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optional set:
Zhou Ping personal violin (Guarneri model),
with high quality
deluxe case "Atlanta"; solid, superior-quality
Romanian
brazilwood bow and branded Made in Germany resin.
Please note:
Our
instruments are sourced directly from the workshops,
strengthening
on-site quality control while guaranteeing
the lowest
possible re-sale price. 
* hand-applied natural spirit
varnish, tastefully shaded *
* beautifully flamed maple backs (two-part) *
* with ebony or
boxwood parts *
 
* Tops made of selected, slow-growth Himalayan spruce *
* densely structured wood guarantees brilliance and tonal stability *
*
precisely, purely hand-crafted violins by experienced luthier and
workshop senior Zhou Ping *
 
 
* Stradivari copies, one with
modern "shiny" finish, the other with a lightly shaded antique look *
Available
violins by Master Zhou
Ping
* new samples (Nos. 07-13) *
| No. 07 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-orange), all ebony parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 08 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-orange), all ebony parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 09 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-brown), boxwood parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 10 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-orange), all ebony parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 11 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-orange), all ebony parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 12 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-brown), boxwood parts |  |  |  |  |  | No. 13 -
Guarneri "ex-Kochanski", matted and mildly antiqued finish,
shaded
varnish (yellowish-brown), boxwood parts |  |  |  |  |  |
|
Hand-crafted
Zhou
Ping violins,
4/4 
fitted
with excellent brand-name strings, optionally with fine bow &
case
As
a new, intriguing addition to our range of violins we are offering you
these high quality, but lower-priced instruments from a small-sized,
Beijing-based workshop in which every violin - even the advanced
student specimen - are made a single violin maker. Yep, there's no
mistake: these violins aren't factory or workshop-team products.
Instead, a single maker is responsible for his or her violin from the
start through to the set-up. Every instrument is purely hand-crafted
and hand-varnished, but still the price is almost inconceivably low.
Almost.
Along with the company's advanced student
fiddles (see separate page), the
violin project
is proud to present a selection of instruments made by the workshop's
senior and supervising violin maker, Mr. Zhou Ping. His own
instruments, made only on order, offer an even greater individuality of
craftsmanship and flexibility of sound than their student
violins.
His are very well-crafted pieces of work that,
while not quite of the same level as our more artistic master violins
by >>>
Hu
Jia-Lai <<<, the >>>
Ji Brothers <<<, or >>>
Bai
Lix-Xing <<<, offer
more than enough power and tonal flexibility/shine to satisfy
the
needs of both advancing students (3 years of playing experience and
up!) and very senior hobby players. They are ideal for an asprining
young violinist to hone his technique, and they will also make very
capable ensemble violins in amateur and semi-professional orchestras.
The company herself specifies them as "professional grade"!
Zhou Ping
is a senior, master-level violinmaker with more than 20 years of
professional experience (more than 15 of which as an independent maker)
who has been hired by the Beijing workshop to train and supervise a
team of young and ambitious makers. He is responsible for the company's
quality control, checking each single violin made by the other luthiers
for possible flaws. On top of that, he makes a limited number of
violins, violas and cellos all by himself, on order only. Because of
our long-term cooperation with his company, the
violin project is able to offer you his personal
instruments at a very competitive price - and with full 3-year warranty!
The
materials that Zhou Ping and his workshop are using for their
instruments are selected, high-grade tonewoods from the Himalayan
region - first-rate resonance spruce for the tops, "snow mountain"
maple for the back, sides and neck/scroll. This is slow-growth wood,
densely structured (as you can e.g. from the tight annual rings of the
spruce), which will guarantee you long life tonal stability and
brilliance.
To further safeguard the instruments
against possible deteriorating, the company uses only air-dried woods,
stacked in cords for a minimum of 10+ years! The wood is subjected to
wheather changes by covered open-air drying (see photo below!). The
company does not
allow the use of "oven-dried"
woods - a cheap, insensitive technique that is being used for
inexpensive student violins the world over (It was invented by none
other than the famous French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume!). Our
violins are made to last a lifetime, and longer!
