I took
the Hawkes out tonight to an Orchestra rehearsal to see how she sounded and felt. This was a 2 1/2 hour rehearsal with about 2 hours of actual playing (including counting rests and turning pages..)
I was surprised a bit on how it handled. It was actually easy to play a 2 octave C scale on the A string when I was warming up. Going up the D and G was not much of a problem but reaching over to play up the A string to the end of the fingerboard was the true test. I got over the shoulders just fine.
Jed Kriegel who used to work with Arnold made the current Neck and graft as well as setting it out quite nicely. This was by far the easiest to play Hawkes I have ever laid my hands on.