The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-10
Violin Making Couples Full
Time and Energy
PRIMITIVE TOOLS USED
In the Saxon Town of Markeneukir-
chcn-Eyen Bedrooms Serve mt
Times as Workshops-In-
terestiBg Profession
From the Philadelphia Record.

the whole countryside about that town
the violin holds sway, and every family
exists by its manufacture. Markeneuldr-
chen itself estimates the wealth of
family by the amount of good seasoned
wood it possesses and the number OF
workers it can provide.
Altogether more than 1000 people live
by yioin-making. Markeneukirchen was
probably the earliest of all towns to es-
tablsh fiddle-manfacture One will find
the instruments made today on the pat
tern resolved upon at the end of the 18th
century by the famous Stradivarius of
Cremona-
It is a curious fact that the Italian
city has now little interest in vioin-nlak-
ing being principly engaged in more
prosaic industries of porcelain, silk and
earthenware. All about Markeneulkirchen
may be seen ancient timbered farm
houses, but farming has long since ceased
to interest the population thereab boat, and
edged tools and gluepots have taken the
place of harrow and pillow.
Hard working, independent folk are
these Saxons; the men always seen in
their coarse aprons and heavy leather
boots, and the women busting to and
fro, striving to combine the neat and
Clearly execution of household duties
with the eternal vioIin-making.
Every homestead contains a pretty large
family, for race suicide is unknown in
Saxony; and in many cases three gen.
erations may be found living under the
same roof, so that the cottage will re-
semble a foctory in miniature, so many
laborers are there at work. But it is not
to be inferred that these villagers turn
out cheap, low-class instruments. On the
contrary, the violin that Paganini him
self used was made entirely by one of
the patriarchs of this district. And today
aged peasants show visitors marvellous
examples of their handiwork, some of
them exquisitely inlaid and boarded up
In the family, to be handed down as heir
looms. Some collections of these priced
fiddles represent four or five generations
of patient workers.
Quite apart from the rule that the bet
ter the instrument the better the price
the system obtaining by which the fam
fly produces and finishes the complete
article instead of making some integral
part. as in certain specialized industries,
tends to give these peasants pride in
their handiwork. Often enough the mas
ter worker will produce an instrument
so cherished by himself that it will not
be sold at any price. but put aside among
the heirlooms to be parted with only 10
some season of distress.
Primitive Tools Used
AS might be supposed, the tools en-
ployed are primitive, yet nothing would
induce these people to adopt any ma
chinery. The work is split up among
the members of a family; thus, one man
will devote himself to making the pegs,
another to fashioning necks, a third %
cutting the peculiar "f'-shaped sound
ing holes in the belly. Others again glue
up, polish, varnlsh and finish the in
struments, performing every operation
with scrupulous pride
When the warm weather comes this
community of volin-makers take their
work out in the open air. SO that tour
through that district is apt to persuade
one that all the violins on earth are pro-
duced in little Mathematician and its
clustered villages. In cold and wet
weather every room in the cottages is
utilized for work. Some cottages have
benches fitted up even in the bedrooms.
From time to time as a batch of in
struments is finished they are packed up
and taken into town for sale. 1t is :.
common enough sight to see villagers
vending their way from outlying districts
into Markeneukirchen with canvas-cov
cred packages on their backs and often
tower above their heads
Some carry their violins in special
wicker baskets, while those who have
made 'cellos carry them openly, perhaps
strung loosely together in twos or threes.
A few families specialize in bows and
bring them into town in thousands.
In the town itself there are some large
factories for violin-making, but neverthe
less ready buyers are always found for
the handmade productions of the peas
ants, for these are the superior to the
machine-made article. AS might be sup
marks to 800 (s1.25 to s125), according to
quality. Many families have reputation
for turning out the very highest grade
of violin and buyers rarely or never
haggle with such superb work-people.
Taking Famous Makes
More than once a specially expert fam
fly has been approached with view to
taking an Amati or Stradivari, and on
more than one occasion the villagers have
Welded to temptation and gone about
patiently baking and smoking the pine,
naple and sycamore used in the bodies.
All such copies, however invariably fail
TO produce tone equal to that of
genuine instrument
There is yet another colony of violin
makers In Mittenwald, a corner of the
eastern Alps, between southern Bavaria
and northern Tyrol. The forests here are
filled with subtle fragrances from the
prostrate trees and rough-hewn planks
letion of the Observation-Disclosures.
The very houses of Mittenwald are
things of beauty, fashioned out of Alpine
timbers, curiously and Realistically
carved by village artists, who revel in
beauty of form and tone. Above the
village towers is the precipitous peak
known as the Karwendelberg, whose al
<saost perpendicular walls attain an al
titude of 5000 feet.
In the violin factories here the woods
chiefly used pine and "ahorn." The
methods followed are those tradtionally
Inherited from the old italian masters.
Violin ribs and sides are usually made
out of the choicest maple, the back and
belly being ordinarily of old and sound
mountain pine. Maple strips for the side
are Immersed many times in boiling wa
ter. SO as to render them pllable without
being brittle, and they are then reduced
T., the proper shape by means of heated
irons OF course. no kind of metal nail
IS ever used.
Before the belly of the violin Is fixed
one of the most skilled of all the me-
chanics has to do his delicate part This
is to place in the precise spot with in
finite tact and caution, the sound-post,
which is called in French "the heart of
the violin" because through it pass all
The heart-throbs or vibrations generated
between back and belly.
The Nerve of the Violin
The most exouisitely sensitive item il
the whole fabric, however. is the base,
or sound-bar, which is considered to be
the very nerve of violin. 1t Is always
Of soft green pine and placed inside the
,lpper table it passes at a slight angle
.,odar the left end of the bridge