Master
Zhou
then carefully handcrafts every single piece (see below) and hand
varnishes the finished white violins using only natural, traditional
string instrument spirit varnish. At our shop, you can find his violins
in different variants - some with "modern", shiny varnish, others being
nicely shaded and tastefully, only mildly antiqued. Its your choice -
and it's just a matter of your own personal taste.
We
are offering you Zhou Ping's violins in two models - one after
Antonio
Stradivari, the other being based on a Guarneri Del Gesù
violin, the famous "Cannon(e)" of 1743, once owned by Nicoló Paganini. The slightly
different shapes of these two also generates a
variation in tonal timbre - while the Strad-based violins are slightly
more brilliant and lighter-colored, the Del Gesù offer a
warmer,
milder and a bit darker sound, with not quite as much brilliance on the
open E string.
Even
when new, Master Zhou's violins are characterized by a responsive,
open sound with a good balance over the instrument's entire
tonal
range. Naturally, them being new and unplayed fiddles (except for
checking), they will honor a break-in period, approximately 150 hours,
to develop an increased tonal depth and altogether even better balance.
Every new string instrument has to go through these "microscopic"
changes, and many a violinist actually enjoys the fiddle developing
under his or her own hands. Old instruments, OTOH, will never sound
better than at the time you purchase them (rather, it will be the
contrary) - and, mind, cheap old fiddles do not improve with age!
To
complement the fine woods used for the violin body and neck, the parts
(meaning pegs, fingerboard, tailpiece and chinrest) are also of very
nice quality. While the pegs, tailpiece and chinrest are made of either
fine Indian ebony or higher-grade boxwood, the fingerboards are, of
course, all genuine ebony. And not just any ebony, but the harder,
denser variety from Madagascar which will give them an extended playing
life!
All violins have been professionally set up by
Zhou Ping,
with a perfect string alignment and fingerboard distance (of course,
this may vary slightly based on the taste of the individual player!).
When the fiddle arrives - just tune it, and play the hell out of it.
Here at the violin project we believe that optimizing the instruments
and set-up are best left to the devices of their original makers -
thus, we have been working for years with the individual workshops to
perfect their product "at home".
In order to
guarantee the best
possible sound from the very beginning, every Zhou Ping violin comes
fitted with a set of brand-name European strings. In this case, it's
the famous Thomastik
"Dominant"
(used by students and professional players alike) brand, made by
Infeld/Vienna. These nylon strings have been enjoying a great
popularity and longevity for their brilliance of sound, their tonal
stability, easy response and adaptability in face of varying
temperatures and levels of humidity.
Optional(!) Violin Outfit
Of
course you can purchase Master Zhou's violins from our shop without
any accessories, just the violin with fitted brand-name
strings.
Hence, the following offer for a violin outfit is just a
suggestion - and through various
selections, indeed, any number of different violin sets can be combined.
A
good potential match with the Zhou fiddles are our superior brazilwood bows,
made in a Romanian
workshop. With well-selected and seasoned octagonal sticks and handmade
ebony frogs (with double eyelet), they offer superior playability at a
surprisingly low price. Uncommon for inexpensive brazilwood
bows,
the sticks are of sufficient stability to guarantee excellent
playability even in quick passages, like when you're playing spiccato.
You will be able to hear every single tone you're producing (including
wrong ones, of course), perfect for the advancing player.
To
protect the instrument against damage (e.g. on holiday, or just to and
from your violin lesson) we suggest one of our deluxe rectangular
cases, preferably one with a sturdy wooden shell. But, then it should
not be too heavy, should it?
