Books › British violin-makers classical and modern; being a biographical and critical dictionary of British makers of the violin from the foundation of the classical school to the end of the nineteenth century, 1904 › scan 306
Scan 306
British violin-makers classical and modern; being a biographical and critical dictionary of British makers of the violin from the foundation of the classical school to the end of the nineteenth century, 1904
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1a chemist at 496 St. George's Road, Glasgow. He is not a violin-maker, but he is the discoverer and manufacturer of the finest violin varnish on the market to-day, and as such he claims an honourable place in any dictionary of violin-makers. As in the case of Mr. Edward Heron-Allen, so in the present one, although Mr. Whitelaw does not make violins himself, still he has made it possible for others to make them. There are many amateur, and not a few professional, makers to-day who would never be able to finish their instruments as they do were it not for the diligent research and hard labour of this chemist. It is within my knowledge that many have been induced to take up the gouge mainly because there was within their reach a beautiful varnish at a moderate cost. I am not going to discuss the merits of the varnish here, as I have already done so, but it is necessary to give a short account of its discovery. I cannot do better than give the words of the discoverer himself, as quoted by Mr. William C. Honeyman in his "Scottish Violin-Makers," p. 98. He says:—
3"I was lying in bed on the last Sunday morning of February 1886, about five o'clock, I think. Whether I was asleep or awake I could never be certain. Suddenly my bedroom seemed transformed into an old-fashioned-looking kitchen, in which was a large dresser with a lighted candle at one end. Above the dresser, instead of crockery and household odds and ends, there were rows of fiddles hanging on the wall. While I was looking at this display of fiddles, a very tall and majestic man came into the kitchen. He had on a little round white cap and a white leather apron, his hair was nearly white, and in little crisp curls. He had beautiful grey eyes, and a very pleasant expression. He spoke to me, and I asked him about the violins on the wall. He said they had all been made in Cremona, and among other things told me about the varnish being a secret.
5"He now took down a violin from the wall, and, having removed the candle to the middle of the dresser, he held the violin up behind the flame at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and, moving it from side to side, he asked me if I could
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