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New Mehlis auction is now up. (GER) Mehlis - August 26th - 28th (2021) - Musical Instruments - https://www.mehlis.eu/de/catalogs/10321/102/

Cool!

My snakehead too seems heavier than a normal scroll, so keep that in mind when making Godzilla. Normal scrolls don't actually have a huge volume of wood, but rounded head-shaped objects can.

I think you're making many unwarranted leaps of logic. I remind you there are a few English-speaking countries other than the US. They include UK, Canada, and Australia. There's no evidence I'm aware of that Roth + Lederer was US import (although that's not necessarily an unreasonable assumption). And it's generally agreed that the Roth-Lederer partnership ended in 1902, when EHR teamed up with his cousin Ficker. There's also some evidence Simson imported EHR fiddles before 1922 and sold them under the Simson label.

First you claim EHR II immediately started S&R upon his arrival in 1912. Now you imply Simson was some sort of sap/sockpuppet who got taken over by the Roth family. EHR was downmarket for Simson. At one point in time S&F was the exclusive US importer of (authentic!) E. Sartory bows. This partnership only came to an end because Buegliesen and Jacobsen, another US importer of musical merchandise, flooded the US with fake German-made bows stamped with Sartory. You can read all the gory details in Filimonov's "Phoney War" article in The Strad (2/2019). Simson scoured Europe for stringed instrument makers and goods and he had good taste. You apparently don't understand how business partnerships were formed and how they involved buying and vesting shares.

Nobody does, really. However, it is evidence that EHR was importing violins into the United States for a few years before he started the Roth firm. So his son didn't come to the United States in the 1920s as a complete unknown. I suspect that EHR had the ideas for how he wanted to run the Roth company based on his experience in R&L, and sensing the opportunity to sell a reliably higher quality product than most of the cottage industry exports.

Thanks for the replies. Rather than Laprevette, was there perhaps a trade name La Prevette?

Dogzilla? I admit I am no expert but agree with Don that a model Godzilla head will be a great help. This year I decided to try to make a "Lion" type of violin head and I only had a photograph to copy from. So, I sketched this, then traced it and tried to get the shape into my head. I then carved a practice head in Limewood which turned out looking a bit like Hogarth's Pug interbred with a Lion but I now had a model. I then made two more models in Sycamore to try to refine my Lion and to work out the head angle and size to allow reasonable access for stringing the upper peg. Here is a picture of my three practice heads and the actual head carved on the neck at the right I think I should have made him a little smaller as he seems a little heavier than a normal scroll but am still pleased with his amused, resigned look. If you want to have a similar expression on your face and have some time to waste, I have put my full amateur lion head carving rigmarole on the Contemporary Maker's Gallery in my post. Maybe looking at my mistakes will help preventing you mixing up your letters and like me ending up with a "Dogziilla"?

As a former environmental controls engineer for a museum, you aim for two things: A reasonable level around whatever has been "normal" over the life of the artifact. Tight control over the range of fluctuation and rate of fluctuation around "normal". Rate of fluctuation is extremely important.

Thanks David Aside from the kind mention of my name, I can only agree with what you say. Given the current globalization of violin making, good violins can be found almost everywhere in the world, and the same goes for bad ones.

Etienne Laprevotte Violin, Paris 1825 | Sold | (martinswanviolins.com)

I can remember that, about ten years ago, Maestronet had a “like” button, which was disabled due to Moderator exasperation at the egregious misuse (Burgess liking himself, and so on)

We sold a nice Laprevotte violin a year or so ago ...

I have not gone through a similar trademark exercise with R&L (German Trademark Office) as I have EHR Co., S&F, and S&R. Other than having come across a couple of R&L instruments, I really don't know much about them.

So you're badmouthing EH Roth and talking up Scherl and Roth in the same thread, what the F?

I happen to be of the opinion that contemporary Italian or Cremonese, or chinese violins can be all over the map, no more or less than violins from other regions. If one wanted to search out the best of contemporary Cremonese makers, my opinion is that Sora would rank quite high on the list,.

I don’t have any particular opinion in this discussion, I’m just enjoying it. Regarding your question, I’m not sure I understand it: insofar as Roth Violins have any collectibility at all, it would seem that the mystery and debate would increase it, but I’m not sure they have much. The best ones are good tools and sources of pride, but I doubt a single artist recorded in the last 50 years Chose to make their recording on a Roth. Although it’s probably impossible to say, I would doubt that any such artist would even have a Roth as their second instrument.

Oooh wicked. I like to offer to use single syllable words, but your way is good too. :-)

Those two guys have told me at one time or another to don't glue at those lower readings. There have been others that mentioned that too. Just wait for the 40's minimum.

What would be best with 99 f. in the shade, 130 heat index and 50 % humidity, which is what is here now as I'm typing? And the appointment needs to be kept, for example.

David, I think that you answered my question. The ideal situation would be to have the instrument stay in an environment in which it was made. That being impossible, the 40-60 range is recommended because most instruments can take it and it is doable. Don Noon Your practice of gluing on the plates at low humidity makes perfect sense to me since most problems seem to arise at lower humidity than when the plates were glued. Uncle Duke: I'm happy with your gluing at between 27 & 35, which is consistent with the two above. My question had to do with how the original conditions would relate to the instrument's behavior under conditions of actual use. You all answered to the point Thank you.

If I were to run across one of these what could be a cut off date for a yes or no purchase? Like if there was a 1929 available would it be smart to pursue?

I wouldn't consider a humidifier to be beneficial in any way, at a relative humidity level of 50 to 70%. At that level, adding moisture is more likely to harm the instrument, though not as obviously and dramatically as too low a moisture level.

LOL. Did the OP actually ask about restoration and/or repair? Pretty sure the OP already decided "display." Lastly, some things have sentimental value "as is." I have been holding onto a couple of old brass instruments that are tarnished all over. My father played them that way and so I will keep them that way to preserve the "sentiment."

The comment that got us all deeply into weeds of Roth history was a person declaring that he had not "seen any evidence EH Roth was associated with Scherl and Roth." Hopefully, he has now. And, @Hempel, what do you know about Roth and Lederer, a firm which was exporting violins to America before the EHR firm was formed?