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[All Ears]

Hello all, dropping in after a while to see if this name rings any bells!

Nadia Mantovani
Seems she won prizes for her violins in the 1980s, and was based in Cremona, though also teaching in Milan and possibly elsewhere, noted as somebody Giorgio Grisales studied with, then there was a gap, and recently she's been producing instruments again...but somehow I can only find Japanese shops stocking her recent instruments, and so my curiosity was aroused! Anybody know anything of her recent instruments? Is she selling only a few instruments which are being swallowed up by the insatiable Japanese appetite for anything from Cremona, or is the preferred US sound just different? The going price here in Japan for her recent violins seems to be in the USD7000+ range.

Son Viohazard is seriously considering a violin of hers. He tried quite a few contemporary Italian instruments, including some well-known ones, but while some were outstanding in one register or the other, the Mantovani instrument is the best balanced he's played so far, and he thought it had more "depth" to the sound.

He plays a violin he calls his "old man of the mountains", put together out of German violin "spare parts" for him by a local luthier. It sounds good, but the neck is so gigantically long and strangely tapered that his current teacher insists that he get a different instrument - and even arranged a loan instrument in the meantime. Of course, I'd like to avoid this kind of headache in this round of violin-hunting.

Japanese shops push Italian violins (or violins with Italian labels, anyway ), and the brighter Italian sound is the standard here, so while Viohazard liked a German Roth #72 much better than he expected, he will likely choose an Italian instrument.
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Helen in Japan

[Sheila]

I am not sure sound can be considered by the country the violin was made in. There are all kinds of sounds from Italian violins.

I have not hear of the name Nadia Mantovani. I was hoping someone else might read this and know of her?

I was once told by a violin maker, that some workshops create violins and then put names in them. They think names sell better than "workshop " violin.
You mentioned you had tracked her down as a person, not a fictional name, however I wonder why the gap? And is there any information on her now? If you find it on-line please post the web address.

Roth makes a nice violin and they usually hold their value.
I cannot agree with choosing a violin solely because it was made in a particular country.

The violin needs to fit him personally. His size, style of playing, ease of playing, and the special things it can do. I like to have them get a violin they can use now, but one that also they can "grow" into. I mean by their playing ability growth. One that can produce many different playing sounds and will be able to handle the future concertos to be played.

One thing, if he likes the violin, he will play it, if he purchases a violin someone else likes and he does not, he will not play it as much.
Also the bow used and the strings on the instrument can make a big difference.

One of my students is trying out for concerto competition and we changed the strings on her violin to Obligatos and there is an amazing difference in the sound, for the better. We also had her bow rehaired.

When I was trying violins the last time. I purchased the one I did because it was so comfortable to play and played so much easier with my hands and arms. It also has a beautiful sound. It stood out from the others due to be set up so well to play.

Let us know what violin you purchase for him.

[All Ears]

I have found a reason for the gap in production, and don't think that she currently has a website, at least. The sound seemed to be consistent through all registers, but somewhat muffled?

I hear what you are saying about country of origin, but the overwhelming inclination towards Italian instruments here means that there just more of them than there are of any other violins - including the good, the bad, and the indifferent!

Our budget seems to have put us in a no-man's land of violins that are attractive but each have some drawback. The Roth was more balanced overall, but it definitely lacked sparkle and brilliance up top. So far, nothing leaps out and says "ME! I'M the one!", and yet he needs something before long, as he's practicing his exam repertoire on a violin that has a heavily modified set-up for very rapid gypsy-style playing.

On the plus side, his current teacher is at least willing to advise on instruments at the local shop, though his advice tends to be things like "Any violin will do if it's made right, $200 would be enough...no, this [$10,000] violin is not good enough..."!

Viohazard buying a violin at 13 is definitely not the same as Viohazard buying a violin at 9 or 10 - he has more power and control, and the sound he wants is no longer tied to the Baroque-heavy repertoire he was playing a few years back. He's using the Finkel workshop bow he bought then, as he is still comfortable with that. Liked the Obligato strings very much on his old giraffe-necked instrument, but was also pretty happy with the (more readily available) Dominants once he switched to a silver D and a Goldbrokat E (also easy to find in Japan).
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Helen in Japan

[Sheila]

[All Ears]

Thanks about advice on asking to try with different strings.

The local shop we tried the Mantovani had a number of instruments which had a muffled sound to them. When I think about it, it's odd that they should *all* have the same flaw, so I might take Viohazard back and ask the luthier if he could try nudging the soundposts on the Mantovani and a couple of the others a little to see if they sound less strangled.

