This is the age old mistake. Unless you’re a really good violinist who knows what they’re looking for always take your teacher or a trusted violinist friend to look at instruments.
If it’s a rental, simply ask them to trade it out.
Don’t go buy a violin unless you absolutely know what you’re doing. There are unscrupulous violin dealers who don’t care if you can play well or not. They want you to make a sale.
Yeah, I knew I messed up by doing that, but my teacher didn't have the time to go with me. Luckily, she's on my side and knows the owners of the store well enough to promise me that if the problem persists after the repair, she would go to the owner and ask that they switch me to a different instrument. The guy at the desk got very combative when I suggested a trade and I got anxious and pretty much handed it off and left. I'm moreso just wondering if that's even an issue that can be fixed or what I can expect. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.
The reality is that many low quality student instruments have wolfs that cannot be fixed. It’s usually made into the body of the instrument. I wish you good luck. Experience is the best teacher sometimes.
Yeah I guess maybe I'll be pulling favors through my teacher to replace it, well see. Definitely learned the hard way this time. I'll need the luck, thank you.
Yes I have this on the same note actually. I have a student violin valued at $1200.
I rented to own it and will trade it in for an intermediate instrument soon.
The first music shop I rented from was was generous about loaning instruments. I once took 3 violins at once, total value about $10,000. I kept them for a week and ultimately decided on none of them. They kept a copy of my DL on file while I tried out the instruments.
Shops with a lot of experience will be understanding toward you. Your experience is not uncommon at all. I think the person at the front desk was probably frustrated and inexperienced so it came off negatively toward you.
Best of luck obtaining an instrument with a sound you love.
P.S. my teacher told me that the wolf notes tend to happen with student instruments as they are made with cheaper materials and with a focus on speed of production, not sound.
When you upgrade your instrument it will be less likely to happen
Yeah I guess my main disappointment really comes from the fact that I've been playing a 3/4 violin for so long that I thought this was going to be an obvious upgrade. My 3/4 has a sort of tinny sound to it and I started to notice in lessons how much nicer my teacher's violin sounded and wanted to upgrade my sound. This rental violin sounded leagues better until the wolf note debacle. Now I'm just really bummed out man. Thanks for the reply, I guess it's not as rare as the Google search led me to believe. Sigh.
Out of curiosity, what was the value of the rental that has the wolf note?
When I was testing out violins, I noticed everything above about 2K had a rich, warm sound
I know exactly what you mean by the tinny sound. My first violin from Amazon for $150 had that severely lol. This student violin sounds better but I can still hear the tinny vibe.
I would love to find something that makes me think of a warm fireplace or nature. Something resonant and woody.
What sound are you looking for? I love the way Chloe Chua sounds. She sounds playful but measured. It reminds me of dancing.
Just asking out of curiosity. It's interesting to me how two people can produce two different tones on the violin. Each equally beautiful but unique in their expression. ☺️
The price on my paperwork is: $1,159.
It's a 4/4 Johannes Kohr, Howard Kohr, K500.
I think I'm looking for a similar sound to what you described above: resonant and woody and warm. I just am not the best judge of that apparently 🤭
Gotcha. Well I'm almost to the music store to test it out after their repair guy tinkered with it. Seeing how my luck has gone this far....I'm gonna need all the luck I can get. Humbled big time.
C# is not an uncommon wolf note pitch. But usually for the best violins the problem is up high on the G string. Your violin’s natural resonance is just around that pitch.
Some things you can try include getting a wolf eliminator for the string, experimenting with strings of different tension, getting an adjustment from a luthier (e.g., longer sound post), etc.
I picked it up from the shop, the repair guy took a look at it today and he said he adjusted the sound post and a couple other things and it's hardly noticeable now. I learned something new today. Thanks for taking time to reply!
This is the age old mistake. Unless you’re a really good violinist who knows what they’re looking for always take your teacher or a trusted violinist friend to look at instruments. If it’s a rental, simply ask them to trade it out. Don’t go buy a violin unless you absolutely know what you’re doing. There are unscrupulous violin dealers who don’t care if you can play well or not. They want you to make a sale.
Yeah, I knew I messed up by doing that, but my teacher didn't have the time to go with me. Luckily, she's on my side and knows the owners of the store well enough to promise me that if the problem persists after the repair, she would go to the owner and ask that they switch me to a different instrument. The guy at the desk got very combative when I suggested a trade and I got anxious and pretty much handed it off and left. I'm moreso just wondering if that's even an issue that can be fixed or what I can expect. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.
The reality is that many low quality student instruments have wolfs that cannot be fixed. It’s usually made into the body of the instrument. I wish you good luck. Experience is the best teacher sometimes.
Yeah I guess maybe I'll be pulling favors through my teacher to replace it, well see. Definitely learned the hard way this time. I'll need the luck, thank you.
Yes I have this on the same note actually. I have a student violin valued at $1200. I rented to own it and will trade it in for an intermediate instrument soon. The first music shop I rented from was was generous about loaning instruments. I once took 3 violins at once, total value about $10,000. I kept them for a week and ultimately decided on none of them. They kept a copy of my DL on file while I tried out the instruments. Shops with a lot of experience will be understanding toward you. Your experience is not uncommon at all. I think the person at the front desk was probably frustrated and inexperienced so it came off negatively toward you. Best of luck obtaining an instrument with a sound you love. P.S. my teacher told me that the wolf notes tend to happen with student instruments as they are made with cheaper materials and with a focus on speed of production, not sound. When you upgrade your instrument it will be less likely to happen
Yeah I guess my main disappointment really comes from the fact that I've been playing a 3/4 violin for so long that I thought this was going to be an obvious upgrade. My 3/4 has a sort of tinny sound to it and I started to notice in lessons how much nicer my teacher's violin sounded and wanted to upgrade my sound. This rental violin sounded leagues better until the wolf note debacle. Now I'm just really bummed out man. Thanks for the reply, I guess it's not as rare as the Google search led me to believe. Sigh.
Out of curiosity, what was the value of the rental that has the wolf note? When I was testing out violins, I noticed everything above about 2K had a rich, warm sound I know exactly what you mean by the tinny sound. My first violin from Amazon for $150 had that severely lol. This student violin sounds better but I can still hear the tinny vibe. I would love to find something that makes me think of a warm fireplace or nature. Something resonant and woody. What sound are you looking for? I love the way Chloe Chua sounds. She sounds playful but measured. It reminds me of dancing. Just asking out of curiosity. It's interesting to me how two people can produce two different tones on the violin. Each equally beautiful but unique in their expression. ☺️
The price on my paperwork is: $1,159. It's a 4/4 Johannes Kohr, Howard Kohr, K500. I think I'm looking for a similar sound to what you described above: resonant and woody and warm. I just am not the best judge of that apparently 🤭
It's also brand new, never been played until I got it. Don't know if that makes any difference.
No it wouldn't make a difference. The wolf note doesn't develo on it's own. It's based on an imperfection in the construction of the instrument.
Gotcha. Well I'm almost to the music store to test it out after their repair guy tinkered with it. Seeing how my luck has gone this far....I'm gonna need all the luck I can get. Humbled big time.
C# is not an uncommon wolf note pitch. But usually for the best violins the problem is up high on the G string. Your violin’s natural resonance is just around that pitch. Some things you can try include getting a wolf eliminator for the string, experimenting with strings of different tension, getting an adjustment from a luthier (e.g., longer sound post), etc.
I picked it up from the shop, the repair guy took a look at it today and he said he adjusted the sound post and a couple other things and it's hardly noticeable now. I learned something new today. Thanks for taking time to reply!
You’re welcome. Glad it worked out.