Music Trade Review
Issue: 1907 Vol. 44 N. 17 - Page 47
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE.
IN/IUSlO
VIOLIN MAKING CENTRE.
The Greatest in the World Located at Mark-
neukirchen.
An industry that triumphs over machinery
and which for centuries has remained fixed, not
changing in any particular, is that of violin mak-
ing in Saxony, and the fame of the violins made
in that country is world-wide.
The center qf the violin making district is the
city of Markneukirchen, and both in the city
itself and the surrounding villages the wealth
of a family is estimated by the amount of good
seasoned wood it possesses and the number of
workers it can provide.
Altogether at least 15,000 people live by fiddle
making. Markneukirchen and its clusters of
picturesque Saxon villages were probably the
earliest of all districts to establish violin mak-
ing. You will find the instruments made to-
day on the pattern resolved upon at the end
of the sixteenth century by the famous Antonio
Stradivarius of Cremona.
Hard working, independent folk are these Sax-
ons; the men always seen in their coarse aprons
and heavy leather boots, and the women bust-
ling to and fro, striving to combine the neat and
cleanly execution of household duties with the
eternal violin making.
Every homestead contains a pretty large fam-
ily, for race suicide is unknown in Saxony; and
in many cases you will find three generations liv-
ing under the same roof, so that the cottage will
resemble a factory in miniature, so many labor-
ers are there at work.
But let it not be supposed that these villagers
turn out cheap, low class instruments. On the
contrary, the violin that Paganini himself used
was made entirely by one of the patriarchs of
this district. And to-day aged peasants show
visitors marvelous examples of their handiwork,
some of them exquisitely inlaid and hoarded up
in the family, to be handed down as heirlooms.
Some collections of these prized fiddles represent
TRADE
RE:V|E:\A/
four or five generations of patient workers.
As might be supposed, the tools employed are
primitive, yet nothing would induce these people
to adopt any machinery. 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 to shaping the back
and belly, and a fourth to cutting the peculiar
"f'-shaped sounding holes in the belly. Others
again glue up, polish, varnish and finish the in-
struments, performing every operation with
scrupulous pride.
From time to time as a batch of instruments is
finished they are packed up and taken to town
for sale. Some carry their violins in great can-
vas sacks, others in special wicker baskets, while
those who have made 'cellos carry them openly,
strung together in twos or three. Some fam-
ilies specialize in bows and bring them into town
in thousands.
Although there are several large violin fac-
tories in Markneukirchen, there is always plenty
of buyers for the hand-made products of the
peasants at prices varying from 5 marks to 500,
according to quality. Many families have a
reputation for turning out the very highest grade
of violin, and buyers rarely or never haggle
with such superb work people.
Thus Markneukirchen and her villages scatter
their sweet toned instruments all over the world.
More than once a specially expert family has
been approached with a view to faking an
Amati or Stradivari, and on more than one oc-
casion the villagers have yielded to temptation
and gone about patiently baking and smoking
the pine, maple and sycamore used in the bodies.
All such copies, however, invariably fail to pro-
duce a tone equal to that of a genuine instru-
ment.
There is yet another colony of violin makers
in Mittenwald, a corner of the eastern Alps, be-
tween southern Bavaria and northern Tyrol. The
forests here are filled with subtle fragrance from
the prostrate trees and rough-hewn planks which
are waiting for the delicate manipulation of the
47
instrument makers to be fashioned into violins.
In the violin factories here the woods chiefly
used are pine and "ahorn." The methods fol-
lowed are those traditionally inherited from the
old Italian masters.
Violin ribs and sides are usually made out of
the choicest maple, the back and belly being or-
dinarily of old and sound mountain pine. Maple
strips for the side are immersed many times
in boiling water so as to render them pliable
without being brittle, and they are then reduced
to 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 mechanics has to do
his delicate part. This is to place in the precise
spot, with infinite 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 most exquisitely sensitive item in the
whole fabric, however, is the bass or sound bar,
which is considered to be the very nerve of a
violin. It is always of soft green pine, and
placed inside the upper table it passes at a
slight angle under the left end of the bridge.
Its function is supreme, for it not only con-
solidates the upper plate so as to aid it in en-
during the heavy pressure of the strings, but it
also conveys to the entire surface of the plate all
the exquisite vibrations of music.
The strings for violin bows made at Mitten-
wald are of the intestines of sheep. September
is the great string season, and there is then in
Italy and Bavaria an immense demand for ma-
terial yielded by young lambs six or seven
months old.
It is curious that although the Mittenwalders
turn out every year thousands of superb violins,
violas and 'cellos, they seem to care little for the
music of these instruments, and revel in the
zither, the national instrument of Tyrol, to which
they dance on moonlight nights after they have
taken to market a big consignment.
