Books › Violin tone and violin makers, 1916 › scan 138
Scan 138
Violin tone and violin makers, 1916
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 116. See the scan on archive.org.
1VIOLIN TONE
3(1) Superior Tone.—This must be sought for among the violins of the old Italian masters; among those produced by one or two old makers in other countries, and among the instruments produced by the best makers of the present day. The first are the most difficult to obtain, and by far the most expensive, due to their scarcity and to the fame of their builders. Owing to the ravages of time, to the influence of damp, wear, accident, much repairing (not always skilful), and the vandal efforts of "improvers," many violins by old masters have greatly depreciated in tone.
5(2) Excellent Tone.—The lesser lights of the "Palmy Days" turned out an occasional great violin, worthy to rank with the master fiddles of any age, and the same may be said of some of the great copyists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These are rare examples, and so mixed with others of less tonal worth by the same makers as to render their discovery possible only to the expert. Consecutive reproduction of superior tone is such a difficult part of violin construction that only masters can accomplish the feat successfully. The celebrated old makers are known to have succeeded, and so have a select few of the living makers. Mr. Towry Piper, writing in the Strad, says of a modern builder: "He can build a fiddle with a certain quality and
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