u/LaLechuzaVerde

I’m on a roll

For questions this week.

I’m getting a hand-me-down 3/4 violin prepared for my daughter. It’s in good shape but it’s been sitting a while.

It’s a Karl Knilling violin. There is no year marked in it but I can narrow down the age based on the fact that it belonged to my nephew who played it about 16-20 years ago and it says it was made in Germany so it can’t be older than 1990.

The strings are at least 16 years old, and the fine tuners that were on the tailpiece were all dirty and stiff, plus they were a bad design and were marring the finish under the tailpiece. So I bought a whitner-style Fiddlerman tailpiece for it and Fiddlerman strings.

Well, it turns out Karl Knilling pegs have unusually tiny holes in them, and the Fiddlerman strings are too fat.

My options:

- I have precision tools that are entirely capable of boring out the holes *assuming* that there isn’t anything more technical in a peg hole than just, well, a hole in a stick.

- I could buy all new pegs and pay a luthier to fit new pegs to the violin. I’m not sure this is my best go-to solution for a violin my daughter will probably outgrow in a year, but it’s an ok backup plan in case I try option 1 and fail.

- I can find much thinner strings that will fit the pegs.

-

The E string was a bit of a tight fit but worked. The A string was very difficult to install. The D string was incompatible but I’m stubborn and managed to cram it in there after shaving off a little of of the outer layer of windings. The G string was an entirely lost cause - it’s just bigger than the hole no matter what. So currently the violin only has 3 strings on it.

So… is there a very thin string set or at least a single G string I should be trying?

Is there any reason why I should NOT attempt to widen the holes a little, given that needing to replace the pegs at the luthier would be an option if it doesn’t work?

I might cross post this to violinmaking.

I have decided to buy my kiddo a new bow rather than rehair the worthless Glasser. I want to get her a 3/4 carbon fiber bow.

I know Fiddlershop always puts bows on sale in August. What about Shar and Sweetwater? Any other places I should look for good deals on economical bows?

Please keep in mind she is 11 and not advanced. I’m not looking for advice on expensive bows. Just kid bows. :) I want something decent enough that it’s worth more than a rehair job, but I’m not looking to break the bank for a bow she is going to outgrow in a couple of years.

I don’t have a super specific question. I just want to know what kinds of tips or experience you have for annual travel insurance plans.

I’ve insured lots of trips before. I have had to make a claim once - had to cancel an insured trip at the last minute because both kids came down with COVID and although I was inclined to go and just isolate in our cabin at the beach the doctor strongly advised against it and wrote letter to that effect for the insurance coverage. I didn’t have any trouble with the reimbursement from insurance. So anyway, I usually do insure my trips if they are expensive enough to be a hardship if I have to cancel.

This year my family is doing what feels like a LOT of travel. We have three out of state trips planned as a family, plus I’ve got one kid going to summer camp with her scout troop and the other going to the national scout jamboree. So I purchased a general travel plan to cover us for the whole year (March through February). Obviously I’m hoping I have no need to make any claims. :)

I’m just kinda wondering how it works with these plans. I know there’s a limit to how much can be reimbursed - if we had to cancel ALL our trips it wouldn’t cover them all.

But let’s say my kid comes down with a serious illness and has to cancel her trip to Jamboree. Just that one trip is like $2,000 including the bus ride to get there and back. Do these kinds of trips cover that sort of thing? I assume it also covers if she has a medical emergency while she is away from home.

What is your experience with these things? Did I make a smart choice?

This isn’t an advice thread. I already know RCI is a money sink. It isn’t my membership or I would just call and ask them this question.

So my elderly mother has an RCI membership that she pays who knows how much money to every year. And a fixed week timeshare she never visits but deposits every year. I know, I know.

Anyway: Her deposit this year brought in 21 points which expire sometime in 2027 or something. She also has a bank of 64 points that will expire in July of this year unless she renews or combines them.

She wants to exchange for a condo near her home for us to come visit at Christmas. The condo is 26 points.

We can’t use the recent deposit because it isn’t enough points. We can’t use the bank of 64 points because it expires before the rental period. I explained to my mom that she would need to call and either combine the two deposits or extend the larger block of points so we could use them.

My mom isn’t as sharp as she used to be, and when she called they told her that she should wait until July to combine them so the points will last longer.

Which… I get… but we can’t book the place (only one available) until we do something.

So I need to make an executive decision for her to combine or extend.

I’m thinking extending makes more sense. She can combine things later, maybe when she has 2 or 3 deposits to put together at once.

Can anybody tell me what the more advantageous option is that will allow us to use the points sooner rather than later?