About Collector’s Corner…
An exploration in music.
I started collecting violins for the many compelling reasons outlined in my essay below. Once I had about ten instruments it was necessary to learn how to repair and maintain them as it was a very expensive proposition. So I searched out professional instruction in all aspects of repairs, set ups, restoration and maintenance of violins. I continued collecting over the years and eventually these activities became an all-consuming hobby and morphed into a viable business! So here we are today! I have operated “Collector’s Corner Violins” since 2005, and I LOVE it!
Michael Gilmore: Proprietor
For as long as I can remember, there has always been fiddle or violin music woven into the tapestry of my life. Family get-togethers, family reunions, and the wedding anniversaries of my grandparents. There were many musical relatives in our extended family and I had always felt the call of their music inviting me to participate, however I never started playing till I was fifteen. Having played several instruments over the years I came to experience the great joy of music when it is shared and played with others. Eventually, my musical obsession became the violin itself. After seeing the movie “The Red Violin”, I became intrigued by the many facets of the violin!
Indeed, violins are “Time Travelers”! At times it seems as if they are living things! How amazing it is to hold an incredibly beautiful Violin from the eighteenth century, one that holds mysteries which may never be known! Who was its first owner? How many subsequent owners were there over the centuries? Was it ever owned by Royalty, or played in a Royal Court, or perhaps by an infamous character from the past? Consider, that this instrument which was played and lovingly cared for, outlived all its previous owners, and will most likely outlive many more! What fateful chain of events led to the moment that I held it on a brief stop on its journey through time? Surely this violin will see places and times that I will never live to experience!
From a Physics and Science prospective, how has something so fragile survived several world wars of almost total devastation in some countries? How can something so fragile withhold so much string pressure on a very narrow piece of hardwood without crushing the top of the violin?
An instrument that contains no straight lines except for the strings and the sides of the fingerboard! An instrument that outwardly appears to be as fragile as an egg shell! If all that was not enough, they make beautiful music and playing them is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!