Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The violin and the art of its construction : a treatise on the Stradivarius violin, 1895 › scan 17

Scan 17

The violin and the art of its construction : a treatise on the Stradivarius violin, 1895

6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 11. See the scan on archive.org.

1makers are always on hand to be selected from. The age of the wood I consider of only very small importance; if it has been laying by for five years, ready cut or split, as the case may be, for the construction of a violin, it will then be sufficiently dry and will need no further preparation. I have exactly ascertained the weight of wood which had been laid by for drying for five years, and then, having weighed it again at the end of twenty years, have found it had not become perceptibly lighter. All the violins made by me, some 1600 instruments, have always weighed from 260 to 275 grammes, without the pegs, finger-board, and tail-piece, a weight which I have generally found to be that of the violins constructed by Stradivarius.
3II. OF THE CONSTRUCTION.
5For the space of thirty years I have worked upon the plan of Stradivarius solely, for I consider that his instruments and their proportions are the most perfect that can be found. Why, therefore, should I have taken any other as my model? I have repaired at least three hundred undoubtedly genuine violins constructed by this great master, besides having seen and handled many others, and consequently have had frequent opportunities of thoroughly studying his work, and of gauging and copying his most beautiful instruments. As the creations of this incomparable maker seem perfect in every detail, I have never attempted to make any additions of my own, but have strictly adhered to specimens produced by him in his prime (1700 to 1720) as my models, and have found that they differ but very slightly from one another. In Fig. I., I have given the outlines of a violin of this period (1713) with the blocks.

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