Books › A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860 › scan 45
Scan 45
A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1case, if no wood has been scraped away, this injury may be rectified by a maker possessed of the requisite knowledge; but if any of the wood has been taken out, the evil cannot then be corrected without impairing the tone.
3It has already been remarked that the model of the Straduarius violins is very flat: indeed, I have hitherto met with none but what are higher. Their shape is very fine, but not so obtuse in the corners as those of Jerome Amati. The corners and edges are beautifully finished; and the purfling is still broader than in the instruments of the last-named maker, and not inlaid very near the edge. The \( f \)-holes are finely cut and lie rather near together, as is the case in all genuine Italian instruments. The back, neck, and sides are made of very beautifully-figured maple, and the instruments are covered with a dark brown amber varnish. Some of them have a yellow-brown varnish; but dark brown is the more usual colour. There are some which in shape closely approximate to the violins of Jerome Amati, and are also constructed rather higher than those before-mentioned. These have a mahogany-coloured amber varnish.
5The violins of Joseph Guarnerius are very beautifully made. They are extremely similar in form and
7acute. The pitch having again risen nearly a semitone since 1830, it would now doubtless be found by experiment that the pressure of the four strings on a violin is equal to 90 pounds or upwards. Hence the necessity of preserving the masterpieces of the great violin makers from a pressure which they were never constructed to bear; and hence, also, another argument in favor of a reduction of the musical pitch. See M. Fétis's Rapport sur les Instruments de Musique dans l'Exposition universelle de Paris, en 1855, p. 34.—Tr.
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