Books › Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894 › scan 16
Scan 16
Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1resorted to all sorts of devices and dodges, on the principle that if people are determined to be taken in, they might as well profit by their foolishness as anyone else. One thing may with safety be affirmed: it is that these depredations, or one might as well call them frauds, were never, or very rarely, intended or committed by makers, who would, of course, have preferred to have their own name brought forward. But they arose in another way. The greatest offenders in this respect have always been, and still are music-masters and artists—not that they must be charged with wilful deception of pupils and others who consult them, but from want of the necessary knowledge or judgment. I have given an instance of how great artists have erred, and surely music-masters could not be expected to avoid similar errors. Many teachers, however, seem to think that by virtue of their profession they may claim a perfect understanding of the construction of a fiddle; while often these good men are simply deceived by the inside label, which is one of the commonest means of deception, and is, as we shall presently see, usually a forgery. I contend that neither master nor virtuoso—be he ever so eminent—has a right to give a formal judgment upon the value of a violin unless he has had the opportunity of acquiring by many years' study a thorough technical knowledge of these instruments. Why, I may safely declare that many of them have not even a knowledge of the three cardinal principles observed in violin-making, viz., acoustics, mathematics, selection of the wood required. Has any teacher or artist ever been known to make a discovery, or even a practical suggestion, in connection with the structural improvement of the violin or any other instrument? No such case is on record, and it is certainly not to be expected, unless the teacher, as previously remarked, has undergone a
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