METROPOL Violin #123 MET-S Unique Piece G39, CG-123MET-S-4_4-G39
CG-123MET-S-4_4-G39
Götz Violin Gallery // Unique piece G39
You are buying exactly the violin shown. All photos show this instrument with serial number G39, built in the SIGNATURE build variant. Only this one instrument is available. Once it is sold, it is gone.
Violin from the METROPOL line by Conrad Götz, quality grade 123 MET, in the SIGNATURE build variant, size 4/4. METROPOL is the classic line of the house.
- Up to 15 hand-applied coats, dark antique brown with light red shading
- Back and neck of maple of Bosnian origin, top of spruce from the European highlands, with certified timber origin.
- Included: strings, bridge, tailpiece, pegs, fine tuner, Götz chin rest, hang tag, certificate of origin and a microfibre bag.
Technical data
| Instrument | violin |
| Line | METROPOL |
| Quality grade | 123 MET |
| Build variant | SIGNATURE |
| Size | 4/4 |
| Serial number | G39 |
| Top | Spruce |
| Back and neck | Maple |
| Warranty | 6 months |
| Company seat | Wernitzgrün near Markneukirchen |
Wood of this instrument
- The maple back shows a strong, medium-width and even flame.
- The ribs, neck and scroll are clearly flamed.
- The spruce top has clearly marked, medium-width growth rings.
- The photos show exactly this instrument.
Features
- METROPOL line, quality grade 123 MET
- SIGNATURE build variant
- Size 4/4
- Ebony with Parisian eye
- Götz Stradivari chin rest with gold-plated screws
- Götz bridge, German shape
- Master fine tuner with gold screw
- Traditional design
- Sturdy construction
In practice
- The model number stands for wood selection and the amount of work put into the white, still unvarnished instrument: graduation of the top, finishing inside and out, choice of tonewood. The higher the number, the more time has gone into the wood and the rounder and more differentiated the sound. 93 and 98 are student instruments, 108 and 110 are for advanced students and committed amateurs, from 120 upwards they are instruments for professionals, and 136 and 140 head towards orchestral instruments.
- The letters denote the series: varnish and set-up, that is pegs, end button, sound post, strings, chin rest and adjustment. In a photo you cannot see the difference between a 110 and a 115, but you can see whether it is a Metropol or a Cantonate.
- We varnish exclusively with spirit varnish. The spirit evaporates, resins and pigments remain. Priming, staining, colour coats, intermediate sanding and sealing add up to around fifteen steps; because these are natural varnishes, one coat more or less may be needed until the colour is right.
- This series carries a thin varnish. In our experience an instrument with a thin varnish sounds more open and brighter.
- The Metropol is the classic German violin, built the way our workshop has built it for decades.
- In its own instrument finder the maker places METROPOL as the classic and most chosen line for advancing players.
- SIGNATURE and HERITAGE are two build variants of the same line. HERITAGE is the traditional and sturdier version, SIGNATURE the lighter, modernised one.
- Guide values for string height at the end of the fingerboard: violin around 3.5 mm under the E and 5.0 mm under the G, viola 4.5 to 5.5 and 5.0 to 6.0 mm, cello 5.0 to 6.5 and 5.5 to 7.5 mm.
- In the first weeks the strings stretch and the bridge creeps towards the fingerboard as you tune. Both need checking; a readjustment after a few weeks is normal.
- Humidity 40 to 50 per cent at around 20 °C, up to 60 per cent unproblematic. Below 40 percent you risk slipping pegs, opening glue joints and cracks.
- After playing, take off rosin dust with a microfibre cloth and no pressure. No polish, no tincture, no alcohol on the varnish.
- After cold or heat, open the case only after fifteen to thirty minutes. Never leave it in a car, never check it as baggage.
- The company is based in Wernitzgrün near Markneukirchen. It has existed since 1884 and is run as a family business in the fourth generation.
- Six months warranty on defective components and workmanship.
