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Scan 273
Violin tone and violin makers, 1916
6 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 251. See the scan on archive.org.
1AND VIOLIN MAKERS
3shows some figure, and is often finely marked; for some of the bellies he used the fine-grained wood frequently employed by Tyrolese makers, but in his finest examples the pine is of broader grain. A good many of the instruments have lion heads, the carving of which is well executed. The scrolls are well cut, but lack the grace seen in those of better Italian work. It seems to be doubtful if Stainer himself used printed tickets, but there is no doubt that other makers, some of whom were contemporaries, and possibly workmen of his, inserted printed Stainer labels into their work. Stainer's arching has been the subject of so much exaggeration on the part of copyists of all nationalities that many people have an altogether false idea of its true proportions. In a good specimen of Stainer's violins the swell of the form is not really higher than that of an average Amati; now and then he did exceed this limit, but it was not his general practice. Violas are rarely seen, and violoncellos are by no means common. Forster and numerous other English makers have left numerous copies of the last-mentioned instruments, some of which are in every way excellent. The tone of a fine Stainer violin is of beautiful quality, and in examples met with by the writer, its timbre resembled that of Amati. It is almost needless to say that forgeries are innumerable, and are not unfrequently somewhat difficult to detect, not only on account of their intrinsic merit, but from the fact that his manuscript tickets have been cleverly imitated.
5STAINER, MARCUS.—Absam, Kuefstein, Laufen (Austria); seventeenth century. A brother of the above, he worked in a variety of places, and is reputed to have forged the labels of the more celebrated Jacob. The few examples seen by the writer resembled those
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