What are people's opinions on these? I am looking to get back into playing and want to upgrade my violin from the basic student one that I have (no idea what make it is). I am looking at maybe getting a Gliga Gems.

good points, bad points? Any other recommendations (between £200 and £300)?

Hi WillowFae,

There is a long thread on Gliga violins currently on page 3 of Viva Violin, although it will drop out of the 30 day list in a few days time. Perhaps the administrator will merge these two threads.

A Gems is the ideal solution in that price range - I understand the Gems II is exactly the same as the Gems I except that the Gems I has a 1 piece back which makes only a cosmetic difference, and therefore a Gems II being cheaper would be a better buy.

If you already have a bow and a case, you might want to consider stretching the extra £100 to the Gama, which I believe to be of particularly fantastic quality for the price.

However the best person to speak to is Liz at Elida - telephone number is on her website.

Happy hunting!

David

Thanks.

I'm upgrading from a 3/4 to a 4/4 so I would need a new bow and case. I have tried Liz at Elida, but she doesn't do the colour I want, so I will probably have to get it from America.

(it might sound silly but I remember the violin my teacher used to have and way back then I told myself that one day I would have one that was the same colour)

Sounds like its worth sticking with Gems then.

Good luck with violinslover!

David

Thanks. We are just trying to work out how much it will cost to import it - the actual price of the violin is cheap at the moment because of the good exchange rate.

I can tell you almost exactly.

(Total cost of violin plus shipping) x 1.175 + (parcelforce collection fee)

The parcelforce collection fee is about £10, maybe a little less.

The other things you will possibly need to add, which we supply as standard, are strings and adjusters. A set of dominant strings (which is what we use and recommend for Gligas) can be had for something like £23. Zoda will tell you that he loves another combination, I can't remember what (sorry!!) and four adjusters will cost you about £8 total (or a little less). You can probably get the dominant strings and adjusters added by violinslover (or by Gliga since I suspect it will come direct from Romania) which will be cheaper, but of course the price they charge for those will be added to the total cost of the violin so you will pay VAT on it either way.

Gliga don't provide a bridge protector under the dominant E string for some reason, that could be a factor in making it worth getting the dominant strings yourself: the Gems bridges can be quite soft, it depends (we have ours how we want them now but we had to ask a few times) and if it is, the E string will cut into it very quickly if there is no bridge protector. Also you may find the action a little too high, particularly if you want to use metal strings such as helicores, that is a problem we had for some time (we get them right these days): it has always been fine for me but we did get some feedback saying that a lower bridge would be preferred so that's what we get now.

Violinslover is letting the bows go very cheaply and it is well worth you getting a better one. Actually the very best bows we find for Gligas are the Glassers, but that is a matter of personal preference and some adults do not like Glassers.

Other options in the price range: the only one i know of that will compete for tone in this price range is our own Elida Intermezzo which you can hear here:

http://home.clara.net/davidcw/soundfiles.htm

Otherwise, similarly priced brands I know are Zeller, Poller, Stentor Messina, Concertante (from the soundpost), lower end Strunals, possibly the odd bottom end German violin (there's an Otto jos Klier that falls into this price range and maybe a very comeptitively priced paesold if you can find one. There must be many others though.

Liz

i have heard of gligas, but not too much
That the quality is good for the price but the setup is poor?
=/ unsure

has anyone heard of Stringworks? the crescendo violin starts at around 400

QUOTE (Oo esty oO @ Nov 11 2004, 10:13 PM)

i have heard of gligas, but not too much That the quality is good for the price but the setup is poor?

I have not myself had a problem with setup on anything supplied to me by Elida. As Liz's post describes, because she orders quite a number of instruments, Gliga seem reasonably amenable to her requests/stipulations, and because of the size of her operation she has time to check each instrument out before posting.

When I recently had a bow rehair from a local luthier recommended by a member of the Liverpool Phil, I took the opportunity to ask him to look at my Gliga Maestro, and he said it was well set up and best left as it was.

Liz - my strings choice was Zyex GDA with a Pirastro Olive gold E, but I don't know how that would sound on a Gems or Gama - also it precludes GDA adjusters.

David

QUOTE (Oo esty oO @ Nov 11 2004, 10:13 PM)

i have heard of gligas, but not too much That the quality is good for the price but the setup is poor? =/ unsure has anyone heard of Stringworks? the crescendo violin starts at around 400

We have few problems with our setups (almost none now: if i do find a problem then we just don't sell that one). I do find that teachers vary a great deal on what they consider to be a good setup. I take the line that if I can play it easily up to seventh position or so on the lower strings then there isn't a problem (you should have seen some of the stuff i used to teach on!). We have had instruments (not Gligas) bought in from renowned US wholesalers where they make a big point in their catalogue of the set up work having been done and STILL we had a buyer say the bridge was too high and I see luthiers on other boards saying "that brand needs to be set up". The problem is that there are always preferences involved. A lower bridge, for example, means an easier action but less dynamic range and less tone (if I recall correctly).

A further problem is that some teachers (not many over here but we have come across some) do take kickbacks from the shop they send their pupils to and therefore have a financial interest in rubbishing anything the pupil might bring to the lesson unless it came from a particular shop. It is very easy for us a dealers to spot these teachers: they criticise the violins for peculiar reasons which make no sense to anyone who actually knows anything at all about set up.

I have heard nothing but praise for stringworks.

Liz