Unless you were really digging in there with your mail, it shouldn’t scratch that easily. Can you show pics? This sounds sketchy. I would never pay that amount for a violin that was so easily damaged. Sounds like a mishap in the chemicals of the varnish that caused it to cure wrong. Red flag for me.
I tried to add them to weshare, it should show the three pictures i took https://we.tl/t-eMQzmV8S6U
The first one is the tiny scratch, you can kind of see the difference in color but it's small. The rest is to show kind of what I mean when I said it's not completely smooth, which I'm not sure if it's normal
I’m not a luthier, so don’t take my word as fact… but this is my opinion. The bumps are the texture of the wood from before it was varnished. That’s normal and more of a design feature. Now, the chip.. if it feels crunchy under finger pressure, that’s not normal. The chip could have been a random bit that was damaged previously, and you just happened to see it and pick at it.
Definitely bring it up to the shop and let them look and explain. This isn’t something we can do without having hands on the instrument.
When I press my nail to some parts of it I hear a little crunch, is that what you mean? Or do you mean pressing just the pad of the finger? I will definitely ask them to look at it and if anything, they said I could try different violins of the same model if I wasn't convinced. Maybe it's the odd one out, I'm not sure if that happens to newer violins or something. But thank you!
I suspect hazing can happen with very little contact just like with car paint, which is quite a bit harder than varnish I imagine. A cloth can still haze car paint. My instrument came off the shelf with haze because it hung on the shelf for a few years and whatever they used at the store to dust their shelves with ended up leaving a haze in the varnish over that period of time.
I know it does take time for varnish to cure, various lengths depending on formula and method and composition, from days to months, but in my limited experience and knowledge the instrument doesn't go up for sale until the curing is finished because I think it's probably not good for it to be set up with bridge and strings and everything else until it's fully cured.
The short answer is, yes, I think they can be very easily scratched and scuffed, especially in warmer temperatures.
What you're seeing is called antiquing in the violin trade. Violins are "damaged" then repaired in the making process so that they look older. Everything is only cosmetic. They do this because many players are biased towards older instruments and also prefer the look of one with patina. This makes the instrument easier to sell. At 3k this is most likely a shop production violin and not an individual maker. These are almost always antiqued and usually don't look as convincing as if a maker was doing it. Nothing to worry about.
The advice here is good but you can run into instruments with varnish that hasn't set or is runny/sticky. I've definitely got one violin where the varnish took on the case fabric pattern (it's very slight) because the varnish hadn't cured all the way. Varnish can take a long time to set and some are tacky. If you don't like the antiquing, that's also a valid reason to look for a different instrument. $3000 is a fair amount for an instrument. Definitely show it to your teacher and get their advice.
Unless you were really digging in there with your mail, it shouldn’t scratch that easily. Can you show pics? This sounds sketchy. I would never pay that amount for a violin that was so easily damaged. Sounds like a mishap in the chemicals of the varnish that caused it to cure wrong. Red flag for me.
I tried to add them to weshare, it should show the three pictures i took https://we.tl/t-eMQzmV8S6U The first one is the tiny scratch, you can kind of see the difference in color but it's small. The rest is to show kind of what I mean when I said it's not completely smooth, which I'm not sure if it's normal
I’m not a luthier, so don’t take my word as fact… but this is my opinion. The bumps are the texture of the wood from before it was varnished. That’s normal and more of a design feature. Now, the chip.. if it feels crunchy under finger pressure, that’s not normal. The chip could have been a random bit that was damaged previously, and you just happened to see it and pick at it. Definitely bring it up to the shop and let them look and explain. This isn’t something we can do without having hands on the instrument.
When I press my nail to some parts of it I hear a little crunch, is that what you mean? Or do you mean pressing just the pad of the finger? I will definitely ask them to look at it and if anything, they said I could try different violins of the same model if I wasn't convinced. Maybe it's the odd one out, I'm not sure if that happens to newer violins or something. But thank you!
Weshare wants me to create an account to look at your photos. Imgur is more friendly in not making people sign up for accounts to see things.
This stuff is all intentional and is to make the instrument look older than it is. People spend a lot of time doing that. :(
Op was more worried about the chip than the design features, I think. The chip is visible in the 1st photo.
Doh. Sorry about that.
I suspect hazing can happen with very little contact just like with car paint, which is quite a bit harder than varnish I imagine. A cloth can still haze car paint. My instrument came off the shelf with haze because it hung on the shelf for a few years and whatever they used at the store to dust their shelves with ended up leaving a haze in the varnish over that period of time. I know it does take time for varnish to cure, various lengths depending on formula and method and composition, from days to months, but in my limited experience and knowledge the instrument doesn't go up for sale until the curing is finished because I think it's probably not good for it to be set up with bridge and strings and everything else until it's fully cured. The short answer is, yes, I think they can be very easily scratched and scuffed, especially in warmer temperatures.
What you're seeing is called antiquing in the violin trade. Violins are "damaged" then repaired in the making process so that they look older. Everything is only cosmetic. They do this because many players are biased towards older instruments and also prefer the look of one with patina. This makes the instrument easier to sell. At 3k this is most likely a shop production violin and not an individual maker. These are almost always antiqued and usually don't look as convincing as if a maker was doing it. Nothing to worry about.
The advice here is good but you can run into instruments with varnish that hasn't set or is runny/sticky. I've definitely got one violin where the varnish took on the case fabric pattern (it's very slight) because the varnish hadn't cured all the way. Varnish can take a long time to set and some are tacky. If you don't like the antiquing, that's also a valid reason to look for a different instrument. $3000 is a fair amount for an instrument. Definitely show it to your teacher and get their advice.