Show FORTUNES IN FIDDLES pieces of old wood of great value ina in a new york Ile pairing shop N X Y sun you think those bits bit of wood there were worth at least sa 3 1 said the owner of a quaint old store in the bower bowery as he pointed toa heap of round flat and odd shaped splinters lying on his bench 1 I certainly have lave thought they were worth an anything t bi ing arc are they lined with dia diamonds and have they been smuggled through the custom housea no not no that is a stradivarius Stradivari ug violin and find one of the finest in the country but it is broken to pieces not at all the owner kept it in a damp place and the glue got soft I 1 had to take it all to pieces why vh Y that fiddle has probably been taken tk n apart at least twenty times since it was made in 1710 that would make it years old it and yet it is as sound as it was on the day it was finished not a crack an anywhere and where the varnish ha has S been worn oft by friction against the clothes of the player the gram grain of the wood looks handsomest see here that a picture that back mark how bov the light flashes in and out of that mottled grain as I 1 gently move it but it hurt hurtt the lic instrument to take it apart so often not a bit if the work is done by a skillful hand band look at me now lie ile took up another violin and inserted a sharp knife between ae the edge of the front and the sides side in a few seconds the knife ba had made a complete circuit and the front was lifted gently off it sounded as ial if I 1 was cutting the wood but I 1 was only scratching the tho glue he continued 1 I have taken off this front or belly as iti it is s called and und now you tou can see the inside there is nothing in it but the exquisite finish odthe of the workmanship I 1 am going to put anew a new bar in that is this narrow strip glued to tho the under side of the belly and extending the on the eft where the bridge this lar bar gives es strength to toe resist the presa A d SA size bizo and strength depends the ity ty of the lower notes on the 0 opposite side of tho tile bridge is a I 1 little itty post about as thick as a penholder this is not glued but it is supported ort e d b by the pressure of the belly and b back ile k upon its exact adjustment depend the tones of the higher hilier b notes A movement of the thirty second part art of an inch will make a ina material difference and as every violin has an individuality of con bt st the best place for the auf pu ting of this sound pos post t varies varies and can only bo be found foun d by uy long and ca careful re experiment experiment some great violinists wi will even want the post moved so as to suit the acoustic properties of different concert halls what is the violin made ow of all bellies are made of soft pine because the wood has the straightest grain and is the most easily set in vibration vib raHon the backs necks and sides are of sycamore or maple marle look at the beauty of f the cram grain of this belly the lines could not t be straighter if they had been ruled by machinery irregular grain i n spoils the rhythm of vibration cl pee how the grain gets closer toward the center that is to allow for the vibration which is the quickest immediately under the strings the belly is in two piece so arranged that from each edge edg 0 the tile grain gets narrower toward the center artificially fici ally grained wood that is slabs built of st strips rips glued together has been tried but did lid not work well in what docs does the superiority of an all old violin consist is mainly in tone tune thou though gh the varnish of the great makers cannot be exactly imitated the manufacture of it is a sea secret ret as much so 30 as is some of the lost arts it was not a spirit but an oil varnish and it s shows how no signs of perishing or losing brilliancy some makers have thought that amber waa was the principal in ingredient but all at attempts tempts to diss dissolve live that sub substance otance have been practically uli satisfactory the varnish not only serves to protect the wood but C checks hecks the escape of vibrations vibration a and drives them back where they coin colu muni I 1 cate with the air enclosed in the violin the air escapes through these two slips in the belly called F hok hoks s what causes the superiority of tone tonea if I 1 could tell you that I 1 bo be re repairing g fiddles for a fe few V dollars I 1 11 should be making them and polling them for thousands of dollars apiece some say sav it is age alone that tha t makes the beauty but wa have pot got very old boyd to make inake modern fiddles of and yet they 1 ney remain inferior wo we have mathematically gauged the for foru in of great violins violin and have made exact reproductions yet they the tone some person persons assert that the tile old varnish had peculiar qualities which affected the bound other in makers kers claim that their violins willbo will bo justas just aa good is the stradi strad mariia hundred and find fifty years yeara from now wo we cant very well contradict them but the player who wants an instrument for present use cant very well afford wait so long no doubt very great violins are made today to day and excellent prices are obtained for them bus they the tone of the old ol dones ones why a really fine judge will tell from hearing a fiddle w who 0 the maker was that is if he was one of the three or four great artists and as for the look a violin to a connoisseur is like a picture he lie will remember each peculiar curve and the pattern of the grain irain will be forever in hia his memory how ilow old is the oldest violin you have ever seen here is the one by caspar gaspar di salo dated 1571 and he had lind then been making ahem some years to ro him is s due the credit of perfecting the present violin prior to his invention venti on there were only lutes and viols riols both comparatively clumsy in form and poor in tone you will see if you notice closely that this violin is a little larger and flatter than the model odthe best of Stradi carius makes and the F holes are larger the tone therefore is a little bo flower and not so brilliant it has bus what players call a tenor or alto like that of the viola the a large family were the ne next at makers though magini a pupil of salo made some excellent instruments st ot antonio stradivarius was a pupil of the now famous amati stradivarius even in his own day was considered an artist and w waa as treated with as much respect as painter or sculptor yet hia his instruments sold for about 20 each quito quite equal in value though not in beauty of workmanship to the strad are the violins of joseph Guarner iusa contemporary maker where is the finest violin in the world that is a matter of opinion joachim has a noble instrument so 30 has leopold auer in fact all the th ec celebrated e soloists have choice specimens the whereabouts and history of nearly every great violin are as its well known as that ofa of a masterpiece of raphael ono of the most singular things about violins is that they are the property of interesting people who cannot play the two quest finest collections over ever gathered were those of meux the great grat english gentlemen could play a note and their instruments were generally unstrung sir waters of brook lyn yn used to have bave two or three superb instruments int they came I 1 think ironi from the plowden collection which was sold in loudain about 20 years ago it is strange too that bows cannot be made as well now as they were nearly a hundred years ago T those hose of a frenchman named tourte sell today to day for over each clell violins are now made in enormous quantities c luan by machinery here is one built on the lines of a it fine flue strad it is sound well made and quite well varnished and I 1 can sell it for five dollars alow is the tune well to tell the truth pretty rough rot agh at present but it will improve e each day the instrument it is played on tf if it as good as a strad years from now bring i it back and ill return your money |