Books › Old violins and violin lore, 1900 › scan 39
Scan 39
Old violins and violin lore, 1900
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1OLD VIOLINS
3The heads look rough, because, with the reduced size, no increase of refinement or delicacy has yet been reached; now, they are cut without symmetry; now, the fluting of the scroll is not smoothed, even the grooves for the purfling are not neat, nor is the purfling itself sharp.
5Maggini's early backs, sides, and bellies are cut on the slab—that is, across the grain.
7Then Gasparo's sound-holes have got narrower in the hands of his pupil, and Gasparo has probably got credit for some of the improvements of Maggini, as there can be little doubt that some violins labelled Gasparo are the work of his pupil, just as early Stradivari violins are in existence signed Nicolo Amati.
9If I may hazard the remark, in my opinion Maggini did not copy so long or so seriously the work of Gasparo as did Stradivari copy Nicolo. The reason is obvious. The stride between Gasparo and Maggini is far greater than that between the late Nicolo and the Strad. By the time Nicolo died the violin had already risen to that supreme and independent individuality and dignity which it has never since lost.
11Stradivari got the violin all ready made; it was Maggini's glory to have assisted at the individualisation of the "King" type.
13Presently we become aware that Gasparo is dead and buried. The Maggini bellies now cease to be cut on the slab, but show the long parallel grain lines of the
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