Books › The Story of the violano-virtuoso : world's only self-playing violin and piano, 1900 › scan 16
Scan 16
The Story of the violano-virtuoso : world's only self-playing violin and piano, 1900
22 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Violin
2Story of Its Development—Methods of Construction
4Interesting data surrounds the building of the violins for the Mills Violano.
6When we first began building the Violano-Virtuoso, all our violins were bought in the open market. We had buyers in all the recognized markets of the world, seeking the best violins that the world's most noted violin makers could produce. Nowhere—even among the highest priced instruments—could we find exactly what we wanted. The violins were not standard; the scales varied; no instruments could be found that had the stamina for continuous playing.
8During our years of experimenting, we tried out over two hundred different makes of violins, but could not find any that would afford the service required for our instrument.
10The very best models would stand for only an hour's steady playing, at the end of which they would lose their tone and resonance and give off only weak, wheezy sounds. If permitted to rest they would recover all their original qualities, but on being played again, exactly the same thing would happen.
12Only recently a leading violin maker, who makes violins that sell as high as $1,000 each, installed one of his instruments in the Violano for a test and he was very much surprised when it failed completely after an hour's steady playing.
14"Will say that our collections per month average about $100, and on exceptional rolls more than that. We are very much pleased with our instrument, and find that our patrons are, too."
15—S. D. CONTOS,
16915 Meridian St., Anderson, Ind.
18"I actually collected enough nickels out of the instrument and boxes during the first thirteen months to pay for the instrument."
19—HERMAN MOSER,
2033d and York Sts.,
21Philadelphia, Pa.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.