Jay Haide Violin VS Struna Maestro Violin

Posted by Richard Bodinnar on 18th Aug 2015

Jay Haide Violin VS Struna Maestro Violin

The two violins that take today’s spotlight are the Jay Haide and Struna Maestro. After being previously setup with a new fitted bridge and pegs, which we do for all of our violins, it has come the time for them to show us what they’ve got. 

Both of these violins are Guarneri style violins, meaning that they are purposely made to look like they have been around for 300 years. Now although this is not true it does not mean these violins are not worth your attention. On the contrary, I strongly believe that they represent a revolutionary step in violin making over the past 15 years when it comes to the quality and affordability ratio. I remember the first time I laid my eyes on a Jay Haide; a rep from a company brought it to me for testing and it was completely bare! No bridge, no strings, no tailpiece, nothing. But the moment I saw it I was like “I must have that!” The amount of precision put into building these violins left me completely speechless.


First I tested the Jay Haide, and it is important to note that this is not the European wood version, but rather the Chinese wood one. They are made by the Ifshin Violins under the supervision of European violin makers. After that I played the Struna Maestro so that you could compare the difference in sound.

One important thing to note is that the Struna Maestro violins are completely hand made. What I
particularly liked about this violin brand, which holds true to Jay Haide as well, is the varnish they used. This allows the wood to vibrate the way it should, which oftentimes proves untrue for violins I get because of the varnish used. Even a Stradivarius violin will sound poorly if you coat it with an inadequate varnish mixture.

Upon playing it, we can see that the Jay Haide has a deep, full sound which at the same time is quite mellow. What this means is that, unlike a violin that is completely mellow and whose sound does not carry so well, or a bright violin that is pretty hard on your hearing, this piece is somewhere in between, providing good sound projecting power while also retaining its warmth.

The Struna Maestro shares many attributes with the Jay Haide, including that same carrying power, but what sets it apart is it's particularly deep bottom end, almost like a viola. When we move to the upper registers we can see that it also retains it's warmth, as opposed to the sharp, cutting sound which is common on many violins with this viola-like deep bottom end.

The Jay Haide, on the other hand, is a much more balanced and 'even' type of violin. It does not have such a deep bottom and has a consistent sound across all strings. Both of them have a ringing sort of sound that continues well after you remove the bow from the strings.

Lastly, the Struna Maestro violin has a one-piece back, which to me makes little difference, but it is
important to note. Secondly, the Struna Maestro has more of a honey-colored varnished as opposed to Jay Haide’s darker color tone.

Both of them are incredibly beautifully made both visually and sound-vise and you won’t make a
mistake if you decide on either one of them.