Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 259
Scan 259
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 245. See the scan on archive.org.
1might adhere, by plunging it into pure water slightly tinged with blue. His daughter was almost constantly employed drafting or drawing the hairs, and selecting only those which were completely cylindrical and of as equal thickness as possible throughout their whole available length. This is a laborious and tedious operation, and requires much patience, completely cylindrical hairs being of very rare occurrence. The number of hairs used at that time is said to have been about 110, and when Fetis wrote it had increased to between 175 and 250, according to its thickness. These would be in Tourte's time what is called live hair, i.e., hair combed from the tails of living horses and oxen, and I have no doubt he was careful in this regard also, for, in his day, and down to very recent times, the hair of slaughtered animals, being of slight value, was allowed to lie about in the shambles and tanyards until it became much deteriorated. Now, however, it has become a comparatively important article of commerce, and in all parts of the world is carefully gathered and sorted into various qualities and lengths, and the longest and best (when drawn) for bows and deep-sea fishing purposes fluctuates sometimes from 15s. to 30s. per lb.
3Vuillaume's bows have been in great repute for a long time, and many imitations are sold at very low prices. His name is on all of his own manufacture, but tricks have been tried with this also, and the name of Vuillaume may be found on thousands of bows which have no claim to such distinction. Sometimes the brand is, with an approach to truth, "D'après Vuillaume." I have been favoured by a correspondent with some
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.