Three Antique violins played by Jeff Taylor - Stainer and Amati - "Rescued by Schnefsky" (#7 Amati)

In January 2018 I bought by accident an old violin an an auction house. It was in a state of total disrepair. After wondering what to do with it I decided to learn how to play it. So I had it fully set up by a master luthier, Hratch Armenious of Toronto, and began lessons at the Bradford Academy of Music. My teacher is the very talented Jeff Taylor, who performs on this video. Hratch Armenious is a violin and cello maker who is known world wide for his instruments. He was very kind to work on my derelict models....but I discovered he loves all things violin. Jeff Taylor from Toronto teaches at the Bradford Academy of Music. Jeff is a performing musician with such bands as The Blazing Fiddles and the Big Sound. His performance highlights have been multiple shows at Massey Hall, including accompaniment for Diana Krall. 1- STAINER by Lignatone: The first violin featured is a 1950ish Lignatone from Czechoslovakia. It is a copy of a Jakob Stainer, but without the overly high arch that is found on so may later copies. The Lignatone company produced many types of instruments, mostly brass and woodwind, and also accordions. This Stainer was so badly beat up that I decided to refinish the belly and edges myself, especially to show off the fine inlaid perfling. I left the wood its natural colour. The sealing of joints, new pegs, tailpiece, soundpost, bridge, fingerboard refinishing, etc was done by Armenious Luthiers. 2- (#7) AMATI German Workshop: It is from a small unknown German workshop according to two separate luthier appraisals. It is particularly fine cut and light. It features a magnificent one piece Maple back. It has a paper label inside noting it is a Nicolas Amatus 1685 copy. It required a full set up including a new ebony fingerboard. Estimated date of production about 1900. 3- AMATI Germany :The third violin is not labelled but is probably German made according to the expert luthier. It was in very rough shape including a split rib. It is a gem with a delicate tone. The luthier needed to replace the ribs of one bout, and other major work throughout. Viola pegs were used in the pegbox because the holes had enlarged over time, and I decided not to rebush or replace the entire pegbox, so as to keep the fiddle authentic. The treble side scroll was completely missing, so Hratch carved a new one to match the bass side and glued it into place. You cannot see the repair. I have recently installed D'addario Ascente strings on this fiddle to increase the warm sound. In this video all violins are equipped with Thomastik Infeld Vienna Dominant strings. My teacher Jeff Taylor was kind enough to demonstrate these musical gems, rescued from the graveyard of basements and dusty attics. He sure makes them sound sweet and rich.

Видео Three Antique violins played by Jeff Taylor - Stainer and Amati - "Rescued by Schnefsky" (#7 Amati) автора Chord Champions