Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 188
Scan 188
Old violins, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 168. See the scan on archive.org.
1with Thomas Dodd the fiddle dealer and varnisher, who employed Fendt and Lott to make the fiddles. John Dodd the bow-maker was the brother of Thomas Dodd. John lived in Blue Bell Alley, Mint Street, Southwark, before he went to Kew, but the rustic suburbs suited his habits, and as he had acquired a European reputation before he died, it little mattered where he lived.
3Vuillaume of Paris made excellent bows, and even founded a school of bow-making. Many bows that don't sell as his are stamped "d'après Vuillaume," "scuola de," which is certainly more respectable than a forged label to which violin dealers do so commonly resort.
5Vuillaume's hollow steel bows have never "caught on," though good players have used them now and again. But then a good player can use any bow, and whilst a good bow is a luxury, a real violinist will be able to perform very respectably with a bad one. It is said that Paganini on one occasion excited the wonder and enthusiasm of his audience by performing on his instrument with a long churchwarden clay pipe, and at another time with a rush!
7It would be unfair even in a sketch like this, which only professes to seize the salient point of general interest to collectors and amateurs, not to mention Jacques Lafleur (1760-1832), an admirable imitator of Tourte.
9Lupôt, brother of the great violin-maker (1774-1837), was the first to line with metal the groove in the under-
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