Books › John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914 › scan 51
Scan 51
John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 33. See the scan on archive.org.
1As to the light touch of the Stanhope genius it is related that a local violin player had broken the neck of his instrument, so he sent it to a joiner at Westgate thinking that a joiner was the proper person to send it to. The joiner of course sent the broken fiddle to Askew who spliced the neck, and when it was returned to the owner no one could ever find the lines of the joint.
3On one occasion our violin maker sold an instrument wholly of his own make to a gentleman at Newcastle-on-Tyne, who made the remark that no Englishman could make such a head or scroll as he found on the instrument he had bought, so the maker of the fiddle sent the gentleman the block of wood from which the neck and head had been cut.
5One of the old standards who used to visit Askew's shop informed the writer that he had seen a dozen fiddles hanging up in his workshop, some unvarnished, others stringless and in various stages of dress. He had seen the shoemaker, when quietly stitching on the sole of a boot, suddenly throw down the boot from his knee, take up a fiddle and
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.