The Jonathan Li Model 503 Paganini violin

Introducing a precocious fiddle with an interesting twist

By Greg Olwell posted March 2012

Jonathan Li Model 503 Paganini

At the recent Violin Society of America convention in Timonium, Maryland, Eastman Strings product specialist Rubén Salazar showed me an intriguing violin from a maker that the company recently began distributing. My interest piqued, I asked him to send one in for review.

Crafted in Beijing, China, by luthier Jonathan Li, Eastman’s 503 line of step-up stringed instruments includes violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The violins are available in a Stradivari pattern and two Guarneri del Gesù patterns (the Heifetz, and our test unit, the Jonathan Li Model 503 Paganini).

What’s special about our test violin is the unusual type of wood used for the top (more on that in a moment).

Our full-size Paganini included a two-piece flamed maple back, with similarly luxuriously flamed maple ribs and neck, untreated Despiau Superieur bridge, handsome boxwood fittings, and Thomastik-Infeld Dominant strings. The pegs fit well, making smooth tuning a breeze. It has a nice, light-colored oil varnish with hints of red, orange, and yellow. The extensive antiquing was one of the better efforts at dinging up a brand-new fiddle that I’ve seen on similarly priced instruments.

While these are all nice features on a new violin, the most intriguing thing about this violin is its top. The Li’s top is carved from a piece of book-matched medium-grain spruce—like you’re accustomed to—but this is a type of spruce more typically seen on high-end acoustic guitars than violins: Adirondack.

Used by noted acoustic-guitar manufacturer Martin on its treasured prewar acoustic guitars, Adirondack, or red spruce, is generally considered a major contributor to the strong, clear tone for which these instruments are revered. One quality that seems to make Adirondack so desirable is that it has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of the spruces used in instrument building. Though over-harvesting in its range in the Northeastern United States has made the sizes needed for guitar building scarce and thus expensive, Adirondack spruce blanks are readily available for violins and violas. Curious about its effect on violins, Eastman Strings asked Jonathan Li to build a series of violins using this valuable wood.

So, does this spruce’s magical tone translate from guitars to violins?

That’s difficult to say, explicitly, but our test violinist, Laurel Thomsen, commented on the sound’s openness and relative richness. And, while listening to her play, it was easy to hear. The Paganini’s sound had a rich, singing quality. The tone had balanced range with praiseworthy, sparkling highs and tight, full lows that give it the kind of silky polish that you hope to find in a step-up instrument. Our test violin did have some of the crisp, fresh sound of a new instrument, but you can’t fault it for not being old, even if the antiqued finish makes it look like it’s been around a while.

Or in other words, for a new violin, the sound had a lot of “there” there. The Jonathan Li 503 is precocious for a new fiddle and worth investigating if you’re stepping up.