I built my last classical guitar in 2006, with life getting in the way during the intervening 14 years. Thanks to mid-life meanderings, I decided that life is too interesting to put on hold waiting for retirement. I have always been a tinkerer from birth. I build things, but I deconstruct things just as readily.

So the gears were put into motion in April when I purchased 2 Kohno (Kono) guitars from the 1960s (1963 and 1967). I followed it up with a lattice-braced John Price from 2012. That sojourn meandered into building an inventory of woods and tools for instrument making (pictures for another day). The rabbit hole deepened with forks into violins and cellos.

In my attic workshop I have a considerable variety of finishes (Danish/linseed oil, Tung oil, shellac for french polishing), so when I purchased a violin from Yitamusic from China (I always keep a lookout for nice flamed maple backs) I was singular in my purpose before even playing a note on the violin – I had to create a more satin/matt look (I abhor glossy finishes on musical instruments). And after roughly 10 coats of finely applied hand-rubbed Tung oil layers…

Pictures of the spruce top to follow, and reviews of how the violin actually sounds for a later post, but first impressions are wholly positive. And this is exactly my reflection of China as a manufacturing hub – the world can no longer make anything redeemable in quality like China be they high-end electronics nor cheap musical instruments – at any price point whatsover. The Chinese will outpunch any competitive equivalent from anywhere else at every price level – cheap or expensive. (I’ve been using AliExpress for the past 2 months and here I am wondering where has it been all my life).