by Sarish » Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:46 am
Oh my god.
I'm going through a rough patch, and I always play my instruments until I get blisters because it is so incredibly helpful.
I let my little (elementary school) cousin play my violin while they were over last weekend because she's learning and I thought it'd be alright because I'd be right there to watch her. Her younger sister came up, though, and I had to make sure that she wouldn't damage my upright bass accidentally (I know, but she might have knocked it over and hurt herself and it) so I wasn't paying enough attention. I found a small mark on the face of the violin the day after and I thought it might be a scratch. Now I wonder if she dropped it because I took it out to play it yesterday and it sounded absolutely dead. At first I thought it was the bow, but when tested it on the my fiddle I realized it was the violin itself. I inspected it and found that the scratch was actually a crack and I just...
A crack on a violin isn't detrimental, usually. Not unless it is on or near the soundpost. This crack was not but there might be internal damage if she dropped it... Fixing a small crack can cost up to $300 and I've been hoping with all my might that it's just cosmetic and the crack won't widen any until we can get it to the luthier... That violin is the most expensive and best quality instrument I have.
Today I was kind of in a panic so I went to take my fiddle out of the case and I forgot that that case's lid does not stay open so as I was taking it out the lid slammed onto the bridge of the fiddle and the bridge freaking tilted. Now, that's fine. Any fiddler or violinist that's been playing for a while knows that you can very easily adjust bridges. But I was already freaked out so I took the bridge and shifted it without loosening the damn strings. Sure, the bridge is in generally the right place now. But this is a 19th century german fiddle that has more scars than any instrument feasibly should. There is a scar running along the entirety of its back for heck's sake. So this instrument is fragile and there is now a scrape and several chips on either side where the bridge was. That wood is old and it sags a bit and I just... It could be cracked. I might have just cracked it. Near the soundpost because the bridge sits over the soundpost. Oh my god.
I don't know what to do. I've never had to deal with cracked instruments, nevermind two. I think I need to loosen the strings on the fiddle and remove the bridge completely. Maybe I should do the same for the violin. I don't know if the change in tension will be worse for them. But I don't even know if I should put the dampits to keep the wood humidified in case the change exacerbates the injuries...
Six hundred dollars. This could cost me six hundred dollars. Possibly even more. If the violin has cracks on or near the soundpost it is as good as garbage. It can be fixed, sure, but its quality will tank. It would be better to buy a new one. How much does the violin cost? Almost as much as the average cost of buying a macaw. I could lose the first violin I have had the great fortune of owning because my parents paid for it, and have to pay so much... even without speculation I know that I will at least have to pay $300 to fix the crack. Not to mention whatever the fiddle will now need. If the fiddle is also cracked around the soundpost? If, in the worst case scenario, I lose both instruments? The fiddle is slightly less than half the cost of the violin. That is... it's so much. So much money and so many memories and... that leaves me with no violins. Nothing that I could use for the half of the songs that I play on violin in my orchestra.
I can't. Music is my therapy. Both of my violins. Both in two days. I dare not touch my upright bass. Should I get anywhere near my electric violin? I think I have to. I have to play something, I have to fiddle until I can't feel my wrists. I have to. Hell. Hell hell hell.
Christmas? Erhu? German bow for my bass that I need because I am physically incapable of holding a french bow for more than maybe twenty or so measures? No. No. Picking up extra shifts and hoping and hoping that my luck does not plummet when I get to the luthier's.
Can't I even have this comfort? Can't I play and play and not have anyone judge me? Can't I be alone with my music and let it help me? Maybe not.
Why hello there.
I'm absolute trash and that's basically all you need to know about me.