JOS. W. STERN
AND MANUFACTURERS OF MUSICAL
AND MERCHANDISE.
INSTRUMENTS
Nos. 102-104 West 38th Street.
JE herewith announce to the trade that we have received the Sole Agency for
the United States for the celebrated house of A. ACOULON OF PARIS who
manufacture the finest quality of BRASS BAND AND WOOD WIND INSTRUMENTS.
This house has received the highest awards in the shape of medals including the
Legion of Honor for their superior grade of manufacture. These instruments are all
of the popular models and special bore which distinguishes them from all others.
Simplicity in style or model, a full brilliant tone, easy action and perfect adjustment
make them the best which can be procured and the moderate prices of same should
induce every dealer who handles brass instruments to carry them in stock as his
leading instrument. We are ready to fill orders for the following models.
Prices Subject to the Regular Trade and Cash Discounts.
Style A. Cornet, double water key, extra strongly built
throughout, a splendid instrument for use in general
orchestras and band work..
Price $30.00
Style B. Cornet, single water key, long model, with high
and low pitch slides
Price 35.00
Style C. Cornet, single water key, extra fine model and
workmanship and superior quality, producing a full tone
without effort. This instrument easily competes with
any of the highest reputation
Price 45.00
Style D. Cornet, single water key, changeable from B flat
to C
Price 36.25
Style E. Cornet, this instrument has the latest quick
change attachment from B flat to A, and can also be regu-
lated to either high or low pitch. One of the most
perfect cornets manufactured. .
Price $60.00
Style J. B flat tenor slide trombone six and one-half inch
Bell
Price 22.50
Style 3005 E flat, Alto
Price 37.50
Style 5016 B flat, Tenor
Price 47.50
Style 3007 B flat, Baritone
Price 57.00
Style 3009 B flat, Bass
Price 63.75
Style 3012 E flat, Contrabass
Price 75.00
JOS. W. S T E R N & C O . , 102-104 West 38th Street, New York City.
Sole Manufacturers of the MARKSTERN Mandolins and Guitars and the famous S. S. Stewart's Sons improved 4 4s"
Banjos. Clark's Neverwet waterproof strings for Summer use.
Write for complete illustrated catalogue of everything in the musical instrument line.
THE.
IN/IUSlO
VIOLIN MAKING CENTRE.
The Greatest in the World Located at Mark-
neukirchen.
An industry that triumphs over machinery
and which for centuries has remained fixed, not
changing in any particular, is that of violin mak-
ing in Saxony, and the fame of the violins made
in that country is world-wide.
The center qf the violin making district is the
city of Markneukirchen, and both in the city
itself and the surrounding villages the wealth
of a family is estimated by the amount of good
seasoned wood it possesses and the number of
workers it can provide.
Altogether at least 15,000 people live by fiddle
making. Markneukirchen and its clusters of
picturesque Saxon villages were probably the
earliest of all districts to establish violin mak-
ing. You will find the instruments made to-
day on the pattern resolved upon at the end
of the sixteenth century by the famous Antonio
Stradivarius of Cremona.
Hard working, independent folk are these Sax-
ons; the men always seen in their coarse aprons
and heavy leather boots, and the women bust-
ling to and fro, striving to combine the neat and
cleanly execution of household duties with the
eternal violin making.
Every homestead contains a pretty large fam-
ily, for race suicide is unknown in Saxony; and
in many cases you will find three generations liv-
ing under the same roof, so that the cottage will
resemble a factory in miniature, so many labor-
ers are there at work.
But let it not be supposed that these villagers
turn out cheap, low class instruments. On the
contrary, the violin that Paganini himself used
was made entirely by one of the patriarchs of
this district. And to-day aged peasants show
visitors marvelous examples of their handiwork,
some of them exquisitely inlaid and hoarded up
in the family, to be handed down as heirlooms.
Some collections of these prized fiddles represent
TRADE
RE:V|E:\A/
four or five generations of patient workers.
As might be supposed, the tools employed are
primitive, yet nothing would induce these people
to adopt any machinery. 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 to shaping the back
and belly, and a fourth to cutting the peculiar
"f'-shaped sounding holes in the belly. Others
again glue up, polish, varnish and finish the in-
struments, performing every operation with
scrupulous pride.
From time to time as a batch of instruments is
finished they are packed up and taken to town
for sale. Some carry their violins in great can-
vas sacks, others in special wicker baskets, while
those who have made 'cellos carry them openly,
strung together in twos or three. Some fam-
ilies specialize in bows and bring them into town
in thousands.
