Scan 63
Georg Gemünder's Progress In Violin Making 1881, 1881
10 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1but, by persevering in the practice of two notes together, the third stage is gradually attained; at which the instrument, like wax, receives every impression, and the tone,' having recovered its power and fulness, again becomes clear and beautiful. This, however, requires three months to effect: hence, a violin so exercised cannot be afforded under thirty dollars, nor a violoncello under fifty.
3I have now only to state that I reside at Halle, where, in conjunction with my sons, I undertake to bring out the tone of instruments in the way above-mentioned. Should any of my kind patrons and friends require to write to me, I beg that their letters may be addressed to Jacob Augustus Otto, at Halle, instrument-maker to the University: and, in conclusion, I desire to express the hope that the present little work may not be wholly devoid of interest to the musical world.*
5* As an instance of the strange freaks that have been played with violins (and against which the Author has so strongly declaimed), it has been deemed desirable to give some account in this place of sundry novel vagaries; with the object of supplying the reader with information on the subject of violin manufacture down to the present time, rather than for any benefit which the interesting art has derived from these novelties!
7Of freaks relating to the bass-bar, the following have come under notice:—
91. M. Rambaux, of Paris, exhibited at the Exposition Universelle, in 1855, a violin with two bars: one fixed in the usual position under the belly; the other glued to the back, and having the sound-post placed upon it. The instrument, although originally indifferent, was by this means so much improved that, according to the testimony of several distinguished performers, it yielded a free, equal, and powerful tone. It also possessed a remarkable degree of sonority on the fourth string; a feature supposed to be produced by the coincidence of the energetic vibrations of the two bars, rendered normal by the influence of the sound-post. For instruments constructed according to the admirable principles of the great Italian makers, the addition of a second bar was deemed altogether unnecessary; while at the same time it was clearly proved that those of a less perfect character were sensibly ameliorated thereby.—See M.
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