The Washington herald., 1910-04-17
GIRL MAKES YIOLINS
She Claims Secret Formula
for VarniSh Used.
HAS SHOP IN NEW YORK CITY
Hungarian by Birth, Young Woman
Learns Art I'm Her Fathers shop.
Requires n Month to Complete One
Instrument - Difficulties of the
Business Are Described.

One Of the few women violin makers
in the world has her workshop in New
York. She is only twenty years old,
Hungarian by birth, and claims 10 be the
possesser of a secret formula for making
a kind Of violin varnish, intrusted to her
by her father on his deathbed
Il spent most OF my time in my
fathers shop" tho girl said the other
day, watching him work and making
little things myself from the scraps .
wood that he discarded. I soon devel-
oped quite a turn for the work, and
when I was twelve years Old made an
instrument wholly By myself tina; was
practically perfect.
eve were then living at The Hague,
but when we moved 10 Budapest and my
father opened a school for violin max
ing I began a regular course of instruc-
ton. I was first set 70 repairing broken
instruments. was taught to put in new
backs, necks and tops. and was taught
to make the difficult F holes. From re-
pairing I was taught to construct the
entire instrument.
Takes Time and Patience.
1T takes much time and patience to
make a violin No matter If I work all
day, I am one month making a violin.
1t IS the vanishing that takes the time.
The finished instrument must be gone
over with the varnish six or seven times
and rubbed down each time with pumice
and OIL great deal OF sunlight is re-
quired for the vanishing process. That
IS why I have my shop on the sunny
side Of the house. I could not make good
violins IN dark and gloomy shop.
The next most difficult task in violin
construction is TO fashion the f holes:
the six blocks which are glued to the
model are very important It is neces-
sary that these be perfect, and unless
the base bar Is Just the correct thick
ness much Of the sweetness Of the in
strument will be lost Every piece OF
wood in the violin must be just the cor
rect weight, size and thickness, varying
according TO the hardness Of the wood.
It is only by experience and close obser-
walton that these little points are
learned"
Ancient Wood Used.
The wood that the girl uses in making
her instruments comes from Hungary
Her father brought It to America with
him when he came over five years ago.
1t is a variety Of maple in which the
grain is very dense. He purchased II
when an old church in Budapest was
torn down, the pulpit being made Of this
wood He sawed il into blocks and
brought it to America. His daughter
has enough Of this wood on hand to
make about % instruments It is more
than 800 years old and is, Of course. thor
oughtly seasoned.
The violin maker Is a strong woman.
Her well-formed hands have been trained
TO do things. 1T takes much strength
to make violins," she said. 'If I did not
have great strength in my arms and
hands 1 could not do the work"
She is a musician and has an accurate
ear for tone. She can tell instantly when
she gets the desired tone in one Of her
instruments and she never puts aside a
new violin until it speaks correctly"
She plays on the piano as well as the
violin and also hasa good singing voice.