The Instruments We Love

Just saw this on Facebook. The Fretboard Journal page, which I "liked," posted this to my Newsfeed with the caption "Ouch," and I agree. It's about a violin, but I think we can all relate to this particular tragedy:

https://www.facebook.com/fretboardjournal/posts/10152118741273167

Thanks for posting that Soupking. It's not just about how devastated one would feel to lose their beloved instrument, but about that intense connection one develops for their instrument. Something that many people wouldn't understand.

Great post, thanks for sharing

I guess I'm just an old insensitive curmudgeon because the biggest question that popped almost instantly to my mind reading that is "why is someone posting about a violin on 'the fretboard journal?'"

Seriously, though I can kind of see where the guy is coming from, and I have instruments that I would definitely miss, but I don't think I have ever connected that closely with anything inanimate. My loss, maybe.

John

I don't feel that way about a ukulele, haven't found "the one" I guess, but my clarinet is like that for me. I have had it since 1988. It is a totally different kind of playing than when I pick up a ukulele or any other instrument. This sounds stupid, but it is like we work together. The best clarinet luthier in the world actually worked on my clarinet, tested the seal, tweaked it, and said some very nice things. He now makes his own line of clarinets. Not even for one of his $14,000.00 professional clarinets would I give up my R-13, made in 1970. They used an old line, "The sweetest clarinet ever made" and that is how I feel about my horn. I could keep writing and writing, but I will spare you. I hope I find a ukulele that evokes that kind of emotion and spark in my soul.

I was surprised at how much I reacted when I forgot my ukulele in a rental car last October. I would not have expected to grieve for a bit of wood.

(Luckily, the instrument was recovered, and it is waiting patiently for me to pick up this summer.)