Books › Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894 › scan 18
Scan 18
Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1for deception became, in time, a high art, and is, and will be, carried on as long as people will not shake off their stupid prejudice in favour of old instruments.
3It is difficult to estimate the number of bogus old fiddles which filter through Germany, Bohemia, and France into Italy, only to return as genuine Straduari or Guarneri. A whole volume might be written upon this subject. Many of these bogus old masters are said to have come out of an old convent, or to have been discovered by accident in a disused attic; and some most ingenious and lying legend is attached to them, in order to give them a fictitious value. They have generally a coarse or tubby tone, which will be accounted for by their not having been in use for so many years, but which one is assured will change into the normal grand and mellow tone with a few hours' practice. How many purchasers of such treasures may not have long waited, and may, indeed, wait till the Greek Kalends, for that much desired improvement to take place?
5I shall now proceed to give an exact description of the manner in which these counterfeits are produced, and I should state that, besides drawing upon my own experiences, I here utilise some of the observations of H. A. Brögemeyer, G. Gemünder, and other eminent makers of the present day.
7After the separate parts have been made, they are painted with a coloured substance, consisting, according to the shade desired, of greyish, brown, or yellow liquorice-water, extract of coffee, chicory-water, wood-vinegar, and aniline dyes, dissolved in spirits, in order to impart to them the appearance of old age. If the instrument is to give the idea of having been damaged, artificial cracks and spots will be cunningly introduced. Above all, great trouble is always taken with the soundpost to create the belief that it had
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