Books › Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896 › scan 254
Scan 254
Famous violinists and fine violins : historical notes, anecdotes, and reminiscences, 1896
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 234. See the scan on archive.org.
1or Withers, who make it a kind of specialty, and receive instruments from all parts of the world for this purpose.
3If a bridge is too dense, it may be rendered thinner by means of sand-paper; but if made too thin, it is apt to break suddenly when being placed, or even (as once happened to myself) by hard playing.
5With regard to strings, they are far more perfect at present than they used to be twenty or thirty years ago. There is now great competition among the various manufacturers in Italy, France, and Germany. Generally speaking, thin strings yield the finest quality of tone, and are easier to play upon; whilst thick strings enhance the brilliancy at the expense of the tone. Some instruments will be well suited with strings of medium thickness; and it is well, when a player has once discovered which thickness of strings suits his instrument best, to always adhere to it. On purchasing the strings, the thickness is ascertained by means of a little brass gauge sold for the purpose; or the dealer will gauge them for the purchaser.
7The great English bow-maker Tubbs once told me that "the bow is the lung of the violin," and he was quite right: it is to the violin what the lungs are to the singer, and a rough, heavy bow will often spoil the notes of the finest instruments.
9Whilst the making of violins is an art which has
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