Hey Booli thanks for the comments. Please leave a comment on youtube if you can.
If this sparks your interest in returning to the violin, then the effort I put in over the last 24 hours to do the indepth review was well worth it.
I hope that my example shows that you will probably have similar results as me, in that what you learned as a child is still there. I was surprised that my brain and my muscle memory remembered do much...
By the way I wanted to point out. The pictures on the written review on my blog are high res pictures So if you want to look at the violin in detail just click on the pictures you ate interested and zoom In.
Glad you liked my work.
Ivan
Hi Ivan,
You are most welcome.
When I first saw information in the videos from Summer NAMM 2013 about this coming out, my interest was first sparked, and I have thought about it from time to time since then.
I had also seen a few blips on the radar here on UU about it, since of course the Magic Fluke Company makes excellent instruments and has such a well-deserved and loyal following.
However, it was not until seeing it in your hands in your video that I realized that I do not have to go on a massive quest to find 'the instrument' for me to return to the violin, THIS is it: The Cricket.
When I buy this, I will probably never buy another violin afterwards, and like you said, this is something you might buy 'for life' and I am confident that The Magic Fluke's instruments will survive beyond me and get handed down to future generations, much the same way folks talk of vintage Gibson and Martin instruments that were passed down in their family nowadays.
My concert Flea and tenor Fluke are my most prized ukuleles, and while some may prefer to spend $1,000 or $5,000 on another custom instrument from all the favorites here, unless it has BETTER intonation than a Flea or Fluke, I'm simply not interested.
Unless it's both manufactured and assembled in the USA, I'm also not interested. The same kind of criteria applies to a possible violin purchase.
If by some magic stroke of fortune I could afford to buy a true and real Stradivari, and I actually did so, I'd be afraid to play it, and it would end up in a humidified vault until I died and it got passed on to someone else. The Cricket Violin is made with such high precision, yet it is a commodity-level instrument and easily replaced from Magic Fluke Company if god-forbid it got damaged beyond repair.
Conversely, If you had a Stradivari that needed repair, you have to take another mortgage on your house to pay for the repairs.
In a different thread somebody said that life is to short not to indulge in the luxury if it is available to you, but I find luxury in living simply, and not worrying about collecting extravagant things that will not be functional or useful to me.
I find no pleasure in silk/satin sheets or a $500 pair of shoes (yes I've owned both), but others enjoy these things and I do not judge them.
The Cricket Violin is both functional and useful, while also representing forward-thinking in design and construction with an eye towards something more modern, without disrespecting the history of the instrument.
It is also affordable to the average joe, and by the reputation of The Magic Fluke company with their ukuleles, my hands-on experience (which is confirmed by at least a couple hundred other UU members) with the high quality, playability and tone, I would expect that you are getting a very good value for the money.
I just checked their web site again, and with pegheds, the bow, and the pickup it comes to $553. I think this is a GREAT price for what it is, and should you go off and price traditional wooden violins that are comparative, you are going to spend at LEAST a month doing research, and maybe not find something that will satisfy this quest.
The Cricket Violin is an easy choice to make given my experience.
Ivan, thank you for confirming my initial impressions.
I also wanted to commend you for your excellent review on your blog.
It is one of the most well written, balanced and comprehensive reviews I have ever read (and I read LOTS and LOTS of reviews), and from someone who not only has such a deep and abiding love for music, and a love for the instruments he plays, but you can really see that music is such a part of your soul and how important it is to you.
You should be
proud to have documented this, and I applaud your efforts. Damn, even *I* feel proud seeing it - ha ha!
I hope that you show all of this work to The Magic Fluke company.
They should know how much their efforts are appreciated by folks like us, even if only to keep them motivated to keep doing the good work that they have always done.
-Booli