I recieved my Gliga today and I am really impressed considering the price!

I am considering buying one of the Maestro Vasiles in Wild Maple, or maybe a Roth. I currently own a copy of a Carlo Bergonzi, so I dont want to step down. I have bought 6 violins in violin shops around Boston, but never even considered buying one off the web.....until now. The Gliga looks nice on the web, but who knows what it sounds like? I usually go through several violins in a shop before I find one that sounds the way I want it to. I have found a few sites that have sound clips of the violins that they are selling. This would be a wonderful addition to Gliga`s site.

Any comments would be appreciated

Hi Ken,

We`ve tried sound files but the trouble is the quality, by the time you get it one the internet and played through speakers, is usually so bad that we feel it puts buyers off! if your sound system is better than mine(which would not be difficult) and you think the files might be of some use to you, you`re welcome to email and I`ll send you what we have.

elizabethward@ntlworld.com

As far as I can tell, the difference between most Gamas and most Maestros is a matter of volume rather than of tone quality. I play a Gama myself (I am somewhere between Grade 8 and diploma level) and could not wish for anything better. Mine has Evah Pirazzi strings but otherwise is as it came from the workshop. we have sold Gamas to a professional player and a qualified Suzuki teacher and both were most impressed. I have a viola that I prefer to a Gama viola (and I have just ordered myself a Maestro viola) but it is a mature German master made one, ten times the price, and it isn`t ten times as good I can tell you that! Once the Gama matures I would doubt there would be much to choose between them.

In short, I don`t know what the quality of your Bergonzoni copy is, but as far as I have seen so far (and we do sell other makes at a higher profit margin!) Gliga are quite simply the best in the world for the price by a very long way.

Liz

Time Magazine had a large article on Vasile Gliga and his Romanian violin factory in the August 25, 2003 issue.

I`m looking at buying a 1/4 School `GENIAL 2-Nitro` Violin for my daughter for when she upsizes from her 1/10 stentor.
THe comments all look good but what I want to know is if the violins come with a case and bow standard or if you have to buy them seperately.
Does anyone know???
Cherie

Depends on the dealer.

Liz

Well, I finally decided to get myself a Maestro viola, 15 inch, to lessen the arm ache factor in orchestral rehearsals.

My 16 inch viola is a Reinhold Schnabl, a master made signed instrument dating from 1978 so very well played in. These go, used, for around £4000, so i imagine the new price would be at least £6000 or so. So far I had not found a viola anywhere that i liked as much ... until the Maestro arrived yesterday.

Made on August 18th, straight out of the box, a change of strings, and already the sound is as good as my Schnabl except on the C string. And it is only a 15 inch of course which probably isn`t helping the C string much.

And it`s perhaps a sixth of the price of a new Schnabl .....

Liz

Hi Liz,

My Gama is giving me great pleasure - I start Irish fiddle classes on 15th September, but hope to have quite a few tunes nailed before then. I attended the same class a few years ago, but playing Mandolin - this time I should be able to hear myself playing, and many tunes are coming back to me.

A quick question on strings - the Gamas are usually fitted with Dominants, I believe. I changed the E for a Pirastro Olive Label (I think, it`s a gold colour and very thin-looking), but I`m not sure it really made any difference.

What strings do you recommend for a Gama? Evah Pirazzi like you use? Also, what strings have you put on your new Maestro viola?

I have a set of Helicores raedy to use when I fancy a change, because they seem to be very popular with fiddle players.

Hi Martin,

I love evah Pirazzi on mine, but really they are not suitable for use with adjusters so if you need adjusters I wouldn`t recommend them. I`ve put Obligatos on the viola but I`m not convinced I`ve found the right strings yet (I may go back to Eudoxas but it`s the time they take to stay in tune and the speed with which they break that puts me of!). Gligas also sound good with lar*sens. But all of these would really need you to take the adjusters off (except the E string) and that might not be a welcome change. If you do try Helicore I will be interested to hear what you think.

Corelli alliance might work well, we sold a Maestro to someone who uses those and he raved about how wonderful it was, he uses them with adjusters too (though I don`t think you`re supposed to really)

What a hoot! This form won`t let me sumit the word lar*sen because it contains the word **** hence the *s

Liz

Hi Liz,

L@rsen, Corelli Alliance - got it. They`re not cheap, are they? I`m seeing L@rsens at £40, CAs at £57 a set. May get them cheaper shopping around. The Dominants cost £24, and that seemed steep at the time!

I`ll try the Helicores when the Dominants seem worn out, and let you know how they go.

cheers, Martin

p.s. I always substitute @ for a and € for e if I get censored - makes me want to see what other words I can get away with! How silly! Good thing Father Jack off Father Ted isn`t posting here.

We could always start talking about football teams

Ch€ls€@.

I see what you mean.

I got both a Gliga Maestro and a Earnst Heinrich Roth Model 64 this week. I can only keep one. I thought it would be an easy decision to make, but I`ve spent three days going back and forth on which one I like more. The Roth seems to resonate a little better, but it had gut strings on it and the Gliga comes with Dominants, which sound dead in comparison. If the trial period on the Gliga was more than one week, I`d change the strings to gut and see what it sounded like then. I would have to order the strings, so I don`t think I have the time. I can`t figure out why Gliga would sell his best violins with such horrible strings.
Furthermore, the Roth has a 45 day trial period.

Ken,

Get Evah Pirazzis on it if you have time.

Liz

On second thoughts, ask him for an extension. I take it you got it from violinslover? His trial period always used to be 14 days.

There`s been some discussion about Dominant strings on maestronet and the concensus from the experts over there is that they are a good string to use to find out what a violin is really like, it seems it`s regarded as a fairly "neutral" string suitable to use as a starting point.

Strings make a world of difference, that`s the trouble. I put Corelli crystals on a chinese student violin today and suddenly it sounds like a violin. Dominants do nothing for those violins at all.

Conversely we had a Chinese workshop model in with factory strings, and i loved it, I thought, wow, Gliga has met his match! Then I changed the strings to Synoxas, which work brilliantly on the next model up, but on the workshop model they were vile.

If you`ve got a set of dominants handy, why not put them on the Roth and compare that way?

Sorry, just rambling

Liz