Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 62
Scan 62
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1thing prettier. The best substitute is a case of the same shape, made of common pine, and covered with walnut or rosewood veneer. Some makers in their zeal for turning out a really fine case make the body of walnut and put a walnut veneer of finer veining on the top of that, which results in the case being so frightfully heavy that it would almost be necessary to employ a porter to carry it about. These so-called "superior" cases are even fitted with wooden boxes and inside corners, all adding to the weight and to the price. A violin case made of pine and veneered with walnut weighs only 4 1/2 lbs.; or, with the violin and bow, resin, strings, and tuning fork, 5 1/2 lbs., but that is quite enough for any one to carry about with the hand, especially when the muscles are to be kept unstrained for solo playing. The heavy and expensive case ought to be avoided even by the owner of the valuable violin. They are often given as presents, silver-mounted, and sometimes cost as high as £8, 8s., and they are little better than white elephants. An angular-shaped leather case has lately been brought out, which is strong, and not so coffin-like as the black wooden case, but as it is quite as heavy as the ordinary case, and hardly so safe for a very valuable violin, the only advantage to be gained by its use is that a few sheets of music may be carried inside along with the violin. A very light and neat case of American leather, of the ordinary shape, has been brought out by R. R. Shields, 69 Burlington Street, Manchester, under the title of "THE EUREKA." This case opens at the broad end, in which there is a compartment for strings and resin, holds two bows and the violin, and a sheet or two of music, is secure from rain, costs 12s. 6d., and weighs only 2 lbs. 6 oz. Another case by the same maker, named the "Excelsior," costs 7s. 6d., and weighs only 1 lb. 6 oz. For the boy or girl or young lady who goes to learn the violin principally because it is fashionable, or as a means of "showing off," and who generally wallops the cheap instrument about like a school satchel or a pair of old boots, any kind of case is good enough, and it is of no importance whether music crammed into that case should fracture the "factory fiddle" or not; but to makers of wooden cases I may here throw out a hint on this point. It would be an easy matter to make the ordinary violin case with a false bottom and side, leaving an opening at the top of the front side—say 1/2 an inch wide and 14 inches long—into which a few sheets of music could be slipped without being
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