There are two talented car inspectors at the Crest Yard Fort Worth. Bobby Pritchard is the fiddler. He started singing and playing a guitar with his family at a very young age.
Jimmy Loyd is the fiddle maker. He made his first violin for his son to learn to play at school. Then he decided to make another one in 1975, but had to stop when he was about half finished and start building his family a new home.
About six months ago, while he and his wife were looking around in an antique store, he found this old violin that was in bad shape. He repaired and restored it. This in turn inspired him to finish the violin he started over 20 years ago that he had put in his attic. He completed the restoration in January.
Jimmy played a tune for me, and when he finished, he
said, "Now that I have finished it, what am I going to do
with it?"
I told him, "You could make a glass case for it and hang it on the wall." It didn't really sound the way I meant it to, but Jimmy said it did.
Bobby Pritchard then played the violin and it sounded great.
Carman Robert Sample and his wife Gloria operate "The Colony," a bed and breakfast located in the Historic Stockyards District of Fort Worth. 2-97