The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-18
MAKERS OF YlOLINS
Assertion Of One in the Trade That
There Are None in This Coun-
try at Present.
Violins Are Imported From Germany
in the Rough, and Fin
ished Here.
5E.. - - 8 .L.
New York SUI:

| # : New York Sun. 5
The newspapers recently recorded the
death of a Brooklynitef who was said TO
be one of the oldest violin makers in the
United States. That statement has moved
a man who is5of the fifth generation Of a
! family OF violin makers to assert that |
| there are no violin makers in this coun-
4 try. The man who makes this declara-
| tion formerly worked for the late William
Ellsworth Hill of London, who was con-
| sidered to be the greatest expert on the !
subject, of violins of his time. #s.
| We read every little while he said,
i that some noted American violin maker
1 is dead Now there aren't any violin
i makers lin thiss country in the true sense
/ Of the word; at least, there are only
i very few and none of them makes an in
/ strument that is really good
There are a good many signs bearing
the words violin maker outside shops in
this town. I've got Such a one in front of
my establishment. but we don { make vio-.
Inns any more. There is no money in
them. : >5:4. :: ..Sss y II 4;
! What I do and what most, if not ALL
Il the other alleged makers do, is to import
vlolins in the rough and tinker them up,
I remodel and finish then, and sell, them as
: our own, with a date and label inside
{ telling that they are of a celebrated model.
The last. violin made, was finished
about ten Years ago, It kept me busy
, for ten days and I got only a little more
! than 800 for it. But 7 can import from
4 Germany a good violin in the rough for
{ $40, fix it up with no great amount of
l work, and sell it for $25. That's what
: these other makers do, too, along with
3 violin repairing, which pays pretty we'll.
The trouble is that we can't compete
: with the cheap labor Of Germany. / don't
! suppose you would believe 1t, but l can
ha vi i,,C fc,,
t so cents apiece. IT, -=..-..>-
r rive or. six different men make the
! parts In these foreign factories and they
throw them out Very fast. The :work1nen
n get very small pay and their violins come
+ to this country SC cheap that it isn't pos
e stble to compete with them. Of course.
d those S0-cent yioliEs aren't any good ex-
9 cept that they are cheap but the Germans
S also make good instruments as we'll, and
a much cheaper than we can here.
=. AT present the Germans make the best
=, instruments and have the call. From 184S
q to 1862 the Frenchmen did all the best
q work, but after the Franco -Prussian war
n the Germans knocked them higher than a
: kite, don't think there is a. maker alive
s to-day that can fashion a truly great vio-
- lin, though it is impossible to be absolute
! |ly sure of that, as it takes an instrument
- a good many Years to find itself. /.
- Il know that the man who was said to
- have been the, greatest violin maker in
20 this country, George Guimonda, who died
- in Astoria. some years ago, worked over
= imported violins and put: his name on
~ them. He sent a violin to the Vienna ex-
tposition and called it his Kaiser Guarne-
III trius. - - -. = 49,. 80 -
y There was some doubt about the maker
y Of the instrument and the exposition au-
- thorities had HILL. with whom I worked
q on the other side, come and look at it
- ~ He pronounced It q genuine Gnarnerius
i l. and the authorities decided tArgive Gui
TX monda no credit. for IT, --t't ~ ~
nee Later on G Guimpnd 4, showed me the, in.
!, strument and told ID, me that he made it..
lie looked II. over and tp1d HIM that the heat
'g never. ache again. He protested that i
'e was his work, but was sure that I wa
as right n.'n. - .%. -
ep casion, in repairing. to take apart violin
a made by most Of the great makers A
u. that work came to know the character
DIS istics of makers whose names stand fo
he all that is great in violns and saw som
+ Of the traits of Guarnerius in the violi
which Guimonda, said he made. Ther
I are little tricks about the joining. littl
We touches in finish and model, that cannc
se be disputed and it was by them that Hi
81 made his decision.
" 4 'Altho we don't make violins in TIL
e. country we do make bows which have 9
ire much, to do with a good tone as the ii
he strument itself. There is more money
lty bows and there is n more art in them tha
he in a violin. z;@:5f :
or s"I get as much as s1oo for my best bow
which are mounted with tortoise shell ar
:. solid gold. At present am making a, Il
= of bows which depart radically from an.
- thing that has gone before. - Il
"All the bows you usually see are mat
~ Of Brazil wood. These new ones are col
structed Of Malacca cane glued in S
strips like a split bamboo fishing rod al
r spliced to a tip and frog made of Bra;
VI wood. A lot Of work is required to fini
- one of them, but when completed it
tough a s steel, will not warp, weighs on
- an ounce and will improve with age.
~ strength and lightness are the Wit
points of a bow. OF course it must ha
q the proper bend, but it must not wei
more than an ounce and a half and the
ID and frog must be constructed on a pc
~ sfectly straight line.@ There's a lot of q
" in the bow, I tell you.
- I'VE have been making them in Q
81 i family for five generations. each gener
do ton following the traditions of our fo1
- fathers and we think, improving lit
all the time. f.
- Louis Teurte. who lived in Paris abe
1870 years ago. made the best bows of
a. time. Then his son forsook the trade
- matchmaker to follow his fathers ira
and excelled the work Of his parent. T
- general model set by those men is f
- lowed yet with a few minor changes"
r. Going Into Larger Offices.
On May i. the Chicago branch, of t
- Advertising Agency of J. Walter Thorn