Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894 › scan 19

Scan 19

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.

1become necessary to repeatedly renew it. For this purpose small indentations will be made in different places, and in a lighter colour than the other parts. In the same manner the belly, back, purfling, and ribs are manipulated, small notches being made where the soundpost stands with a hot iron or a piece of hard wood.
3Then the bass bar has to be considered. In the instruments of the classical period it became from time to time necessary to provide them with a stronger bass bar, so as to offer a greater resistance to the increased tension of the strings produced by a higher pitch. It is self-evident that the form of the bar had to be altered accordingly, and an exact imitation of this will appear in the "faked" violin.
5Great attention is paid to the label, which is one of the commonest means of deception. It declares the name and domicile of the maker, and the year in which the instrument was produced. It will be exactly copied from the original, and glued inside. The first two figures are, as is well known, in the original, generally printed, while the two last are written in ink, which, of course, appears faded by age. To invest the whole thing with an air of verisimilitude, the ink will simply be mixed with a solution of chloride, then the label will be stretched on a board and the rim of it rubbed with the finger, so as to give it a worn and aged appearance.
7Many makers are in the habit, when opening an old violin for repair, of adding a second label, with the legend: "Repaired by S. S., 18—." An inscription of this kind on the feigned old violin, in order to make it appear an authentic masterpiece, may justly be characterised as the acme of imposition. It only remains to rub over all the inner parts some resin dust with a cloth, and the inside is practically finished.

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