This is probably going to be more of a ramble than a question. I apologize…
I’m just curious about what level of fiddles people are playing, especially around the jamming and contest circles.
I started playing when I was eight. I did the contest and jamming thing, but our families didn’t have a lot of money. We were always fortunate enough to get some pretty decent fiddles for the price. I remember if someone had a $1500 fiddle it was like “WOW!!”
But we played them hard, and we won state contests with them, our group of scrubs did “okay” at Weiser.
Due to career and life.. I fell out of playing when I was about 20. I hit a plateau and just never had the time, drive or money to get past it. And there my fiddle sat in the closet. It eventually got sold when financial crises hit, and was later replaced with a really cool turn of the century Stainer copy that doesn’t play worth a damn. But it was a gift from my granparents, and its cool looking… so I held on to it.
Recently, something lit a fire under my butt. Either my neice and nephew are getting into fiddling, and taking lessons from some very respected fiddlers (which means I have to get back on my game if we are gonna jam) or the fact that we have decided to move back to our home state… which means I will be jamming with all my old buddies and doing the rounds.
After about 20 years, it was a struggle.. I could’nt even remember how to hold the thing. I felt like I had sausage fingers. The brain still remembered most things, but the old chassis is getting a bit broke down.
So I went to the local shop (its all classical in this town, I swear) and picked up a 2015 Chinese fiddle. I swore Id never do that… to my surprise it was pretty decent. I played it for a week and everything came flooding back… and found that I was upgrading two weeks later… to an “ancient” 2009.
To be honest, being a chinese 2009 fiddle, this thing plays wonderfully, and in all honesty is probably better than anything I played in my youth.
Getting to the meat of the question:
Im playing this fiddle, and it seems perfect for my level right now. But I feel like I’m progressing faster and will by the end of the summer probably be playing better than I ever had. I’m not sure why..maybe being a bit older I’m able to hear and understand things I couldnt as a kid. I’m not sure I’ll outclass this fiddle for a while, but I said that about the first chinese fiddle I bought.
I found a place in town that has a really cool selection, everything from really old pretty things that cost more than my truck, down to Eastman starter kits. They probably have a hundred fiddles or more.
I have the means and the money to afford it now. I probably wont when we move back home as we are essentially trading money and career in for family and quality of life. So I really want to get set up while I still can, even if the fiddle is out of my playing level..as I plan to meet that level come hell or high water.
I guess what I’m asking is, what level of fiddle is overkill for serious jamming and maybe hitting the contest circuit? My experience is really limited to “making do” with what we had…
I already know the answer “You have to play them and if something speaks to you, go for it”
Maybe I’m looking for validation, or maybe I’m hoping someone will talk me out of spending money.
I just have this nagging feeling, that down the road I’ll be kicking myself for not having an upgrade.
/endrant
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