Books › Antonio Stradivari, 1900 › scan 46
Scan 46
Antonio Stradivari, 1900
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1sumably on the premises of the maestro and not as at present in foreign parts. At the time there was not existent that extensive and special manufacture of bridges, tailpieces, tail-pins, and pegs that forms a large and significant branch of commerce at the present day. That the violin bridge especially was a production of the Stradivari establishment and not "made in Germany," is sufficiently indicated by its present form having been introduced by Stradivari. On comparing it with the different patterns of bridges that had been issued by the previous masters of Cremona, it will be seen at once that the master mind of Stradivari had effected improvements that have their counterpart in the designs of his violin patterns. We may notice the successful efforts at stability with simplicity, just enough of detail that would lend itself in completing the harmony of the whole design, while dispensing with every unnecessary angle or curve. Of the fingerboard and tailpiece we cannot speak in the same terms; the master seems to have accepted the manner of treating these parts as handed down by preceding generations from Gasparo da Salo, and thought there was no need for alteration. The design of the inlaid ornamentation on both these accessories, was, of course, of a kind with which the house of Stradivari would be identified and the execution also in accordance. Of the tailpin and pegs, with the decoration of both, the same may be said.
3All these particulars point to considerable time spent in direct supervision after the preliminary designs had been made by the principal. This would reduce the available time for direct manual labour at his disposal. There would occasionally be some time spent in the discrimination for purchasing of particular choice kinds of pine and maple, these requiring the closest attention. Whether samples were brought for Stradivari's inspection by agents or their principals, or whether the maestro took journeys to particular districts where the exact kind of wood suitable to his requirements was to be had, we know not, but there seems to be much probability
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