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 307
Scan 307
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
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1see the beautiful satin-like glint which followed the candle flame. I said—'Yes.' 'Well!' he said, 'that is a peculiarity of the varnish.' After some further conversation I asked him if amber was used in making the varnish. He said—'It is amber varnish, and the solvents are lead and lime.' Just at that moment the vision disappeared, and I awakened and found that during the awakening 'lead and lime,' by some mysterious process, had in my mind become converted into two quite different substances. Impelled by curiosity I got up at once, and hurried to my shop. It was now 7 A.M. I hastily fitted together some odd pieces of apparatus sufficient for the experiment, and before 8.30 I had the satisfaction of knowing that I could dissolve amber without chemical disintegration.
3"From the foregoing it can be seen that I had really very little to do with the discovery, and I cannot claim much credit on that point; but, as I found out afterwards, it is one thing to dissolve amber but quite another matter to make it into a working varnish. It was fully a year before I had varnish to try on a violin, and nearly three years before I had a bottle ready for sale, so that the discovery was not completed without a considerable amount of trouble and anxiety."
5Mr. Whitelaw makes his varnish in nine different colours, viz. pale amber yellow, dark amber yellow, dark ruddy brown, orange, orange red, dark orange red, "Amati," pale ruby, and dark ruby. It is equally lustrous and transparent in all the colours, and it is difficult to conceive how a more beautiful varnish can ever be made. Mr. Whitelaw is a gentleman of high artistic tastes, and an art critic of recognised authority.
7WHITESIDE, HENRY, Liverpool and Solva: 1749-1824. He made many violins in Fontenoy Street, Liverpool, and afterwards at Solva, Pembrokeshire. He was the famous builder of the Smalls lighthouse, and he established for himself a wide reputation in West Pembrokeshire a century ago as an engineer, musical instrument maker, and Merlin redivivus.
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