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Violinist falls, fracturing $1 million 1772 fiddle
Columbus Dispatch ^ | Feb 14, 2008 | AP

Posted on 02/14/2008 4:30:36 PM PST by RDTF

LONDON (AP) -- Can his fractured fiddle - a million dollar Guadagnini - be fixed? It's too early to tell.

David Garrett, a former model who has been called the David Beckham of the classical scene, said he tripped while carrying his 18th century violin as he was leaving London's Barbican Hall after a performance, smashing it to bits.

"I had it over my shoulder in its case and I fell down a concrete flight of stairs backward," Garrett said Thursday. "When I opened the case, much of my G.B. Guadagnini had been crushed."

Garrett said he bought the 1772 violin for $1 million in 2003, and he is now hoping to get it repaired in New York, where he is based.

"I hope and pray that it can be fixed, but if it can't, I hope my insurance policy will let me buy another great violin," the 26-year-old musician said. He told The Associated Press that other published accounts saying the violin was a Stradivarius were incorrect. Guadagnini is believed by some to have been a student of Antonio Stradivari.

The accident occurred Dec. 27 but only came to light this week when he returned to London for another concert at the Barbican and told British reporters what had happened.

For his Valentine's Day concert there, he is playing a Stradivarius that's been loaned to him.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: classicalmusic; davidgarrett; gbguadagnini; oops
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To: RightWhale

Quite a repair to be undertaken, it seems.


21 posted on 02/14/2008 4:37:25 PM PST by aposiopetic
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To: Sue Perkick; netmilsmom

pingaling


22 posted on 02/14/2008 4:37:33 PM PST by RDTF (kill the terrorists, punch the hippies)
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To: RDTF

Oh my. I bet he’s a good fiddle tickler.


23 posted on 02/14/2008 4:37:50 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: RDTF
"I hope and pray that it can be fixed..."

A real Master will be able to do the job but it will never sound the same again.

24 posted on 02/14/2008 4:37:54 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Bureaucracy is a parasite that preys on Free Thought and suffocates Free Spirit.)
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To: RDTF

The Barbican is a very easy place to fall. When wet (i.e. most of the time in the UK), the stairs pool water and are very slippery. But fortunately the walls of the outside stairwells are made of a very rough aggregate so that you can scrape significant parts of your skin from your body as you fall.

God I hate the Barbican.

jas3


25 posted on 02/14/2008 4:38:48 PM PST by jas3
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To: Oorang

*snicker*


26 posted on 02/14/2008 4:38:58 PM PST by RDTF (kill the terrorists, punch the hippies)
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To: RDTF
Fiddle? Shewt-fahr, I bet that boy ain't nevva played "Turkey In The Straw" in his whole life...
27 posted on 02/14/2008 4:39:24 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: RDTF
The accident occurred Dec. 27 but only came to light this week when he returned to London...

...having perfected all details of the insurance scam & resolving to retire from active violin playing...

28 posted on 02/14/2008 4:39:41 PM PST by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
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To: DBrow
I’ve got cyanoacrylate glue

Sorry, wrong century for that stuff. I recently bought a lifetime supply (one pound) of genuine hide glue, made in New Jersey USA, to install a new neck on my banjo. That's what the old boys in the 1700s probably used to stick fiddles together.

29 posted on 02/14/2008 4:39:45 PM PST by 19th LA Inf
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To: najida

yep!


30 posted on 02/14/2008 4:41:01 PM PST by RDTF (kill the terrorists, punch the hippies)
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To: RDTF
he is now hoping to get it repaired in New York

Hey, "Mighty Putty" can fix anything! I know, because Billy Mays says so!

;o)

31 posted on 02/14/2008 4:41:23 PM PST by holymoly (Molon labe.)
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To: gusopol3

uh huh


32 posted on 02/14/2008 4:41:30 PM PST by RDTF (kill the terrorists, punch the hippies)
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To: RDTF
"I hope and pray that it can be fixed, but if it can't, I hope my insurance policy will let me buy another great violin," the 26-year-old musician said.

"I hope and pray that it can be fixed, but if it can't, I hope my insurance policy will let me continue to be a dumb-ass at their expense," the 26-year-old musician said.
33 posted on 02/14/2008 4:41:35 PM PST by aruanan
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To: aposiopetic

My stringbass, not in the $1 million range, has had a few repairs and sounds better all the time. My set of 18” C-clamps is fairly substantial now.


34 posted on 02/14/2008 4:42:18 PM PST by RightWhale (Clam down! avoid ataque de nervosa)
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To: RDTF

Fiddler Off the Roof


35 posted on 02/14/2008 4:42:48 PM PST by Bars4Bill
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To: bill1952

He needs to get one of these cool blue violins. Just like the guy from E.L.O.

36 posted on 02/14/2008 4:43:16 PM PST by boop (Democracy is the theory that the people get the government they deserve, good and hard.)
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To: najida

And quite gay from what I hear as well....


37 posted on 02/14/2008 4:43:30 PM PST by My Favorite Headache (Our memories remind us, Maybe road life's not so bad...)
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To: RDTF

when was the last time you fell down a flight of stairs backward, with or without a $1m violin on your back?


38 posted on 02/14/2008 4:43:49 PM PST by gusopol3
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To: My Favorite Headache

now don’t go and start that rumor!


39 posted on 02/14/2008 4:44:05 PM PST by RDTF (kill the terrorists, punch the hippies)
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To: Billthedrill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmoUZf2h3ec

Close :)


40 posted on 02/14/2008 4:44:09 PM PST by najida (I am so grateful that stupid isn't contagious.)
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