Although there are several large violin fac-
tories in Markneukirchen, there is always plenty
of buyers for the hand-made products of the
peasants at prices varying from 5 marks to 500,
according to quality. Many families have a
reputation for turning out the very highest grade
of violin, and buyers rarely or never haggle
with such superb work people.
Thus Markneukirchen and her villages scatter
their sweet toned instruments all over the world.
More than once a specially expert family has
been approached with a view to faking an
Amati or Stradivari, and on more than one oc-
casion the villagers have yielded to temptation
and gone about patiently baking and smoking
the pine, maple and sycamore used in the bodies.
All such copies, however, invariably fail to pro-
duce a tone equal to that of a genuine instru-
ment.
There is yet another colony of violin makers
in Mittenwald, a corner of the eastern Alps, be-
tween southern Bavaria and northern Tyrol. The
forests here are filled with subtle fragrance from
the prostrate trees and rough-hewn planks which
are waiting for the delicate manipulation of the
47
instrument makers to be fashioned into violins.
In the violin factories here the woods chiefly
used are pine and "ahorn." The methods fol-
lowed are those traditionally inherited from the
old Italian masters.
Violin ribs and sides are usually made out of
the choicest maple, the back and belly being or-
dinarily of old and sound mountain pine. Maple
strips for the side are immersed many times
in boiling water so as to render them pliable
without being brittle, and they are then reduced
to 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 mechanics has to do
his delicate part. This is to place in the precise
spot, with infinite 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 most exquisitely sensitive item in the
whole fabric, however, is the bass or sound bar,
which is considered to be the very nerve of a
violin. It is always of soft green pine, and
placed inside the upper table it passes at a
slight angle under the left end of the bridge.
Its function is supreme, for it not only con-
solidates the upper plate so as to aid it in en-
during the heavy pressure of the strings, but it
also conveys to the entire surface of the plate all
the exquisite vibrations of music.
The strings for violin bows made at Mitten-
wald are of the intestines of sheep. September
is the great string season, and there is then in
Italy and Bavaria an immense demand for ma-
terial yielded by young lambs six or seven
months old.
It is curious that although the Mittenwalders
turn out every year thousands of superb violins,
violas and 'cellos, they seem to care little for the
music of these instruments, and revel in the
zither, the national instrument of Tyrol, to which
they dance on moonlight nights after they have
taken to market a big consignment.
JOS. W. STERN
AND MANUFACTURERS OF MUSICAL
AND MERCHANDISE.
INSTRUMENTS
Nos. 102-104 West 38th Street.
JE herewith announce to the trade that we have received the Sole Agency for
the United States for the celebrated house of A. ACOULON OF PARIS who
manufacture the finest quality of BRASS BAND AND WOOD WIND INSTRUMENTS.
This house has received the highest awards in the shape of medals including the
Legion of Honor for their superior grade of manufacture. These instruments are all
of the popular models and special bore which distinguishes them from all others.
Simplicity in style or model, a full brilliant tone, easy action and perfect adjustment
make them the best which can be procured and the moderate prices of same should
induce every dealer who handles brass instruments to carry them in stock as his
leading instrument. We are ready to fill orders for the following models.
Prices Subject to the Regular Trade and Cash Discounts.
Style A. Cornet, double water key, extra strongly built
throughout, a splendid instrument for use in general
orchestras and band work..
Price $30.00
Style B. Cornet, single water key, long model, with high
and low pitch slides
Price 35.00
Style C. Cornet, single water key, extra fine model and
workmanship and superior quality, producing a full tone
without effort. This instrument easily competes with
any of the highest reputation
Price 45.00
Style D. Cornet, single water key, changeable from B flat
to C
Price 36.25
Style E. Cornet, this instrument has the latest quick
change attachment from B flat to A, and can also be regu-
lated to either high or low pitch. One of the most
perfect cornets manufactured. .
Price $60.00
Style J. B flat tenor slide trombone six and one-half inch
Bell
Price 22.50
Style 3005 E flat, Alto
Price 37.50
Style 5016 B flat, Tenor
Price 47.50
Style 3007 B flat, Baritone
Price 57.00
Style 3009 B flat, Bass
Price 63.75
Style 3012 E flat, Contrabass
Price 75.00
JOS. W. S T E R N & C O . , 102-104 West 38th Street, New York City.
Sole Manufacturers of the MARKSTERN Mandolins and Guitars and the famous S. S. Stewart's Sons improved 4 4s"
Banjos. Clark's Neverwet waterproof strings for Summer use.
Write for complete illustrated catalogue of everything in the musical instrument line.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).