The Portland daily press., 1896-05-09
A VIOLIN MACHINE.
A Seattle Man Says He Makes Them All
Perfect Instruments.

(From the Seattle acknowledgement.
There is a violin maker IN this city
who has an altogether new theory in re-
gard to this Instrument and one SO new
that 1t is totally at variance with the
general impression. 1t is that there is no
accident or luck in the superior tone of a
violin, but that they can be made OF
given tone one after the other with per-
feet assurance. 1t has been asserted that
good honest violin maker may turn
out fifty specimens of his best work, and
yet only few of these prove to be first
class instruments The history of famous
masters in the art would seem to bear cut
this assertion.
Fl. W. Cakes, who has been making
violins in this city for eighteen months,
and elsewhere for nearly twice as many
years, brushes all this away like a moldy
oobweb, and says he can insure first
GLASS instrument every time. and that
there is no secret about it.
Tho trouble about all the makers is
that they did all their work by rule of
thumb and By the eye. l make mine by
mathematical rules. Once having at
tained certain perfection can duplicate
that result with mathematical accuracy.
And the tone?'
60 The tone follows as a mattsr of course
1t must. Now, there used to be secrets
in the art, OF course. 1t was long before
any ono could turn cut an instrument
that could compete with the old Gre
monas. First, they thought the secret of
the latter's superiority lay in the varnisb,
and many years were spent in attempts
to find out that secret. They found it
out at last, or rather, that it was no se-
cret. They discovered that the cabinet
makers of Cremona used the same yarnish
rs Stradivari usod Then they thought
the secret must be in the wood and for
some time they pinned their confidence
to that. They took extraol binary pains
to got just such resonance and letter tore,
and even took the wood from fine VIC
lin and put it with other wood, but with
all their efforts they made as many fail
ures as successes.
ono, Stradivari used the same material
for the whole of the 800 yiolins he made
and yet the good violins wire the aoci-
dent. Only fifty Of all he smade turned
out to be good instruments, and yet you
call him inaster.''
care there any violins comparable
with thesesffty?"
Certainly. Within the last fifty years
just as good violins have been made as
have ever been made.''
but age has something to do with
toneF
Undoubtedly, provided the violin is
played on. 1t might lie a century, and
if not used would not improve of all.
Violins are like everything else in the
world; they have their birth, their
growth, maturity sand decline. would
say that at about seventy-fve a violin
would be at it's best. l know that after
one hundred years they begin to lose
their power, and finally become compare
lively worthless 80 far as tone Is con-
cerncd.'
''And how, in making an instrument,
are you so confident what its tone will be
Mr.. Oakesr'
BY this little machine here" he re-
piled pointing to machine that had the
appearance Of a little turning lathe.
''If you tako tore of my yiolins and
mark it into small squares, you will find
the thickness corresponds in each CORES
ponding square. This machine will show
the difference, if it is only the thickness
of piece of gold leaf. l spent twenty
years studying the defects of yiolins and
how to remedy them bsfore I made one
Then got it down to mathematical
nicety, and 1 made this machine to in
sure it.
''Why, here is shop violin, costing
Sl1.5O, that have worked on for expert |
M ent. Because of it's correction of tone
it is now worth from $50 to $780,"
How many violins could you make in
year? -
l could make about ono first class ono
month; say ten in the course of We ar. |
and if | disposed of that number in Seat
tie | should be contented and happy.n
II they should all prove to De good ~
was hazarded.
"There is no if, They would be mathe |
matically Perfect and the tone would |
speak for itsslf, straight to the heart OF
TIL Csc who know musio''