Sound and physics
The air in the body vibrates through the f-holes as a Helmholtz resonator (A0), on the 4/4 violin at around 270 Hz, above the open G string at 196 Hz; it supports above all the notes of the D string. In modal analysis (the measurement of natural vibrations) the principal body resonances of a 4/4 violin typically lie at:
- A0, Helmholtz air resonance: around 270 Hz
- CBR, bending mode of the whole body: around 400 Hz
- B1−, first antisymmetric plate mode: around 450 Hz
- A1, first higher cavity mode: around 470 Hz
- B1+, first symmetric plate mode: around 540 Hz
The sound post under the right foot of the bridge practically doubles the number of modes that contribute to the radiated sound. The bass bar, around 25 cm long on the 4/4 violin, stiffens the bass side of the top and, together with the arching, carries the string tension. With the Thomastik synthetic sets we stock, the bridge presses on the top with around 8.5 to 9.5 kg.
On the 4/4 violin a spruce top is typically 3.2 to 3.3 mm thick in the centre, 2.5 to 2.7 mm across the bouts and 3.0 mm at the edge; the maple back reaches 4.2 to 4.3 mm in the centre. This distribution of thicknesses (the graduation) sets, together with the arching, the natural frequencies of top and back.
At 12 % moisture content the spruce top has a density of 380 to 470 kg/m³ and a modulus of elasticity along the grain of around 10,000 MPa; sound travels along its grain at around 4,800 m/s. For the top, 8 to 15 growth rings per centimetre is the recommended range.
The F in a grade such as 125F stands for the one-piece back.
The Metropol has ebony fittings (Diospyros ebenum, a very hard tropical wood) with a Parisian eye on the tailpiece and pegs.
Its varnish follows the southern German tradition: a dark brown ground with light red shading that brings out the figure of the spruce top and accentuates the flame of the back.
Heritage and Signature are two ways of working the same model; from five metres away they are barely distinguishable. The Signature is around 10 to 15 % lighter, above all at the scroll and neck, the inner neck block and the back joint, and so takes weight off the left arm. Its fingerboard is thinner and more gently rounded, while the string spacing stays the same; it has been in steady production since 2019.
Our experience
We deliver every violin set up and tuned, because only then can we play and check it before it leaves us. We deliberately set the string height slightly high, because a bridge is easier to lower than to replace.
What lies between two grades is above all time spent on graduation: the higher grade differs from the next one down through longer work thinning the inner surfaces of top and back and through more carefully selected wood.
The Metropol is our best-selling series: the classic German violin of our house, balanced and of medium volume in our experience. The model chosen most often is the 115 MET. The 112 MET differs from the 110 MET through more time spent graduating top and back, and in our experience it sounds slightly more refined than the 110 MET as a result.
In our experience the Signature responds a little more quickly and sounds a little brighter and lighter than the Heritage, while the Heritage sounds broader and fuller than the Signature. We often recommend the Heritage to players with large hands and a strong build, and the Signature to smaller hands.
When another model suits you better
Players looking for a warmer, darker basic sound than the Metropol's will find it in the Bohemia: with the darkest varnish in our range and its own construction it sounds deeper and warmer than the Metropol in our experience.
Frequently asked questions
Which strings is the violin supplied with?
With Thomastik Dominant, set 135: G 133, D 132, A 131 and E 129SN.
What string tension does the violin carry with Dominant?
The factory set Dominant 135 in medium puts 21.2 kg on the violin in total; through the bridge it presses on the top with around 8.5 kg.
How dry is the wood when the violin is varnished?
Below 9 % moisture content; that is how dry the wood of our violins is before varnishing.
Which fittings does the Metropol have?
Ebony with a Parisian eye on the tailpiece and pegs.
These texts hold decades of experience and a great deal of heart. They are protected by copyright, C.A. Götz jr. GmbH. Please ask us before any use. Thank you for your appreciation.
