Bacon

Here is an instrument by him, he was a student of Anton guggenberger according to correspondence with his son who was a string maker. He would have been quite old in 72 . More is know of this instrument since the catalogue was written, the instrument was commissioned by the Emperor’s family for a niece but not a teacher. That is his label and Vien is correct.

You will find perhaps the best example of John Hornsteiners work as a featured instrument in The Strad magazine, around 8-10 years ago. Honestly I was ever so relieved to see it as all I see pass thru my shop are the Hornsteiner /Neuner production instruments, not exactly the work of one credited with schooling some of the best American makers of the day. My great grandfather owned the Hornsteiner shop on Adams in Chicago in the early nineteen hundreds. Both my grandfather and his brother worked in the shop along with the aformentioned and I was raised with wondrous violin tales at the Sunday dinner table.

David Beard, great presentation. Attempting to understand how the Amati family and Stradivari and their ilk approached the design of the instrument only enriches our understanding. For years, I have been in the pursuit of better understanding how the musical proportions known in the day, play into this, my findings to date are not without merit, but we’ll save that for another day. I just came across this thread yesterday when searching for Copra’s possible contribution to Stradivari low arching. Thank you, Addie, for the links. I’m glad Torbjorn is still working with the bracio measurement as I feel his and Denis’ work have great merit in this discussion. Pylorius might I suggest you look beyond 432. Read Bruce Haynes “A history of performance pitch, the Story of A” if you want a historic perspective of pitch at the time these instruments were being designed. If anything, the Amati’s were designed on cornetton, the prevalent church pitch of Cremona at the time. This is closer to ~466hz. Was it Stradivari’s attempts to build instruments to the trend of his time, the French Lully enhanced orchestra and its preference to the lower pitch ~415hz,or much lower, depending on context (~392hz ton d'opera), or was it the need for increased volume as the orchestra grew that led to his design variations away from the Amati clan? Many a luthier studying these queries have pointed to a calculated internal volume for a pitch as well. Any way thanks for the Saturday evening read, most enjoyable.

Melving, I guess I wasn't clear, I'm not finding marks on finished work. I agree it is not advisable for someone who is not using the utmost of care, this should be true of using any metal measuring device to finished wood. With this type of tool the trick to 'clean' use is lubricated low friction pins. I use a dry graphite product. Even the pvc item can dent a soft finish if carelessly used. I also find a flexible drafting curve tool quite practical with little possibility of damage. I can't find the one I use online but google images will show many. They are soft metal cores coated in nonabrasive flexible plastic.

The white strips on the back of the mandolin are ivory. However, as the decretive arm rest at the bottom of the instrument is an early pliable synthetic material, I suspect nitrocellulose based, it is possible the maker used early plastics on the violin. At that time still an exotic material. Lyndon, I wish you swift recovery.

Here is a Raffaele Calace, Napoli 1905 I restored.

Richard it is an illusion, as today, black hair is often preferred on the narrow hair ribbon of the baroque bow for better grab. The bow in this case was a lighter colored wood.

When addressing musical instrument iconography, we often calculate the distance between the eyes as shorter than today. In general people were considered smaller. Considering that aside from what appears a large bottom bout one should look at the shoulder of the peg box for a reduction to the fingerboard as well as look at the width of the ribs. The Dutch school has many prime examples of accurate instruments in art, this isn't one of the best. Another consideration is that very rarely did the artiest subscribe the title to the work. This was often done at a later time with dubious accuracy. I'd vote a youth and a violin, but really feel I don't have enough information.

I assume you mean commercially. I have done many and it takes me considerably longer than 10 minutes.

This scroll came into the shop on a violin labeled Matteo Benti. Though the instrument appears similar to the Bente listed on Cozio and could well be a few hundred years old the scroll is not a match. Any one here familiar with who made abbreviated scrolls as such?

I agree, Fan should know if you are to use his quote, but it is done now and it is a good answer. I wish all strings were dated upon manufacture. One is never sure how ancient one's newly purchased strings are. We can check for corrosion externally, but what of degrading perlon or degrading cores. It is good to hear that Fan admits a company short coming. I have used Helicore in the shop for a variety of instruments and will continue doing so. Never had reports of breakage from my clientele that wasn't from mechanical problems or over tightening. It was good to hear that the problem was addressed with the company, rarely do we have access to an inside man. Thanks Fan for your involvement with the greater violin community.

Fascination with the design goes back for quite some time and there are numerous theories in print. The form geometry is only one aspect of this. For me the benefits have been threefold. One, with the use of a ruler and a set of dividers, I can create a three-dimensional likeness to a classical instrument out of thin air. Cool, but as said a xerox machine could do as well, much faster. Two, and of the greatest importance to me, I can get a little bit under the masters skin, and begin to see, just a little, what he and his predecessors were thinking. Third, my reason for pursuing such folly, is that I can better approach the understanding of Baroque set up in relationship to the neck design, something of little interest, beyond speculation, to most modern makers. I could add that the geometric understanding is also very beneficial to the understanding of creating new designs.

Thank you for identifying the source of the image. The brand is different from the more common brand you have supplied but perhaps earlier. Nice bass, It brings into question of how does a luthier remain mobile and drag around the tools and materials for making such a large instrument in the 19th century.