Pirate luthier adventures continued:
The latest arrival in my pirate workshop, violin number 22), has immediately become my new favourite fiddle to play, so I urgently need to blog about it, skipping a couple of less interesting specimens.
This one came from a dear old friend who inherited from her husband who inherited it from his grandmother, and the story is that the grandmother played it quite seriously as the daughter of a posh family at the end of the 19th century, until she decided she had enough of being posh and married a farmer. I was told it was last played by her grandson when he was growing up in the 1960s, but to me the tailpiece and the strings look more modern than that, so I would say the setup likely dates from the 1980s. The wooden case is original though, and it is so amazing I will have to do a separate entry on that (will also keep discussion of the bow for later).
Let's start with the backside, which is just stunning :
and possibly made from as one piece as I can't find the usual seam between the two halves, although in the photo it looks like there is one. Weird.
And I'm loving the craquelé around the waist:
There are two black dots at each end of the body. A friendly luthier tells me these are the remains of pins used to hold the back in place during construction of the instrument. Typically they would be more inconspicuous when made of a matching wood and only one at each end, but here they are clearly emphasised as a feature:
Two of the pegs have a small inlay and the other two don't. Helps you tell your pegs apart in case you're easily confused? Actually, the decorated pegs are longer than the undecorated ones, sticking out on the other side way too much (14 mm for the D peg). Closer inspection of their shapes and sizes reveals they are four different models, so must have been replaced at different times.
Looking inside we have the label pretending the instrument was made by Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesu (with the cross and the christogram IHS distinguishing the mark of the younger Guiseppe from his father who was also Guiseppe Guarneri) in 1731:
Joseph Guarnerius fecit
Cremonae anno 1731 IHC
Which was the year when young Guiseppe set up his own workshop and started using the labels with the cross, as explained here. (Scroll down to the last image to see an example of a real Guarneri del Gesu label.)
So, well, I understand that makers at Markneukirchen and Schönbach in the late 19th century copied Guarneri's label at an industrial scale, so this would be the most likely explanation. One has to bear in mind that at the time when they did that, the instrument would have been shiny and new, so there was no attempt at deception, just hijacking of a famous name, like the modern maker using SebastianKlotz as a trademark.
The bridge is from Aubert.
Like my "supersized" violin number 17), the instrument is around 1 cm longer than a standard violin, just enough to make sure it doesn't fit into a modern standard-sized case. Like 17), it has a stronger sound than the standard student fiddle, but in comparison to 17), and indeed to all violins I've tried before, it has an amazingly warm and gentle sound across the register, which is why it is now my new favourite to play. I took it to a session this week and it was just perfect.
I haven't repaired anything on it yet, but it does have a crack conveniently hidden under the tailpiece, which will need patching up at some point. Before repairing that, however, I will practice the procedure on a less interesting violin and see how I manage. To finish my raving for now, here's the whole thing, top to toe:
PS I'm amazed that I can turn up at sessions with a different fiddle every week and nobody seems to notice. By contrast, when I was taking Heinrich our family cello to some sessions, he did get recognised.
Updated 4.3.2025 to add the explanation for the black dots.
List of violins in the pirate luthier series:
violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up.
violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). I bought it very cheap on gumtree, mainly because I needed a case for number 1). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts.
violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home.
violin 4) is a modern Chinese one which I bought from one musical friend and sold to another, no work needed.
violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) was my second favourite and the one I played in folk sessions for roughly a year until number 22) showed up.
violin 6) is the half-sized Lark which was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a new bridge. Good enough for folk I would say. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 8) is the "ladies violin", a 7/8 skylark. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 10) is the broken one with traces of multiple repair attempts. I'm still gathering courage to try and fix that one.
violin 11) is the 3/4 sold by JP Guivier & Co Ltd. in the 1950s but may actually be older than that. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violin 12) is a full-size Lark which a freegle user kindly donated and delivered after seeing my offer. It was one of the six violins I gave away on freegle in the first week of June.
violins 13) through to 15) I bought locally through gumtree or facebook, nothing special to report.
violin 16) is the Sebastian Klotz branded one, sadly not made by the Mittenwald luthier, but by Yamaha Malaysia, who appear to have trademarked his name.
violin 17) is the supersized violin with a very strong sound.
violin 18) is the slightly drunken but nice sounding violin from Poland, which I restored and returned to its family.
violin 19) is a Stentor student 1 violin which only needed a little TLC, and within less than a week I had it brushed up and ready to move to our local school. The most intriguing problem it had was that somebody had put in the bridge the wrong way round, with the lower slope under the G string.
violin 20) is a Stentor student 1 violin I bought via GumTree. It sounds really nice for what it is, thanks in part to a good set-up with Dominant strings. My current plan is to make this one an official Cowley Orchestra instrument.
violin 21) is a nameless student violin I bought via facebook, not quite sure what to think of it. The fingerboard is horizontal, which is all wrong and may mean there is not enough pressure on the bridge to produce a good sound.
violin 22) is the 19th century Guarneri copy described above.
Balance 22.2.2025: Of the 22 violins listed above, 7 received via freegle, 3 from friends and family, 11 bought (gumtree, facebook, charity shops, cost ranging £ 10 to £45), 1 taken in for repair only and returned to its family.
Of the 21 acquired, 6 given away via freegle, 2 given to a local school, 2 sold to musical friends, 1 moved to Germany for holiday practice, 5 currently in house and ready to play, 1 needs setting up, 4 still broken.
List of non-violins in the pirate luthier series:
An old Irish banjo
