let me get the ball rolling for some discussion:


Some customers come into my shop and ask me which are totally hand made violins and which are the machine made ones. This question really made me ponder for an accurate answer in the beginning.

All violins are technically made by hand, even the so call machine made ones. Why so? Many procedure in the manufacturing process can only be made by hand. As a matter of fact, for a so call machine made instrument, most of the process needs to be made by hand. An example, the fitting of pegs and strings has to be done by hand. The insertion of the sound post (that little piece of wooden stick you see inside the instrument) has to be done by hand. The installation of the bridge (that flat piece of wood which rest the strings) has been done by hand. I have seen more good quality machine made instrument than hand made instrument! Some businessman simply hire some low skill workers and make every single part by hand, even varnish by hand and sell their violins. But the end result is just a crude instrument with poor tone at best. However, a good factory with a production line can churn out much better quality violins and in greater numbers too. Why? They have good CNC machine to ensure every part is made to spec with little or no variation. In this way, a cheaper and better sounding instrument is perfectly possible. I found out recently that even some supplier who are selling so call "hand made" instrument are beginning to rely more on CNC machine to make certain parts. From the technical and business aspect, it makes a lot of sense. For the buyer, well, some of you may be disappointed to find that out!

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