Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-09-12

| thus become hard.
The present tariff law provides an
import duty of 20 per cent on gut
strings. While this is not sufficient
protection to make up for the low
wages paid in Italy and Germany, it
probably leaves room for the industry
to be built up in this country, provid-
ed our usual labor-saving methods
are employed. =
A number Of concerns have started
| in, during the war, to produce strings
| in this country, and they are meeting
with more or less success. The latest
and most important venture Of this
| sort is by some Of the big Chicago
meat-packers. They have hitherto
been said to utilize every part of the
animal except the squeal--and now
it seems they are planning to market
even the squeal, in the form of fiddle
strings.
There has not been a good market
for all the gut membranes, and eff
forts are now being made to turn
them to better account, by making
them into strings. The climate of
Chicago is not such as favors out
door string-making, but it is probable
| that the meat trust will adopt some
system by which artificial heat will
be used. under absolutely known and
scientific conditions. 1t is hoped that
a more uniform and dependable string
will be produced than the Europeans
have ever given us, with the hit-or-
miss methods.
But strings without fddles would
be of little use, and we also hear that
attempts are being made to take the
violin-making industry away from
Germany and France and establish it
in this country. Hitherto nearly all
the fiddles that have been sold in
| America have been made in Germany
or France. In the former country
the center of the trade is at Mitten-
valid, while in France it is at Mire-
court.
The war of course has almost total
ly suspended the business, and so
many of the workers are being killed
that it will probably never regain its
| former prosperity. The Japanese,
who are far greater adopts in wood
working than the Germans or French,
are also now on the trail of the violin
making industry, and if they once get
started they will food the world
with cheap instruments and undersell
everybody else. They pay fine
woodworker about 20 cents day. A
similar man would get about four or
five times that in France or Germany,
and 20 times that in this country.
West Virginia is the scene of the
new American violin industry. The
factories are being located there be-
cause the timber of the proper sort is
abundant. Maple is required for the
back, neck and sides of violin, and
spruce is used for the belly or top,
and for the Innings, bass-bar and
sound-post.
The choicest wood, for the finest in
struments, has to be very carefully
selected. Just as in the case of the
CUTS from the sheep for fiddle strings,
so the timber that is grown under
certain climatic conditions-on noun
tain slopes that are neither too hot
nor too colds what is looked for to
produce the best violins. The grain
of the wood must be Of a certain sort,
to satisfy the demands-neither too
fine nor too coarse.
The character of wood varies as
much as the character of human be-
ings does, and no matter how well a
fiddle may be made, it never can be
worth much unless the original wood
was well selected with knowledge and
judgment. 1t ought to be thoroughly
seasoned, in the open air. Kiln-dry-
ing is fatal TO wood, especially for use
in musical instruments, as it drives
all the natural sap out of it and
leaves it dead, as if suffering from
dry-rot. 1t is true that kiln-dried
lumber is used very commonly in
making musical instruments, and this
is necessary where they have to be
produced in large quantities and
quickly.
In the Old Country fiddles are
made almost altogether by hand.
When we consider this, it seems mira
culous that cheap German and French
fiddles, including a bow and set of
strings, are sold at as low as 81, after
paying freight and duty. AT from SO
to So a fairly decent instrument can
be had-all genuine old Cremonas,"
according to the fake labels pasted
on the inside-which labels of course
are printed up by the thousands and
stuck into all sorts of fiddles, regard
less of make or quality.
The people who are trying to es-
tablish the industry in this country
are adopting American methods and
using no more hand work than is alb
solutely necessary The shaping of
the neck and scroll of the instrument
is done in "gunstock" lathe, which
will automatically turn out finished
pieces by the thousand-all exact
duplicates of the original handmade
pattern.
The gouging out of the hollow parts
of the back and belly and the round
ing off of the outside surfaces is also
all done by special machines, which
work from template" patterns. Thus
the machines will in few minutes
turn out all the pieces of a violin
which if made by hand would require
month or more of solid labor.
Even the putting in of the "pur-
fling" or little strips of holly and
ebony that are inlaid round the edges
of the back and belly is done by ma
chinery-done in a small fraction of
the time it would take a skilled work.
man, and done even better. Of course
the finishing and vanishing are done
wholesale, and in short order.
The result of these methods is
that instruments are produced which