The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-03

have a beautiful warm amber color. ap~
preaching the purple orange. and must be
free from the shrill tint OF the factory IN
struments. Ii is. TO a great extent. the var
nish that gives the old Italian instruments
their great value They possess a richness
Of tone comparable 10 the Orange-red OF the
most beautiful paintings OF the Italian
schools. Besides its beauty the Varnish con-
tributes 20 the sonOrousness, astonishing as
this statement may appear. The shrill quail
ity OF tone OF the cheaper violins Is due nor
alone TO the absence OF care and judgment
given to the work. but. likewise. 10 their al
cohol varnishes. which prevent the instru-
ment from gaining the sound qualities
Il will say that | have seen many a Vlo-
lin sold for a Stradivarius which, the
chances are. was made In Chicago or some
other American city. There is no instru-
ment in the world In which one can be de-
ceived more easily than in a violin. There is
ctual no way OF telling. except by the
tone. and. II a person is not an expert on
this instrument. he can be deceived with
little trouble. All OF the instruments that L
make here are TO ORDER. that Is, / do not
turn them out as they do in a factory, but
what Instruments / make here every one
knows that there is none or the old mas
tiers workmanship upon them. / often have
complaints because my Instruments have a
new appearance about them, but / will not
artihcially age them. You see, l could get
rid OF this appearance by simply sandpaper--
ing the corners and taking the polish off
and s0ftening down the whole thing. / knew
a maker who was located In a large West
eFn city who made a very fine grade OF
viOlins and ne sold every one OF them for a
Stradivarius and got very high prices for
his
When asked 10 tell Of some of the old
masters the violin maker said:
9Th most ancient violin known is the
Gaspard DuifOprugar, built at Lyons. about
the year 1880. From this period on the Ital-
ians became illustriOus. especially at Bres-
cfa. through Gaspard dial SalO and Magini,
and IN the seventeenth century, in Cremona,
by Amatis. who had for a pupil the cele-
brated violin builder. AntOnius Stradivarius.
His work had a finish and precision very
hard TO equal and impossible 10 surpass.
With him the form attained the maximum
of elegance, and the quality of the tone and
the beauty of his varnish have caused his
Instruments 10 raise m value To fabulous
sums. Another famous builder who lived
about that time was Joseph Guarnerius,
whose instruments are. likewise. high
priced. His work, less regular than that OF
Stradivarius, Is Of a bOlder nature, and is
however, have a certain thrilling quality or
tone Inc a pOwerfulness which are some
times lacking IN the Stradivarius instru-
ments.
this day the French are making the
best foreign viOlins. and the best house In
that country Is that of Hell. of Lille, who
furnishes a fine and delicate wOrk-a soft
and powerful tone, very seldom found in
new instruments; but. nevertheless, 1 think
that we build instruments In this country
that will rank with those made by any of
the late builders. / may say that since the
old masters lived numerous attempts have
been made to modify and improve the tone
or simplify the playing Of this instrument,
but these numberless attempts did not sue
coed. and the models of the old Italian mas
tiers are still pfOuSly retained"