Absolutely Lovely
The Premium Bench Stradivari 1686 is truly lovely. The finish is brilliant, vibrant, but without being overdone. There is just the right amount of fire in it to capture your attention and make you say, "Oh my!" The boxwood fittings are tasteful and add so much richness to the overall look of the violin, as well as to the tone.
It is a well-balanced violin. When you pick it up, there is no feeling of heaviness anywhere, no place where it feels a bit weighted. It feels nearly weightless, and yet, it has an amazing presence.
It stays in tune. Not only after playing, but if it sits overnight. I have yet to see how it does over two days, because it is such a dream to play, that I can hardly wait to pick it up every day.
The tone. This is one of those subjective things, where you wonder "How do I describe something this amazing? This captivating?" I knew from the demo video and the comparison video, that it was going to be incredible, but to actually play and produce the richness of the harmonics is impossible to describe. Not only do the harmonics come through at the depths, they hover over the top of the strings, ringing like bells. Yes. I kid you not. Bells. (Of course, this is when my intonation is spot on.)
The violin is friendly and quite accommodating. It can play sad pieces, happy, cheerful, and when you play Bach, oh, it is delightful. The responsiveness is impressive and rather playful. For me, the bowing is much easier on this violin. It took me a few sessions to get the intonation, but once I did, I was instantly rewarded.
I play a lot of Irish music, and this violin has such a voice that it almost talks in some of the pieces, especially when I play O'Carolan. It is easy to express, not only to play the notes, but to express them.
Another thing is that when I viewed the videos, I chose this violin because it felt more accessible, friendlier. And I am so tickled I chose this one. In summary, I consider it to have a stately cheerfulness.
In conclusion, I was hesitant to purchase such a fine violin, because I thought my skill-set would let it down. But oh no, this violin is ready to be a teacher, and it praises my progress with a sound I had no idea I would ever be able to produce. So, my advice? If you know that you are going to play because you love playing the violin, go ahead and buy the best violin that you can. It is well worth it.
