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Unusual old violin with pinned back and twisted neck

 
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Roger Kent
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Joined: 01 Nov 2007
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:01 pm    Post subject: Unusual old violin with pinned back and twisted neck Reply with quote

Hello, my name is Roger and I am from Austin Texas with several violins in my family. I wanted to show this violin and listen to your comments about why this one is made like it is made. The most unusual part is how the neck is carved and attatched. If you look at the neck from the back you can see how it is rotated/twisted slightly clockwise which looks to be very deliberate. Is this some kind of experimental design? Also the pinned back looks to be original and not a repair. Such as you might find on a grafted neck. This is one of the nicest sounding violins you will every hear IMHO and very loud. Thank you everyone for your thought on this and I hope you find it interesting. Regards, Roger Kent
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Dave Chandler
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Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:41 pm    Post subject: Old violin with a twist Reply with quote

Perhaps the twist to the left (looking at it from the player's position) would benefit a lefty. The pins may be where the back plate was attached directly to the neck block. If you look inside, you probably won't see the traditional "upper block." I had an old German violin (and for a moment thought I was looking at it again) from the 1880s that was built with the plates secured to the neck block that extended well into the violin, perhaps an inch or more. The pins though don't make much sense unless someone pinned the plate where it was separating from the block.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo
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Dave Chandler
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Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:44 pm    Post subject: Old violin with a twist Reply with quote

Roger, It appears that the purfling has also been seperated along the back plate seam, so I'm thinking the pins may have something to do with a repair. Since the button also appears to be off-center, the maker may have been trying to get the neck to realign the neck to the top plate, given an offset button to begin with. So, you could be right that it was made with the twist. Still don't know how that relates to the pins. Noticed from your photos also that the large end of the fingerboard seems to be much closer to the right "f" than the left. Is the fingerboard centered along its length? When you look from the tailpiece toward the pegbox, does the fingerboard lean to the left? I don't know what all this means, just looking for clues to an intriguing construction.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo
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Roger Kent
Junior Member


Joined: 01 Nov 2007
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Dave, to answer your questions, first I have to agree w/ you about a possible repair due to the purfling cut where it is. I thought at first the pins were an attempt to fake a modernized-baroque, but then where is the neck graft? The off centered button does not make sense to me. The LOB is 14 1/4 since I left that out. The fingerboard appears to be tilted slightly to the right and not to the left as you had asked. One last observation since you got me really looking at this, there is no varnish at the end of the neck joint under the fingerboard where it meets the top plate, and I can see where it was sawed off and never re-stained. Why would that area not be stained? I am beginning to wonder if this is just an amaturish and botched neck job but I will let you decide. Thanks again!! Roger Kent
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