T. Franke Lee Workshop Trade Violin – Beijing 2013

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This beautiful violin was discovered in my home workshop behind a collection of 250 violins. Purchased 13 years ago it was little hidden gem hanging at home that I totally forgot about. The violin is made with all traditional woods, maple back and ribs, maple neck, and a very nice tight grain spruce top. The fittings are cut in ebony and we recently in the shop cut a bridge and a soundpost for the violin. The varnish is an amber/orange/brown on a golden ground. The varnish is antiqued and rubbed down in places to give the instrument an old feel. It has good workmanship as Franke studied in Europe. Good bones, all completed in a Stradivarius pattern. Basically, old new stock where I had to remove over a decade’s worth of pure vintage dust and dirt, clean the inside of the violin too, and cut fittings.

Corpus 356.0 mm., Major Width, 207.0 mm., Minor Width 169.0 mm., Rib Height 30.0 mm.

The violin speaks well, responds with just a touch from the bow. The bottom end has some power and has a nice what I call edginess bottom. The edgy drive on the bottom adds to the harmonic presence and overtones. The treble side, the E and A strings, leans to the bright side of the sound spectrum. I love the violin, and you will too if you enjoy fiddling Scottish, Irish, or American fiddle tunes. It has a great temperament, not fussy even with a light bow under 60.5 grams. The violin is made well and has soaked up some age hanging around other family relatives wondering who it will get to go home with someday. I would call this a sleeper. This is a well-made, good sounding instrument priced to sell, for not a ton of money.