The Portland daily press., 1895-06-15
VIOLIN STRINGS.
Where They are Made, How They are
Made and What They are Made Out of.

| Ile VIOLIN, IL is said, is the only muSl-
cal instrument that possesses a soul. But
the quality of its harmonies depends as
i mQchzupSn its strings as upon it's body.
IM Mheklnanufactllre of these threads of cat
gut, from which master of the art is
able to draw such exquisite strains is an
important industry. 1t is not carried on
in this country to any extent-at all
events, the finer qualities of strings are
not made here, because American sheep
do not have the right sort Of intestines
iGatgut, contrary to the popular notion, is
not derived from the back-fence tabby,
but from lambs.
A manufacturing center for violin
strings is the town of Markneikirchen, in
Saxony. The business there is very old
one, and is believed to have been started
originally by immigrating Protestant
Bohemians during or soon after the
Thirty Years War. The processes en-
ployed have always been kept secret, be-
ing handed down from father to son, gen
Grafton after generation. However, the
methods in general way are sufficiently
well known for purposes of description.
In 1777 a union of stringinakers was
founded !, and a law was passed forbid
ding any one not member of this organ
ization from plying the craft penalties of
fine and imprisonment being established.
The secret held most important was the
composition of the lye mixture employed
to bleach the strings. In oldsdays like
wise every maker of violins had his own
peculiar varnish. He was perpetually
seeking to discover the philosopher S
stone Of his trade namely, varnish
such as that used by Stradivarius, Guar
nerius ana -imati, which should impart
to his Instruments an imperishable beau
ty, while revealing the satin-like finish
of the wood beneath. But since the days
of those celebrated and unequaled manu-
| facturers of fiddles the production of
such varnish has been lost art
| These facts are summed up by Oscar
Gottschalk, United States Consular Agent
at Markneukichen, in a communication
just received by the State Department at
strings at Markeukichen formerly got
their raw material in Germany. But in
1S40 the whole town was burned up, and
one manufacturer went away in search of
a livelihood, finally reaching Copenhagen.
Noticing large focks of sheep in Den
mark, he bought some of the CUTS and
made strings of them, which were found
to be of better. quality then the home
brand. This discovery resulted in large
importations of the article in to Mar
kneukirchen, and at about the same time
the first strings We're exported thence to
the United States. Since then the indus
try has depended largely upon American
buyers.
The supply of material for the finest
strings has at no time equaled the de-
mand and half the world has been ran
| sacked for sheep-gut possessing the
requisite qualities. In 1861 another en-
| terprising citizen of Markneukirchen
crossed Russia-at that time venture of
no small peril-and bought quantities Of
the intestines of the steppe sheep of that
country. These were found to be supe-
rior to anything previously obtained, and
to the present day manufacturers at
Markneukirchen get the bulk of their
sheep gut from Russia, amounting an.
nually to about 5000, 900 worth. Other
Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey, Java
and Palestine. Unfortunately, the Rus
sian gut has deteriorated since the flock
owners have crossed the breeds of the
steppe sheep and the Spanish sheep for
the sake of improving the wool.
The qualities desired in catgut for violin
strings are a symmetrically cylindrical
/
ness. Ordinarily the purchaser contracts
with the breeder for all of his gut for at
least one year. He has his own cleaning
establishment annexed to the slaughter
house, and in person supervises the
process. Immediately after the animal is
killed all grease and foreign matter must
be removed from the intestines, else the
latter will become discolored. Then they
are wound on frames and left to dry in
the open air. The gut for a musical
string must be from a lamb born in spring
and slaughtered not later than October or
November of the same year; those from
older sheep can be used only for bass
strings or for minor purposes. The best
quality is termed "sunmer gut,'' being
from a lamb killed in summer. 1t is
chiefly employed to make E strips, which
are the most important. "Spring gut''
is second quality though lacking tenacity
it is good enough for 6, D and A strings
The dried intestines, when they reach
watts containing iye After soaking for
twenty four hours they are unraveled
Again they are put into lye, being sub
jected to repeated baths in this substance.
Meanwhile they are manipulated again
and again for cleansing, the external
membranes being removed, SO as to leave
only the fbrous material. They are
bleached in sulphur bath and exposed
to the sun. The next process is to rub
each string with pumice stone, to remove
any inequalities and to sbring it down to
the requisite diameter. A polish is ap-
piled by frequent wiping with olive oil.
Before shipment, the strings are dried,
cut, rolled and assorted according to color
They will retain their quality for an
indefinite period if inclosed in hermeti-
| cally sealed boxes.
The best violin strings are of Italian
manufacture. The demand for them is
SO large that ten times as many Italian
strings are sold as Italy is able to pro-
duce. Markneukirchen turns out large
quantities of socalled Italian strings
| Special care is taken to make them equal
to the best. They are put up in Italian
fashion, and sometimes are disposed of
as "Padua'' strings-Padua being the
Italian city where musical strings are
chiefly made. An expert string maker
in Germany earns from So. 81 to $5 week
AS has been stated only musical strings
of inferior qualities are made in the
| United States The intestine of the
American sheep is not suitable material,
because, from the spring lamb it is too
weak, and from the summer sheep it has
a wart-like growth every or feet which