The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-07-07

4
really great instruments. such as the
famous -Elector Stainers- Leaving
Italy after having. as he thought
mastered all the secrets OF the great
Italian masters. he returned 10 his
Tyrolese mountains. He cut his own
Alpine pine trees for the bellies, his
own curly maple trees for the backs,
selecting the choicest woods. and pre-
pairing them exactly as had his mas
ters on the River Pc. But his wood
was not sent down the mountain
through q flume into a river. Il was
merely dried and seasoned as wood
Is TO this day the world over To his
chagrin not a good violin could he
make in the Tyrol Reluctantly, he
withdrew from 'das yaterland' TO Gre
mona, Italy. where again he created
masterpieces. Why he could not turn
out chef d'oeuvres elsewhere than by
the River Pc Jacob Stainer never
knew. He died without knowing the
real secret of making the best violins
-as have died Stradivarius, Amati and
the other fiddle kings. They did not
know the secret of their own success.
think have found it.
&c. b. Guadagnini is recorded as
two separate individuals owing to the
different tones of his instruments
made of soaked and later of unsoaked
wood by ecident of change of loca-
ton from Turin to Piacenza.
'Peoplewho imagine that age is the
secret Of excellence in violin could
make no greater mistake True. a
really great instrument will mellow
nd eli
a FIVE dollar fiddle today will still
be a FIVE dollar fiddle two hundred
years from now-unless sooner worked
up into toothpicks.
Very well. reasoned that if all
good yiolins were made along the river
the water must have much to do with
it. So studied the wood
The Alpine pine which has been
soaked for six months in water i'm
mediately after being cut in the forest.
becomes intensely hard. It loses most
of its resin. It undergoes other chem
ical changes. due. it may be. to some
! mineral in the mountain streams But
it does pine wood no good to be soak
ed after it has become seasoned. 1t
must be green See these pine chips
and shavings. They are hard as hiek-
DRY and practically unbeatable. They
are from the Pc river. whence | get
all my wood This, then, is a portion
OF the secret.
1T is a strange circumstance that
wood treated in this way is never at
tackled by borers or other insects.
The sugar and pitch have all been
soaked out of it. No real Stradivari-
us violin was ever injured by insects.
Again, remembered that the logs
had formerly made long and dizzy
descent down the Alps. going at a
terrific rate of speed along the wind
| ing fumes or chutes. The friction
would so heat the log as sometimes to
| set il on fire. Immediately il would
be plunged into the cold waters of the
river The sudden change of tempera-
ture and the long water soaking may
have completely rearranged the eel
lular structure and caused electrical
| changes in the wood of the greatest
value in producing tone-who knows?
Why may not wood be tempered the
same as steel? Very well. All this
will do to think about.
Il find, also. that pine thus soaked
will never swell or warp when made
into violins, thus doing away with that
| varying of the tone noticeable in mod
| ern instruments.
Where does Napoleon come in?
Why, after ne built his military roads
down the Alps all the logs used in
violin making were hauled TO market
over these roads. They were no long
er fioated down the river, and hence
received no soaking. The result was
inferior instruments.
Il import ali my wood from the Pc
region. after il has lain in the water
for upward of six months.
Satisfied with this, | turned my at
tention TO the mysteries of the rare
old Cremonese varnishes. The quality
OF the varnish is scarcely secondary
to the proper preparation of the wood.
Il is true that it cannot redeem an
otherwise poor instrument, but poor
varnish can ruin good one Sc
cured sample of the old Cremonese
yarnish from furniture and had il ana
lyzed by an expert chemist. with the
result that | have been so far success
fol that able critics cannot detect the
difference between my varnish and
that OF Nicolas Amati.
At last began TO experiment with
construction First ! tried the effect
of bass bar made Of the soaked
wood. and found that il gave
much higher degree Of power. vital
ity and brilliancy Of tone. These must
be replaced in the old instruments. =
he threw In parenthetieaIly. soy long
er ones 70 enable them TO bear the in
creased pressure caused By the iia
pasons now being higher than IN form
/ ef times. This is done In order q
adapt the Instrument 10 modern con
| cert requirements This readjsstmen'
gives pitch. but not volume Of tone
In my vsoIlns sspire to include beth
and thus. At the modern degree o.
pitch. 90 improve upon my revere6
masters
ct was not until two years ago that
began the construction Of violins. My
first two I made exactly alike. ons
Of soaked. the other OF unsoaked
wood. 70 test my theory further. with
ray FIRST / VAS more than satisfied
! was repaid for all my research. The
second. OF the uuscaked wUod. zas
snch remarkable contrast that It sur
/ prised me by its wcrthiessness. ever