Scan 21
A Review Of Ancient And Modern Violin Making, 1899
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1absolute success. From first to last they have labored in an atmosphere of doubt, not knowing what the result would be till their work was completed and tested. This has been so much the case that it is universally admitted, and has passed into proverb, that "a maker cannot tell what his violin will be until it is finished."
3This would not be the case if violin making had ever reached perfection. It was this lack of perfection in the old makers that has hindered the modern workmen, as they have worked on the same lines as the old makers, preferring to copy rather than take new lines of thought in the endeavor to avoid the numerous failures. It has been my privilege to gather the most minute details of a number of old instruments, and I found them anything but satisfactory. In examining two of the same model, and of equal merit, I found the interiors were plain contradictions. I have never found two of the same maker alike. I could only infer that the intentions in both were the same, with, however, a very imperfect fulfillment of that intention. Most of the old models differed less in outward appearance than in inner construction. What could be
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