VALUATION DAY ON 9TH OCTOBER 2010

21st September 2010

A surprising number of people tell us that they have old violins, violas, and cellos gathering dust in their lofts and garages. Some of these instruments seem to have been sitting there for decades, their condition slowly deteriorating. If that rings a bell, pencil Saturday 9th October 2010 in your diary and bring any offending items to our shop at 24 Bucklersbury in Hitchin because we're holding a free valuation day.

While attic finds almost never turn out to be made by Stradivari (shame), many are good German, French or English trade instruments which, with a bit of spruce up, can be given a new lease of life and either played or potentially sold for a nice profit.

Our resident luthier Andrew Quelch will be on hand on the 9th from 9.30am to 5.30pm to tell you what your instrument is worth and to advise you on what (if any) repair work is required to make it playable. This is a service we usually provide by appointment so this is a great opportunity to catch Andrew while he isn't immersed in in-depth repairs in the workshop.

If your instrument has some value and you don’t want to keep it, we can discuss selling it on commission. Another option if the instrument is not economical to repair (and you have no use for it) is to pass it on to the Mansek Music Service in Ghana, which benefits from instruments donated by various organisations in the UK including E-P Strings and the Hitchin-based Benslow Music Trust.

Finally, if all else fails, Monsieur Beaujolais (pictured above) could certainly do with a pal or two...! Monsieur Beaujolais was made by the owner of Strings from bows, violins and cellos that were beyond repair or hope. Since last week, Beau has been featuring in our shop window following his debut on YouTube. (If you click on his photo at the top, you can see the second in the series).

Very strange...