This is what I’m lusting after right now. A Luis and Clark Carbon Fibre Violin.
Grrrrrr… 😉
At $5539 (or £3427) I’m saving up my pennies, and not holding hope for Santa to do the honours.
This sexy beast is made of a one-piece carbon fibre body and has gears in the pegbox. Save for the strings, it’s completely unaffected by heat, cold, sun, rain, snow, hail, no cracking, warping, peeling, woodworm or going out of tune at really inopportune moments.
You gotta love technology.
My current violin, of the plain old wooden variety, is lovely, and I do rather like it… but I struggle with the lack of ethics involved in its manufacture. The wood is over a hundred years old so I can pretty much cope with the lack of sustainable sourcing… but the glue is a hideous concoction of boiled down animal leftover bits. Ugh. Pretty grim.
The bow’s not much better. Most horsehair for bows is a slaughterhouse byproduct. The nylon fake stuff is pretty crud and sounds ropey. I do have an ‘Incredibow’ that’s completely synthetic though and it’s actually not all that bad considering the price, and I tend to chop and change between playing it and my normal wood bow.
You can also get ‘live’ horsehair. I’ve not tried it, but have been putting off rehairing my other bow for a few years now so saving up for that too…
The Incredibow is also much lighter and it’s soooo much easier on the right hand when I’ve got a touch of RSI from composing on the Mac for too long.
So if anyone’s feeling generous…
Edit 2018: I am now the proud owner of a Mezzo Forte carbon fibre vegan violin (from Germany) and a carbon fibre/synthetic hair bow vegan bow from Cardiff Violins, which are both lovely. So no donations needed now!
Edit 2019: My performances on the Mezzo Forte violin and Cardiff Violins bow are now featured in loads of my compositions now, but most notably in the StarDog and TurboCat score, and ‘The Key’ from the Department of Distractions, by Third Angel.
I just bought one, along with a Codabow Diamond GX.. Amazing for a guy who has never touched, or heard either one to just blow almost $7K..
That said.. First half hour with this combination was not that great; but next half hours was brilliant! The bow was light, and lively, drew smooth and true. The violin itself was ridiculously light, and the neck shape was less traditional and too some getting use to; so you often over jump your positions until you get use to it. But living in Reno, and having temps below freezing, the strings still go out of tune from temp change, but at least I don’t have to worry about my violin cracking! I played in an outdoor concert once, left my bow in the sun, and it snapped.. I was so traumatized that now I only play Carbon Fiber bows.
Save your pennies; it’s well worth it! I have gone to violin shops and played their entire inventory and I’d say the Luis and Clark is as good as the $22K violins that I tried in LA. Cleans with windex!!
Heather – If you want to reduce/avoid RSI, try using a Wacom tablet and a big non-Apple mouse – which are basically designed induce RSI – Mac mice that is. The smaller the mouse, the worse the problem usually
I now use Mouse in left hand and tablet in right. I also have a table that can function as a trackpad. No more RSI. 🙂
Be careful as I know people with permanent debiltating injuries from RSI.
Never realised violins weren’t vegetarian!
Hi Heather, I was so happy to find your blog post! I am a vegan adult beginner and found it very difficult to find information on vegan violins. I’m currently playing with a Cardiff Violins bow and a rented non-vegan violin, but think I will start saving for a Mezzo Forte now as it seems the most affordable option! Many thanks
Hi Cat – so glad it was helpful! It’s so frustrating, but even now it seems to be assumed that if you’re a ‘serious’ violinist you’ll accept that animal cruelty is just an unavoidable part of the experience (or that you aren’t even aware of it, many of my violinist friends weren’t)… but I’m quite stubborn and wouldn’t accept it, not in this day and age. I do rate my Mezzo Forte very highly. Its sound isn’t quite as complex up-close as my wood violin, but it more than makes up for it in power and sweetness. I can get a lovely, focussed, clean, round tone out of it after around half an hour of playing. As a beginner it’s possibly too much of an investment right now, but vegans obviously have superior mental capabilities () so you’re sure to be a quick study. Good luck with it all!