Does anyone play a william lewis violin or viola(pref 60s-70s)? whadaya think of its tone?

My old music teacher offered to give me his old viola. When I brought it home today, my dad started b#@%^ing about how he was suspicious about how much money it was worth. I thought what the hell?! It doesn't matter what the instrument is worth, as long as its an upgrade and gives you growing room. The first viola was an eastman model 80(lowest eastman viola level). It was so hard to get a reaction out of it and the bow reacted slower to it. The c string quality was boring and I had to go up to heavy dominants(and sort jargar a) to get any substantial darkness out of the instrument. He keeps saying "i payed 500 dollars...b@#$, b(*%26amp;^, b!@~%". It has a few dings and dents but what do you expect, its 40 years old and was used in a public school for a while!? It has a nice choclatee c string(with med dominants) and i might have to use pirazzis to brighten it. I still have to use the forte jargar but mainly because i think larsens are too stong for my tastes.

Does anyone play a william lewis violin or viola(pref 60s-70s)? whadaya think of its tone?
Research online what new William Lewis violas go for. If you like the sound and it is an upgrade for you $500 is reasonable. Stringed instruments are costly. The older models if well made originally and maintained well are usually better than new. Scratches mean nothing, except that someone wasn't careful, but sound is everything! You can get polish for stringed instruments (Southwest Strings has it, never use furniture polish) and that helps keep your instrument clean and nice looking.
Reply:Sounds like it might be a student quality model. While you are using decent strings on it, the quality of the instrument itself ultimately determines the tone quality. Student models are usually on the low end as far as overall instrument quality is concerned, however, maybe a sound post adjustment might help brighten your tone.
Reply:i think ,it will be difficult to know how much does it coast on the net . coz to put a Price for an instrument you have to see it first and play on it . but i think you could know it's price if you ask a an old teacher or someone who plays from a long time . HE could tell you the real price of this instrument .

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