Montchanin Mountain Music
fiddles and violin family instruments sold face-to-face in Delaware and surroundings
Violin Sizes in Stock
4/4 7/8 3/4 1/2 1/4 1/8
That's me, Barb Wood. Double bass was my portal to the fiddle world. I am the bass player in the bands Acoustic Turnpike
and String Theory.
My Prep School
What's in my complete outfits:
1. Under $100. Instrument, bow, rosin, shoulder rest, 4 fine tuners
2. Over $100. All of the above plus clip-on chromatic tuner.
All may contain re-purposed parts to upgrade the instrument and reduce waste.
For more about reduce/reuse/recycle, click here
What kind of violins are these?
1. Chinese. I have learned which models to seek out and which to avoid (you've
got to kiss a few frogs to get a prince)
2. Eastern European
3. (more rarely) American, German, Japanese, other Asian
What kind of bows do they have?
I often replace the bow in an outfit with a new or newer one. Bows are usually the weakest component in a student outfit.
Using my Materials Science Background
My 30 years of industrial lab experience is an advantage for working with varnishes, pigments, and hot hide glue. Reverse engineering, taking apart structures layer by layer, and failure analysis were good preparation for restoring violins.
Most of my tools don't have electrons flowing through them.
This is a Defiance by Stanley No. 1220 hand drill, believed to be from mid 1940's, that my Dad gave me in 1986 when I bought my first house. I've graduated to an electric drill for household chores - but this still works beautifully and it's perfect for drilling the string holes in ebony pegs.
