Pianos were barely invented when I started, and it would have been difficult to carry a harpischord around the trenches.

[It's an absent reply, because Solomon is focussed on the violin, carefully probing the bridge and the strings.]

It did take some time to decide what I wanted to play. I wound up deciding based on the limited reputation of the luthier--enough of one to trust, not so much that it made him ridiculously expensive. A few decades later and I likely wouldn't have been able to afford him; he got to be very popular.

[He straightens up with a sigh, rubbing the scars beside his eyes.]

Fortunately, this is not that violin. I'll have to have someone here take a look, but I'm fairly sure there's some cracking in the bridge.