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, 1875 › scan 34
Scan 34
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, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 18. See the scan on archive.org.
1do not extend far beyond them at the back, which produces a very handsome appearance. The edges of the back are very thick and beautifully rounded. The purfling, as in all the Italian instruments, is rather broad, and accords with the general structure. The model is not so flat as that of Straduarius, but somewhat higher. It rises so gently from the purfling (which is here placed rather farther inwards than in other violins), that, viewing the horizontal surface of the edge and the middle of the back, no one would think the highest part required an inch thickness of wood to work out this model, which seems so perfectly flat to the eye. The sides are also made of beautiful, full-figured maple, and do not run quite perpendicular from the back to the belly, but are so placed as to form an angle of a hundred degrees with the back, which gives the instrument a very elegant appearance. The corners of the semi-circular side-pieces are very obtuse, and those of the upper and lower side-pieces are slightly turned outwards. The sides, on the interior part, are furnished, both above and below, with thin strips of pine-wood, about a quarter of an inch broad, which are placed close against the back and also against the belly. The four corners of the semi-circular bendings are strengthened with little blocks of pine, an inch and a quarter broad, which fill up the corners in such a manner, that the inside of the violin resembles the form of an Italian guitar. At the upper end, where the neck is fixed, there is also a little block of pine, which rises gently from the sides, and is three-quarters of an inch thick in the middle. A similar block is placed at the lower end, into which the button for the tail-piece is inserted.
3The belly, which has the same gentle rise as the back, is made of excellent pine-wood; and, although the grain is not
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.