The violin is as kick-ass as promised. I waxed poetical and posted purty pictures here. That first post was just my excitement bubbling over in the first two days.
You're right -- it's a beautiful instrument. I love the colour and the finish. I mean reeeally love it. It plays like a dream; so consistent and bright and responsive that it honestly had me playing better immediately.
Some of that is certainly due to new strings, but I already love how it plays and sounds, with that long sustain. Can't wait to get some more time on it (everyone's napping here right now).
And thanks so much for the wonderful case -- it's a lot nicer than what I was expecting, and much appreciated. Love the little goodies (pins and gifts) too. My girls were pleased with those.
[UPDATE] After our last lesson, our teacher, Liz, played my violin. She had admired its beauty before, but hadn't properly played it yet. Her partner, Ron, was there too, an old-school fiddler who knows hundreds (literally) of traditional tunes and plays them like a dream.
Liz loves the way it plays and thinks it was a terrific value (it also sounded GORGEOUS while she played).
Ron was very impressed with the tone and spent several minutes inspecting it afterwards.
Ron agreed that the craftsmanship appeared to be outstanding -- in fact, he speculated that it must have been manufactured with all the latest technology to be that good!
He doesn't really trust anything from China, but said he wouldn't care who had made it if it looked that good and sounded that great. Grudging respect, I'd say.
So yeah, it was was a full-on love in for the VN-100. I seriously open up the case throughout my work day just to gaze at it...
Read Jeremy's blog about the violin here
[Video: Jeremy, man with curly hair, playing his VN-100 purchased at Fiddleheads on a piece he composed for string quartet]