I honestly should have written this review before now, but I hope late is better than never!
So I did that thing you're never supposed to do - I bought a violin, unplayed, from a friend secondhand as a rank beginner. I had never touched a violin before. The violin had been purchased originally from Amazon. Yikes.
Upon doing some research, I went to David before buying the violin and just asked his opinion on my sizing and whether a full size violin was right for me. He was extremely patient and explained violin sizing to me, letting me hold my first violin to make sure (I was so nervous).
After I bought the violin, I figured it would probably benefit from a good setup, so I brought it in to him to get a look at. On sight, he knew exactly what it needed. I got a new bridge, shaved nut, peg shaping, soundpost adjustment and general tune-up for a very reasonable price. He was kind and patient in explaining the scope and nature of the work to me and was dead-on accurate in both his initial cost and timing estimates. He was naturally skeptical after my description of the instrument, and of course warned me against buying a VSO; however, I was impressed that, upon reviewing the instrument, he was upfront about the value of working on the instrument I had versus just scrapping it and buying a new one.
I waited a while to write this review because I wanted to make sure I had enough experience with the violin to give an informed assessment, especially as I had never worked with a luthier before. After playing for a few months, I can say that David's work likely improved the sound of the instrument significantly and, most importantly, made it a true pleasure to play. Of course, it does not sound nearly as sweet in my hands as in my teacher's (so I ask him to play it for me at any chance I get), but I'm looking forward to the day it does. The newly-shaped pegs keep the violin almost perfectly in tune every time out of the case. The new bridge is elegant and strong. David was honest and recommended that I keep the original strings on the instrument as they were in fine condition, even though I had bought new strings. I will definitely be going back to David to have the new strings put on once I wear through the current set, for any repairs or adjustments I need in the future, and of course for a new bow once I've outgrown my cheapy student bow. Thank you, David, for your excellent work and for your friendly, patient, and honest advice to a very new violinist. read more