Thread: Dad's Violin
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Old 09-06-2015, 11:21 AM   #1
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Location: Fayetteville, GA, USA
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Default Dad's Violin

This is my fathers Violin. For most of it's more than 100 years it's been broken.

A few years before World War II, on a snowy, icy day my father walked from the farm near Cumberland Gap to a shop in Tazewell where he paid $20 for the used Violin. On the way home, Dad's younger brother, Tip, wanted to carry it. Tip slipped on the ice as they took a short cut though a railroad tunnel and cracked the top of Dad's new "fiddle."

So most of it's existence has been one of silence, hidden away in attics and closets, until 1997 when it was repaired and made playable. Kathy played it at Georgia State while earning her BFA in Music Education. Then, loaned to a student, it was broken again, this time the cost of repair being prohibitive.

Until a very unique gentleman, Dan C. came into the doll shop a few months ago, seemingly by Divine Appointment, and struck up a conversation with Kathy. Before long a deal was struck to trade Violin lessons for Violin repair.

You see, Dan was a luthier, and the son of a luthier, but had never learned to play. And was in place where learning to play, and a good project, would do him some good.

After quite a few lessons, and 175 hours of meticulous labor, Dad's Violin is home again, intact, playable, and way better than new being almost entirely rebuilt from fine, aged materials. It needs to sit and be quiet just a little bit more while the new glue and varnish dry completely.

And then it will make music like never before.
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