Saving a Family Heirloom

Okay, here's what went down this week:

On Monday, my string coach (Rhonda) accidentally broke my great-grandfather's violin. She had taken it to use with the beginning class, and in the process of carrying it, the case unlatched and fell open... spilling the violin on the ground. It developed a nasty split on the top side that is apparently called a "soundpost crack" It looked scary.

The violin was given to me by my mother who rescued it from being sold off by my aunt to pay some bills. It had been sitting in a closet for the better part of fourty years, at least. My mom decided it should a) stay in the family and b) be in the hands of a musician. So she got it from my aunt, and in exchange she called off a long-standing sum of money that my aunt owed her.

My great grandfather was a professional orchestral player in Scotland. The instrument, while not exactly a Stradivarius, was a good instrument with a rich tone, particularly in the lower register. It dates back to about the mid 1800's (not uncommon when it comes to violins. Most of my friends have instruments that are older than their grandparents.) The case had my GGF's initials printed in gold lettering. Unfortunatley, it didn't latch very well.

For the record, Rhonda coach did not take the violin without my permission. In fact, I encouraged her to use it as much as possible. String instruments deteriorate faster if they aren't played. Since I'm not a violinist, I keep it at school and frequently let my string-inclined friends to play it.

Now, obviously, Rhonda feels horrible about the whole thing and offered to pay for repairs. The only thing is, Rhonda is a recent college grad with a crap day-job that doesn't pay her much. Also add into it the fact that a) she's a good friend, and I don't want to put a lot of strain on our relaitonship and b) I really don;t blame her. So in order to let her work through her guilty feelings, I let her take the violin around to different repair places to get estimates. The feedback we got was really mixed:

Violin Shop A: "This is a horrible instrument. Not worth fixing. But if it has sentimental value, I can glue it together for aesthetic purposes for... say.... $75" Shop A has a reputation for being really "snobby" and over priced. I decided not to go with them.

Violin Shop B: "Yup, I can fix this for... oh... $250" The only problem is, I've done business with Shop B before, and was underwhelmed with the quality. Next.

Violin Shop C: "This is a very fine instrument. I'd appraise it at least $5000... maybe as high as $7000. Definitely worth fixing. Here's what I can do [insert rather long list of problems]. The whole thing will probably be something close to $1,200."

Now shop C sounded the most like a car dealership.... especially with the appraisal. My Mom once had the same violin appraised at less than $2000. So I didn't know what to think. I asked around and it turns out that Shop C is one of the most trusted shops in all of Southern California. They do good work.... fair..... honest.

I called my Mom to tell her the bad news. She took it about as calmly as I did, saying "Well, these things happen." She also offered to kick in a considerable amount for the repair.

I called Shop C back and told them to go ahead and do it.

The funny thing is... once I get it back, I'll probably still keep it at the school, and still let my friends play it (NO STUDENTS). I'll proabably get a newer case to keep it in, though.

My wife thinks I'm crazy (and actually, I think she's a little pissed that I'm spending money on it... or at least not asking Rhonda for more.) But see... I'd like to think that Great Grand-Pappy would be happy to know that it is being played, rather than sititng on a shelf or in a closet. Who knows, maybe someday my own instrument will be handed down. And to be sure... there's nothing more tragic than a Mark VI sitting gathering dust when it wants to be played... dents and dings be damned.