Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-19

u Horns are made by
~ rolling fiat pieces of brass
round a metal bar, much
you might roll piece
of paper round lead pencil and then the long tube is
tube through hole in solid metal strip, which makes
it smaller and longer proceeds When it out
the other side of the machine it is four five inches
curve it. Some have simple curves, and Others double
like eccentric circles This curvng process is
delicate work and must be done by experts. The tube
is first heated redhot to take out its emper,hey call
it anneaing at the factory-and when cold it is filled
with melted lead When this of lead has hardened
the tube be bent to any desired without break
ing doubling it. After that the lead is melted again
and allowed to out Brazing polishing and finishing
follow in order. The bell like nozzle big aring end
is produced by hand pounding and work on the lathe
Manufacturers of wind instruments discovered long
ago that the longer the tube the lower the tone pro-
duced, and consequently they make horns of certain
size and tone after scientific principles well understood
An instrument with certain tone can be made with
absolute accuracy and the sheet metal cut out by
machine will be made up into thousand instruments
that will give exactly the same tone Slide extensions
and keys are all taken into consideration and they
modify the tone of the instrument according to well
established principles of sound So, after ALL wind in
strunents manufactured and not created.
Vioins Are Different
RUT violin is different This the most delicate and
- uncertain of musical instruments to make. There
are hard and fast rules to follow. 1t is like making
human voice. The quality differs according to the
wood, the seasoning and the construction of the few
parts in it. The violin contains the ewest prts of
musical instrument invented and it like the
simplest OF them all to make But-alaslt defieS the
expert the practical mechanic and the musician. ANY
body make violn but few make good one.
So, with the exception of comparatively few factory
vlolns most OF them are produced by individual in
strument makers, who spend loving them
than mother does over her first child.
violin maker is artist mechanic, sort of anoma-
ly in this age of machinery. With pot of glue few
sharp tools, cabnetmakers bench, and few sticks
of wood he will labor diligently in the creation of
instrument that may give forth the sweetest the wild
est the weirdest and the strangest musical notes. He
will glue his instrument together and then take it apart
twenty times to adjust the fraction of inch the bass
bar or the sounding post. A creator of violin may
spend weeks a single instrument, and then find to
his disgust that it does not satisfy. The exact point
where the sounding post-a stick of wood only little
larger than a match-should be placed can never be
determined in advance. is mystery that
in each violin.
Then the wood is of so much Importance to the violin
maker None of your fresh timber kiln dried stuff
1t must be seasoned by years, by decades and
centuries. Every time century old house is demol-
ished some musical maker is likely to appear the
scene and make quiet bid for of the thin old
rafters. They in good condition; but of what
earthly they be? To the novice they may seem
worthless but the violin maker may find in this century
old timber just the wood for his beloved instruments.
Some of the finest volns of to-day have been made
of wood that formed the roof rafters of early Colonial
homesteads; Several years ago church tumbied down
in Scotland whose rafters reputed to be three
centuries old. Nearly all this timber purchased
by violin makers, and of fine instruments from
making the world happier and brighter by their
sweet notes.
But, if the violin defes science and machinery in its
manufacture, other stringed instruments not
puzzling. Guitars, banjos, mandons and mandolas
literally turned out by of thousands in factories
in this country They amenable to modern methods
of manufacture, and good instruments be produced
according to rule without great difficulty. The chief
essentials good materials and careful workmanship.
These be obtained for money by any manufacturer
and hence the industry is thriving and important
Music Reduced to Science
THE organ industry is typical of what the Yankee