Clapper Fiddle
date: label: Date made
content: 1900-1950
notes: label: Description
content: This fiddle was made in Middle Appalachia in the first half of the 20th century. This instrument is unique in its design and construction, incorporating a wooden clapper extending from beneath the end of
label: Description
content: the fingerboard. The clapper is free to vibrate against the top of the fiddle, presumably created to add a buzzing or percussion effect to accompany the tune being played. The narrow body and design of
label: Description
content: the tailpiece has no apparent accommodation for holding the fiddle between the performer's shoulder and chin.
label: Description
content: The donor of the instrument, Mr. Wallace Kuralt, bought it at a flea market in North Carolina in the 1960s. He believes the proprietor bought the fiddle from another flea market source in or around the border between New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey. The provenance of the instrument is most likely a rural community in the mid-Atlantic region of the east coast of the United States.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Violins
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Wallace Kuralt
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0517.01
label: accession number
content: 1992.0517
label: catalog number
content: 1992.0517.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fiddle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 in x 3 1/2 in x 4 in; 58.42 cm x 8.89 cm x 10.16 cm