Customer Reviews

Violin Owner's Manual Book (String Letter Publishing) (Strings) (Strings Guide)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is remarkable in its presentation. Not a shop manual or history book, it even includes a glossary at the back for the benefit of those of us who don't know violin terminology. As you read through each of the articles, you get a feeling that the authors are talking to you directly. It covers every topic necessary to care for your violin. Most, if not all, of my questions about my favorite instrument were answered. This book is truly the manual that should come with every violin.

This book should have represented itself as a reprint of articles from Strings Magazine. Nothing wrong with that, but the book lacks cohesion as a result. One of the most valuable sections is on string selection, but as I started to read it I realized I had already read the article and for free on a web site! The section "Sound post Adjustment" has no technical, i.e. luthier, information about the process of adjusting the sound post. Let me sum it up: the sound post is important and if you don't like the sound consider having a luthier adjust it. If the reader is a novice violin player/owner this is a concise book on a variety of aspects, but would-be luthiers beware!

This is NOT an owners manual. It is a book of violin articels. From the stand point of a hands on musican this book is useless. It seems to contain information geared toword the neophyte but it goes off onto tangents and angles representive of a Salvidor Dahli in book form. (Why bother puting information on the purchase of a mid-level instrument while omitting points to look for in a student instrument?)
It has 0 (ZERO!!!) information on setups introduces nothing of use to students and nothing a more experienced musician wouldn't allready know just from hitting web sites.
So to be concrete... This "owners manual" will not provide any DIY tips. Will not provide any information on DIY repairs or quick fixes. It's generally useless unless you happen to be really curious about the violin as an instrument. (In which case it would make a great coaster to put your coffey on while you read a more intelligently assembled book.)

I'm an intermediate fiddler, and found this book to be very helpful. It's not 100% inclusive of every topic you can imagine, but covers the basics quite well. After reading this, you'll have a good understanding of the instrument. This is one I'll keep in my library as a reference, and I hope they build on this with updated editions.

The book in helpful; it is basically what I expected. It is not sophisticated to where it deals with in depth subjects as to ways in which to improve or maximize the sound, or any aspect of construction, but it is helpful.

This is a despicable book. It might as well be called "The World's Most Interesting Logarithms" for all it has to do with its purported subject. Example - on cleaning an old violin, it recomends not letting it get dirty in the first place; fine if you've got a factory-fresh example, but useless if you've got one that needs cleaning. It mentions internet sites (all in the U.S.) that will be obsolete in a short time and, in short, is a total waste of wood-pulp. Hang it in the lavatory and tear off one page at a time.