Books › The violin, how to make it, 1880 › scan 128
Scan 128
The violin, how to make it, 1880
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 122. See the scan on archive.org.
1are to be found, hence this alone tends to augment the prices of such bows. Tourte obtained for unmounted bows a sum equivalent to about 30s., and for silver-mounted ones, from 50s. to 60s., whilst those mounted with gold were sold at prices varying from 10 to 11 guineas; but we must not forget his scrupulous care in selecting the wood, and his beauty of finish, combined with such excellence of quality, circumstances which thus obliged him to charge those high prices.
3The finest bows have the curvatures finished by heat, every part of the bend being subjected to its action, as agreeably to this method, the inner as well as the outer side will always retain its proper curve; whereas, if only the inside of the stick has been heated, the inner woody fibres being in their normal condition, will always have an opposing resistance to the outside ones, and thus the bow will gradually be drawn from its finished curvature to its original form—a fact too well experienced in those bows which infest the shop windows of several of our cheap musical-instrument dealers. Several important improvements in the bow have been effected through the exertions of M. Vuillaume. One convenience is that the hair maintains always a flat surface, from having each extremity inserted into a sort of tubular pliers, one of which fits into a pierced cavity in the head of the stick, and the other into the interior nut, the mechanism being exceedingly simple. Another excellent improvement to meet the changes of position of the hand of the player caused by the variations in the length, consequent upon the changes of distance effected by the different tensions from the nut-screw, is obviated thus:—The nut is attached permanently to the stick, and is mortised out to receive an interior nut of brass, which advances and recedes within the permanent one by a screw—thus maintaining always a uniform distance between the head of the bow and the outside of the exterior nut. I must not omit herein to mention a simple and ingenious method of bow-hairing invented by Mr. Walker, late of Castle Newe, Aberdeenshire, now of Williamstown, U. S., a gentleman who possesses a large collection of Violins, and who is also author of a Collection of Strathspeys and Reels. In this invention, the extremities of the hair are inserted under two metallic hinges, one being fixed
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