Consider e.g. our "Atlanta"
wooden shell case
- which offers the best of both worlds. A fully equipped deluxe case
with heavy-duty black nylon exterior and soft, velvety interior
(available in different colors: dark blue, dark red and gree - please
check availability before purchase!), several bow holders, full air
suspension, large accessory compartment, full-size compartment
on
the outside for music scores, hygrometer, two backpack straps and
lock/key, as well as a string tube.
At the same
time, the sturdy
case is not too heavy - just 3.2kgs - much, much less than any school
backpack weighs e.g. Easy to carry around by foot and on the bike.
The
outfit comes complete with a cake of brand-name resin,
made in Germany (either Paganini or Royal Oak, depending on supplies).
The high-level resin improves the contact between bow and strings and
minimizes noise.
Zhou
Ping "Pesonal Violins" - Highlights:
- Violins based on Antonio Stradivari
or Guarneri
"del Gesù" (ex-Kochanski) models
- Top:
selected, high-grade, slow-growth Himalayan spruce,
seasoned for 10+ years
- Back/Sides/Neck:
beautifully flamed, slow-growth Himalyan "snow mountain" maple, also
seasoned for 10+ years
- All violins made
exclusively by Master Zhou himself
- professional craftsmanship
- traditional, natual
spirit-based varnish, applied by hand - shaded, "antique matte" or
modern "shiny" finish
- Heavy-duty fingerboard
made from hard, dense Madagascan ebony
- Parts made
from polished fine Indian ebony or high-quality boxwood
- including
original wooden tailpiece with 1x
finetuner - optionally supplied with original Wittner-made
tailpiece with 4x
integrated finetuners (best for children & advancing hobby
players) for only € 12.- extra - montage before shipment!
- new, unplayed
violin in perfect state (except for checking)!
- invoice
provided, 3-year warranty on the violin!!
- final
check before shipment - we deliver only fully playable violins!!!
- shipped
in custom-made box - no damage risk!
- ***
2 weeks return policy *** on shipped instruments, according to German
law
Optional Violin Outfit, as
suggested above - Highlights:
- 1x
4/4-size violin (Strad or Guarneri), personally hand-crafted by Master
Zhou Ping
- 1x
superior-quality Brazilwood
bow, strong octagonal stick, German silver wound, made in
Romania (suggested retail price €99, sold separately at our shop for
€79)
- 1x
set of superior, European brand-name
strings (Thomastik or Pirastro), already fitted on the violin prior to
shipping (suggested retail price €40-50 depending on brand/set)
- 1x
cake of German
brand-name, superior violin resin (Paganini or Royal Oak brand,
depending on supplies), suggested retail price €6-7.
- 1x
deluxe rectangular violin
case, "Atlanta"
model:
strong wooden shell contruction, heavy-duty nylon exterior (black),
velvety interior (please investigate availability of colors before
puchase), full air suspension, bagpack straps, large exterior
compartment for notes/scores, large interior compartment for
accessories, string tube, several bow holders, lock/key, hygrometer to
measure humidity (suggested retail price €129, our price €89)
Price for suggested set Zhou Ping 4/4
EUR 979.00 only
(as
advertised with "Atlanta" case and Romanian brazilwood bow)
other
optional sets with Zhou Ping personal violin:
- violin
+ standard Chinese brazilwood bow + styrofoam case "Economy" =
EUR 879.00
-
violin + superior carbon fibre bow Xu No.5 + deluxe case "Rhapsody" =
EUR 1029.00
- violin
Zhou Ping 4/4, instrument only, brand-name strings included = EUR 829.00
All
offers/prices plus shipping & handling
>>>
Terms of Trade (German only)
<<<
optional
accessory: original KUN shoulder rest (4/4):
- order only with instrument
or set -
- Price only €25.00 (SRP: €39.95) - just add to order
optional accessory:
original Wittner tailpiece (4/4):
- 4x embedded finetuners for
more comfortable tuning -
- Price only €12.00 (SRP: €19.95) - just add to order
|