Of those we tried, he came back to instruments by Gianfranco Rossi (no further information), Stefano Trabucchi, and Vittorio Formaggia. There was also a Marcello Villa instrument, a little out of our price range, and not quite as attractive as the instrument he tried a few years ago, but that Villa sparkle is there in spades.
http://www.trabucchi-violini.com/english/
http://www.vittorioformaggia.com/
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Helen in Japan

[Sheila]

Names........I think in the price range you are looking and also for what you want it for, the name does not to matter. Even a no name might be good.
The important part for the violin is for it to play well.

Actually I found there is a great deal of difference when different luthiers set up violins.

Setup, including the bridge and sound post and fingerboard and neck angle. The bridge can make a big difference too.
That is something I noticed about Kelvin Scott's violins. I of course have one, but I also have a student who has one that is not his but was set up by him and it is remarkable.
So if you have good luthier perhaps a new bridge and as you mentioned sound post adjustment , plus different strings might help one that you are considering.
The shop that owns the violin will probably not be willing to do this or let anyone else.

I have a student who will be trying out for a concerto competition. I have to have her sound good. She has to use the violin she has.
So we:
1 - changed the strings to Obligatos (silver G and silver D)
2 - changed E string to Westminster
3 - rehaired bow

Doing these things made a huge difference in the sound of the violin.

[All Ears]

Thanks, yes, I don't think I know enough or Viohazard cares enough about violin one-upmanship to worry about name value!

The sound of his current violin is not actually the main problem. The neck is really, really long, although the body is a standard size. Now I understand why Viohazard called it his stubborn old man violin - he said right from the start that it was hard to play, but that he could get a good sound out of it with effort. I recall that he asked his previous teacher many times after that about his hand position in higher positions, but she was inclined to leave things up to instinct, so nobody realized what the problem was. Viohazard's giant hands and long fingers can get there by hook or by crook, but his current teacher has quite small hands and says that he can't even reach the very high positions on this violin.

Viohazard's teacher is adamant that he's not to use it for practice or lessons any more, because it's impossible to reach high positions with complete accuracy and a nice secure pressure on the strings, and his exam repertoire has a good amount of high position work.

I respect the teacher's opinion here, because he's done an awful lot to clean up Viohazard's technique and is always willing to think about things that Viohazard isn't satisfied with about his playing, instead of just brushing them off. Viohazard himself has worked solidly too, so it's probably not *just* a case of the bad workman.

The luthier is a different case - on the one hand I have reservations about asking him to do something like replace the neck on the current violin, since he put it together originally and I assume that is an indication of his usual standards - and the cost would likely be much more than the violin is worth.

On the other hand he is the only person who will take the old violin as a trade-in, since he is the person who put it together and sold it to us, and the teacher has him over a barrel regarding the quality of it! Frankly, I don't want to buy another violin off him, but can't think what else to do. The teacher has a sharp ear, so I trust his judgment on the instruments he's checked, but he is inclined to expect twice the quality for half the price.

If we buy elsewhere, the loss of the trade-in reduces our budget by a substantial amount, making the Roth about the only choice - and we will certainly take your advice on seeing how different strings would sound with that, because at the moment, it's "OK", but lacks seduction! It is a "dark" sound, so different strings could well make quite a difference.

The teacher is very much against the Roth as being probably overpriced, but he hasn't actually been out looking at violin prices!

Thanks for reminding me to get the bow rehaired - it could do with it!

...Kind of wondering when anything to do with violin will be fun again!

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Helen in Japan

[All Ears]

Finally the deed is done. Most of our choices were sold while we were waiting for Viohazard's teacher to get time to look at them, but I don't think they had really grabbed his attention. He finally chose a violin made by THIS guy:
[url]http://www.liuteria-parmense.com/ita/membri_det.asp?nIDMembro=12

His choice was very much influenced by being able to take this (and one other) violin home to try for almost a week. Whether he changed or the violin changed more over that time, I couldn't say, but we started out with a very new instrument that seemed to be dominated by a huge sound in the lower register, and after a few hours' playing, ended up with something that sounded balanced and strong throughout. It's gained sweetnes if not brilliance up top, and remains powerful but somehow not so booming down bottom.

It was the most reasonable of all the handmade instruments we tried, but the first that caught his attention at first bowstroke, which just shows how much price has to do with it.

It has Obligatos on it at present, but could actually do with something brighter. [/url]
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Helen in Japan