[Tim Hancock]

I have repaired a few violins and built one from scratch. One of mine says it is a strad on the tag looking thru the "f" hole. It also says made in Germany. ha ha.... Anyhow it is at least 100 yrs old as it has a handwritten repair note near the label that is dated 1908. There are literally thousands of violins that are labeled inside as Strads. During the late 1800's and early 1900's, little shops all over Europe were pumping these out by the thousands. Some are decent instruments but many are just the equivalent of a cheap "student" violin.

Restoration/repair is tedious, time consuming work, so if you have much damage, it is probably not worth paying to have them fixed. You might try to sell it to someone like me who dabbles in violins as a hobby. Last year I bought a couple basket cases from a co-worker for $20 (which was pretty cheap), then spent a couple months of winter evenings (probably 60-80 hrs) repairing them. They are probably now worth a few hundred bucks.

pics of two I restored/repaired


pics of violin I built