Sly has a new fiddle--this time for keeps!

When Sly first said he wanted to learn bluegrass fiddle, I shrugged him off and waited. He continued to ask for fiddle lessons, so we went and rented him a violin from one of the local music stores. There was a 4 month minimum to rent, and it was a rent to own. That worked for me--a chance to try this fiddle think out, without sinking TOO much money, and we could decide later whether to keep the fiddle we rented, give it back, or maybe even upgrade if he really did take to playing fiddle.

During that rental time I had done a little more research online, and discovered I could get the same fiddle online for less money, or more fiddle for the same money. And so, the decision was made to give this rented fiddle back, and to watch how Sly progressed. Needless to say, it became obvious he was going to keep playing fiddle, and getting a better fiddle for the same price might be a fair idea.

We talked to Sly's excellent fiddle player, and he directed us to an excellent luthier (violin maker) who was not TOO far away and provided violins for him and many other professional violinists, along with many student violinists as well. And so we went to Mr Stanton's in with a recommendation for a 'student 3' package.

What a neat person! He had three awards on his wall from the governor of the state, plus a framed invitation to GHW Bush's Presidential Inauguration. He was full of stories about local history too. It would be so much fun to get to follow him around and watch him work! But we were pressed for time, and I was stressed trying to manage Jman and SB3, who I had to bring along as well. Ah well, maybe another day!

Anyhow, a pretty piece of change later, and Sly now has his very own fiddle for keeps, including a much nicer bow, a nice case, a new and better shoulder rest, and an extra bow for back up. The boy is set! We spent the same amount of money we would have spent on the other rented fiddle, had we purchased it outright, but this new fiddle sounds SOOOO much better, even to my untrained ear. Everyone at the jam last Saturday agreed too--Sly has a terrific fiddle now! One of these days I'm going to figure out how to efficiently upload video so you can hear him play if you want (or you could come visit us!).