The road to becoming a violin maker is inevitably paved with violins. You start out merrily with making instruments for yourself, friends and relations etc., but by then the violin making virus appears to be one of the ineradicable kind. Most of the instruments are musically, and very often visually as well, too good to merely decorate walls in silence. So we have decided to create an outlet for them, that they may come into the hands of dedicated players. We choose the formula whereby the maker sells his instrument, and the School provides the platform, the digital showroom, authentication, and after sales care.
Provenance
By and large instruments come from 3 sources:
- made by students; the majority
- consigned; very now and then, for the School is not eager to walk the slippery path of fiddle trade
- made by myself; a few instruments from the period before the foundation of the School await completion, and (very) occasionally something new leaves my hands.
Price and quality
The considerations taken into account when fixing the price are divers, and not a secret. The instruments don’t have a “lineage” to boast, but most of them are musically as well as aesthetically much more interesting than mass-produced ones. On the other hand we don’t aspire to be a player in the elevated field of the living makers of renown. Without becoming rich, the selling of instruments is to provide a sound stimulus to continue making them. We also take into account the workmanship, materials used, etc.
For whom?
Point of departure is that violin making students make instruments that music making students can afford: everything between a really good sounding violin and a double-bass for a professional student. And, yes, a few instruments are being played, and liked, by professionals already. We really insist that the prospective buyer be the player, and are going to make sure that such is the case to the best of our abilities.
Commissioning
If not in a hurry, in most cases a student can be found willing to make something special for you, of course under supervision of the School. That gives you full opportunity to have a hand in the project, from the choice of the wood to the voicing of the instrument.
Warrant
The instruments are provided with a label from the School, stating maker, year etc. The label also indicates that the instrument is made under the aegis of the DSVM, and according to our quality standards. We guarantee that each instrument is carefully made by one hand, from first class material, and has excellent sound and playing characteristics. For after sales care, small changes in set-up, and in case of unforeseeable problems, not traceable to normal wear or carelessness, the School is also answerable.