Day Three - The Violin Arrives & the bridge is set.

Lo and behold, Parcelforce did not let me down with their speedy delivery policy. By the time I had returned from campus this morning my Violin had already been delivered and signed for. Without further ago, I eagerly tore open the packaging to spy my beautiful instrument inside!

I spent the evening slightly bewildered. This was the first time that I had ever seen a violin up-close - infact, it was probably the first time that I'd ever touched a stringed instrument other than the odd guitar. Even so, I set about trying to figure out this rather strange piece of wood, which I believe they call... The Bridge.


After reassuring myself that this wasn't part of a ship from Star Trek, I set about putting it into place. Following a bit of logic, and a tiny bit of help from some data at Wikipedia, I matched the bridge up quite nicely; the lower part of the bridge by the tiny string (and the higher part by the fat string), as well as making it stand perpendicular to the body, in line with the little notches that cut up the inside of the "f" holes in the body.

Fantastic - that's definitely enough for today. Tomorrow, I endeavour to figure out these strings, get them in tune, and try to figure out just what I'm supposed to do with the block of resin type material (cunningly called... rosin).

Day Two - Where fore art thou Ebay?

The conspiritor that aided in the prescription of this Quest, Owen, inspires me once more, telling me of the great evening he had had, just the night before, with the University Symphony Orchestra. While I was not encouraged enough to make the rehearsal without even purchasing an instrument, I was directed once more to the Alladin's Cave otherwise known as Ebay.

It's important in these times to set ones limits, and with this in mind, I decided that I would be shooting at least £20 above the minimum price I could find, but definitely no more than £80 on my, soon to be, best friend. Not a massive price I know, but I felt it was only fair, giving that I hadn't yet been paid and I'd just found out I still hadn't had this month's rent removed from my bank account.

With this in mind, I scoured the market. Applying my untrained eye to the plethora of options available to me, the name Virtuosi stuck fast, and so First Brass Instruments Ltd were the ones to get my plea for a Violin. Understandably, when I produced the payment of £43 via Paypal, they agreed to send me my first quest item. Even better, I was promised the item in under 48 hours. Fantastic, I could hardly contain my excitement...