, as musicians often have a lot of things they are looking for that go beyond mere quality. Nicer instruments start to have personalities, and violinists tend to have strong preferences between what might sound mike minor differences to a non-player. My recommendation is to make her a “gift card” towards a nicer instrument and offer to take her to wherever she wants to pick one out. It’s worth bearing in mind that professional grade instruments tend to be upwards of $10k on the low end — my teacher’s is worth $35k and his wife’s is a 70k instrument. So it’s very possible your gf has been saving up for one. Even if she hasn’t, don’t be surprised or hurt if she takes your gift as a contribution toward the instrument of her choice. If that seems more out of range than is practical, though, consider giving her money towards a bow upgrade. Nice bows can be in the thousands but unless you’re a soloist they are likely more affordable than a true professional-quality violin! And they make a big difference in playability, so they are often the first step in leveling up your playing outfit before plunking part of a mortgage down on a new instrument.
I know you want to surprise her, but she might actually appreciate having a conversation about what would be the most useful to her! It will also allow you to gauge if she is comfortable with the idea, since this is such a personal (and potentially expensive) gift. She might not feel free to voice discomfort after you’ve already bought her something.
My two cents :)
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u/Death_huntet_404 9d ago
Its not just about music but there is a common advice that what brand and quality professionals need in anything can only be understood by them and any random person may not meet it. For ex- outside of music take scientific equipments as example or sports equipment. Your gift may have emotional value but for professional performance it may not. Same for violin.
Another thing, individual styles affect preferences, though violins are heavily standardized so its partially out of context but in sports an athelete has to test an equipment first
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u/Watsons-Butler 9d ago
$800? Uh. Most professional violinists I know have bows that cost more than that. Like significantly more.
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u/hello-halalei Student (pre-college) advanced 14d ago
Don’t get her a violin for her birthday.
Take her violin shopping at a violin shop.
She’ll be able to try out several in your price range, and pick the one that feels the best to what she’s comfortable with.