Articles by Robert Waller, Author "The Bridges of Madison County" - Harper, TX

The bow arrived yesterday. It's a lovely piece of work, very German in its precision of workmanship, balance, and the sound it produces--crisp, precise, every note clear. Thanks for alerting me to this and for facilitating its purchase.

After playing it for an hour, my guess that it is a heavy bow proved correct. The weight is 62.6 g, which after weighing it, I discovered was on the sticker attached to the frog. No wonder it draws so much sound out of the violin.

A Douglas Raguse bow I tried was light and lively, fun to play, but it did not produce the round tones I wanted, especially on the lower strings.

[Fiddleheads regrets to share that dear Robert passed away on March 10, 2017]

Thomasz Kowalski "Guarneri del Gesu" 2012

Cosmetics: lovely to look at, though appearance means little to me, with sound and structural integrity being most important. Apparently, however, appearance is important to many buyers.

Playability: certainly one of the easiest, smoothest-playing violin I have tried.

Sound, taking into account it's a new instrument: the Kowalski's fundamental sound is tightly-focused, sweet and ladylike, probably will blossom in that direction with more playing. I do like that sort of delicacy for certain material, though finger position and bows use can accomplish the same thing.

My sense is that it will never have a lot of "bottom end" to its sound, which is not necessarily a criticism, rather an observation.

Weights: Kowalski = 509 g, 909 = 500 g, 905 = 440 g. Slightly smaller than my other violins, but heavier.

Whether that ultimately will affect power/volume or is affecting the instrument's present sound, I don't know.

[Fiddleheads regrets to share that dear Robert passed away on March 10, 2017]

I began a serious evaluation of the Topa, hoping the sound was so beautiful I would require a fainting couch.

Wojciech Topa 2013

Weight: 477 g

Cosmetics: very nice, though not important to me. However, I do like the cat's eye on the tailpiece; it is kind of an exclamation point that says "finished."

Playability: excellent--fast, easy, even with Evah Pirazzi Strings (I note the E is a Gold Pirastro rather than the standard Evah E).

Sound: excellent right out of the box, with the promise of a powerful open sound as it is played more. I took the Topa to a local violinist (she has a master's degree in violin from a major university) and asked for her opinion on the instrument. She was very impressed with the overall sound. Both of us are impressed with the quality of sound in the higher positions, with no discernible deterioration as the player moves higher.

As I once wrote, "Love the music more than the applause (in all things)." Precision, beauty, elegance, and grace are what I seek, and those words are attached to all my music stands as reminders in case I stray.

[Fiddleheads regrets to share that dear Robert passed away on March 10, 2017]

You have a really nice website. Everyone else makes wild claims about violins but you seem to be a place I can trust.

You have excellent testimonials and seem like the best option for my purchase.

[Fiddleheads regrets to share that dear Robert passed away on March 10, 2017]