The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-17
MAKING OF VIOLINS
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

| for the habit itself. 1t Is said to have
been begun by strange Italian, Luigi
Tarisio. who, in the beginning Of the
eighties. secured the towns and VIII
lagos OF Italy. and succeeded in OBJ
tanning q large number of instruments
of the best makes, which he brought
to England. These gradually found
their way int the hands Of other coi-
iectors.
One of the last remaining strong
holds of the handmade violin Is to
be found In the little village OF Mark
neukirchen, in Saxony. Here genera
tons Of violin-makers have been at
work, and those of to-day use the
same benches and live In the same
houses as did their ancestors Here
Is to be found the modern Stradt-
yarius.' the best maker there, who
has received a decoration from tho
King of Saxony. Inaccessible and
quaint as 1t is, Markneukirchen Is In
some respects modern. A large BUSH
ness Is done with the outside world.
and many dealers partly supply their
market from this source. Other
marks of progress which are mani
Tested are the reading of American
technical journals and the rendition
of Sousa's compositions by the sun
dry bands which the town affords.
There are performers who enjoy
doing stunts" on the violin. Two
compositions which lend themselves
to this are Paganini's Motto Per-
petuo and Mozart's overture from
his Figaro" In the former the
player is called upon to read con-
siderabiy over 5000 notes. a feat
which has been done in about three
minutes and half. At a perform
anee of the Scots Guard, under the
leadership of F. w. Wood. the later
piece. equally difficult as the first,
was played in a second or two under
three minutes and half and report
ed to have been beautifully exc
euted.
recent invention brings the vto-
lin within the class OF the piano, in.
asmuch as that instrument lends it.
self to mechanical playing This me-
chanical device was put on exhibit
ton in England. and Is reputed to
have given wonderful results, the
playing being equal to that Of a master
musician. The invention Is an ar
rangement whereby the fingers of the
player are supplanted by a mechani-
cal agency, which in turn Is run by
electric motors driven by batteries.
The result not only is equal to hu-
man ability, but beyond It, as both
duets and quartettes can be rendered,
all four of the strings being In axs
at one time. This mechanism liz the
result of several years experiments
and scientific research.
A London scientist and inventor
has made what he calls scientific
violin" Instead Of the usual sound
Ing board there is substituted a metal
trumpet. or resonator, and a
diaphragm of aluminium. The idea
in doing away with the wooden
sounding board. and using one of
metal, was to construct an Instrument
which would be equal to those Of
Amati and Stradivarins. This means
OF attempting that end haa. TO all
reports. never been tried before az
the sounding board was the one
feature which received the greatest
attention, especially from the Italian
makeri.
Not having improved for over a
hundred years, the violin a. the pres I
ent time is composed OF the same
number of parts as in the time OF
Stradivarius. There are seventy in
all. only two OF which. the strings
and loop, are of any other material
than wood. The greatest bow maker
used to select his material from
billets of dye wood shipped from
Brazil Sometimes 1t was necessary
to go through eight or ten tons OF
this wood before a few suitable pieces
were found. The hair used in a bow
present number used in French bow
range from ITS to $50
A curious instrument was complete j
ed not long ago. 1t was made en-
tireiy of white brentwood tooth><
picks, of which there were 3,374 used
Thomas Atkinson. Of Greensboro.
Ind. Is its maker and he spent over
year in the operation. violInists
have experimental on the instrument.
and they say that II is not only a
curiosity but an exceptionally good
violin.
A Canadian recently has invented
q new head for the violin. the idea
being to arrange II so that the player
can string his Instrument without
loss of time. The pegs on which the
strings are frightened are removable.
and can be removed without detach-
ing the strings. II Is the inventors
plan to furnish additional pegs with
the strings attached. 1t 10 claimed
that removing the old string. putting
in a new one. and tuning. consumes
but fifteen seconds and can be ac-
in the dark.