Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 34
Scan 34
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Fiddle Dealer
3Mr. Eadie explained matters to him and suggested that I might get the loan of one of his violins until he (Mr. Eadie) could procure a suitable one. To this Mr. Clark at once consented, and we were taken into a large room in which fiddles were scattered broadcast; on centre and side tables, on sofas and chairs—and these were not sufficient, our host disappeared every now and then into an adjoining room, from which he brought more.
5What surprised me more than anything was that he could give a name to each one about which we enquired; not exactly the name of the maker, which was often dubious, but to the different qualities of tone on which he laid great stress. These he described variously as a "sympathetic," an "irony," a "sugary," and a "singing" tone. Amongst others, he shewed me a violin called the "Ailsa Craig," whose tone was said to have been heard on the rock of that name, in the Firth of Clyde, when the instrument was played on the mainland of Scotland, the nearest point of which was a good twenty miles distant. For the truth of this statement I cannot vouch, but we have learnt a great deal about the capacity of water for carrying sound since that time, more than half a century ago, so it may have been quite true.
7Well, I tried over so many instruments that I was quite bewildered, and at the end was just as unable to decide on one as when I entered;
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