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One instrument, not a model

Romanian heritage. Handmade instruments.

Choose the exact instrument
you will receive

Photographed as it is, and identified by its own instrument code. What arrives is the instrument you chose — not another example of the same name.

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What “exact instrument” means here

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Available now

Gliga 'GENOVA 2' 4/4 violin, antiqued — D0987, back detail

Gliga 'GENOVA 2' 4/4 Violin

Instrument code D0987

$1,198.95

Available now

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What “exact instrument” means here

  1. The instrument code identifies the violin. The instrument code (for example, D0987) identifies the individual instrument in search, your basket and your order, so the instrument you choose is the one allocated to you. It is our own reference — it is not written on the violin.
  2. The maker’s serial is inside the instrument. It is written on the label inside the body — the maker’s own number for that violin, and not the same thing as the instrument code. Every instrument has one. A certificate of authenticity is a separate document, issued for some models and not for others; each instrument’s own page says which. Where one is included, it carries the matching maker’s serial.
  3. Adding it to your basket holds it. The hold moves with you if you sign in, and only one order can ever take a given instrument.
  4. Your card is authorised, not charged. The instrument is allocated to your order and a quality-control hold is recorded before any money is captured. Only then is the payment captured, and the hold stays on until a named person releases it — so nothing is dispatched, and nothing is charged, on a violin that has not been checked.

Read the exact-instrument standard  ·  How we label our photographs

Woodcarving gouges and chisels hanging in rows on a workshop wall
A workshop photograph from Gliga’s own archive.

Unusual instruments

Decorated by hand

Pyrography, relief carving, painting and inlaid purfling, worked into the instrument itself.

pyrography — Ballerina, The Creation of Adam · relief carving — Lion Scroll, Girl Scroll, Sun Flower Gliga Scroll · painting — Peacock, Butterflies, Leopard · purfling inlaid in white bone and ebony · 22-carat gold leaf

Built differently

Instruments made to a different plan, not adapted from a standard one.

Figured and unusual woods

Backs, sides and necks in woods most instruments in this catalogue are not made from.

densely bird's eye · quilted maple · wild maple · willow, poplar, ash and walnut backs

Made on historic patterns

The outline and arching follow a named historic instrument. The violin is Gliga's work; the pattern is what it was modelled on.

Cipriani Potter (Stradivari) · Pietro Guarneri of Mantua · Antonio Ceruti

Before you buy

  • DeliveryWhere we ship, how an instrument is packed, and what it costs.
  • ReturnsWhat happens if the instrument is not right for the player.
  • WarrantyWhat the workshop stands behind, and for how long.
  • Trials & consultationsAsk the workshop before you buy. Asking orders nothing.

Know the instrument code?

If you already have an instrument’s code, search it and go straight to that violin.

Not sure yet?

Tell us about the player and what you are looking for, and someone from the workshop will reply. Nothing is ordered by asking.

Request a consultation

What a consultation covers

A young child and an adult playing violins together in the Gliga shop, instruments hanging on the wall behind them

Room to begin

Every first note is a beginning.

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