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Michael Appleman's Achievements
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This doesn't look quite right. Head seems too slanting on the front and too narrow. Frog degorgement shape doesn't seem right, eye too small. Lotte used a small brand like this towards the end and when his son Roger François was collaborating, but this stamp seems even smaller than the ones I've seen.
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It's only the early nickel mounted bows, like Lupot in the 1820's, when bowmakers were thinking that this new alloy would make silver obsolete, that one finds top quality nickel mounted bows. By the 1850's, nickel was relegated to 2nd class bows.
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The photos make it hard to tell much. I get a fairly recent, probably Asian made vibe from the photos, but for 40 bucks, that's still a good deal...
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Anyone familiar with Gould (John A.) violins?
Michael Appleman replied to dgould's topic in The Pegbox
Great to see those paintings! A nice reminder that an artisan capable of high quality work can have multiple talents, and also how beautiful the New England coast and countryside can be! -
Anyone familiar with Gould (John A.) violins?
Michael Appleman replied to dgould's topic in The Pegbox
My father was fixing violins in the Boston area in the 1960's and '70's, and we had quite a few "Boston School" violins come through our shop over the years, including several J.A.Goulds. These were always well-made, good sounding violins, some more quirky and individual, some looking like they may have used Markneukirchen parts bought in the white. These "Boston School" violins, Gould, Bryant, Squire, et. al. could have some very expressive, "hand made" looking details, like deep, rolled edges, trumpetting corners, etc. that made a lot of them good candidates for getting re-labelled and sold (especially here in Europe where nobody has heard of these makers) as early 20th century Italaian violins. Oddly, I suspect that a line of "fake Italian" violins labelled "Johannes Ornatis" was produced by one of the Boston Shops in the 1920's-1930's. In any case, these violins can be very good, no matter what label got stuck inside! -
This is an interesting looking violin. Getting a sense of the outline is important. Please take and post straight on shots of the front and back with as little distortion as possible.
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You have to be aware that different schools of making used different methods. Through necks were common on violins made with the "BOB" or built on the back without a mold method, which was common in places like Markneukirchen, and used on both higher quality and cheaper violins from Saxony right through the middle of the 19th century. Widhalm was from a different tradition, and was working in Nuremburg, using an offshoot of the Cremonese method with an inside mold and (probably) a nailed-on neck. As these were higher quality vioiins from the start, most will have been "modernized" with a morticed neck and a neck graft by now, like the one in the picture from Cozio, unlike the meny cheaper Saxon violins that might still be sporting their original through necks.
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Yes indeed! that's 375 and 365mm! Thanks for pointing it out.
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40.5cm back length for the one on the left, ribs just as they came off the mold, and 39cm for the one with squashed ribs on the right. String lengths of 175mm for the one on the left and 165mm for the smaller one. The difference doesn't seem like much, but it's enough for the person who bought it to feel at ease with the smaller one, whereas he wasn't comfortable playing the longer scale viola. Interestingly, I had a friend, the retired principal violist of the Paris Chamber Orchestra, a 6'2" (187cm) big guy with big hands, come by to try them, and he hardly noticed any difference in the sizes or string lengths. One can see that the squashed one is wider by a little bit. I was a little afraid of shortening the string length as I was afraid of losing depth and clarity on the C string. The two violas are different like any two instruments can differ, but the shorter stop viola has plenty of bass and clarity on the bottom. BTW, still totally hooked on Warchal Timbre's...
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I'm sorry to report...I chickened out! My query about Brescian/French.Flemish BOB techniques was inspired by the fact that I got a request for a slightly smaller, shorter scale viola than what i've been making up until now. I like the outline of the mold I've been using, and the results have been quite successful for sound and playability, so I didn't feel like making a new mold for just one viola. Looking at those excellent videos that Geerten put up, I realized that making a BOB instrument isn't in any way less work than using an inside mold. So, I decided to take the easy way out. I just used my usual mold and squished the ribs once they were off the mold to be a little shorter and fit the one-piece top I wanted to use for this project. It came out just fine and the viola found a new home quickly and is making its new owner very happy. The upshot to me is that in any case either construction method can give a certain freedom to the maker, if he's willing to experiment and see what works.
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I'm very sorry to learn of Paul's passing. We shared a decades long friendly relationship that was really not very business related. I did have him write some certificates for me over the years, but we mostly would meet up to go out and eat together whenever he had some down time in Paris. We would talk about bows and fiddles, but even more about cars, since we were both into the same sort of "euro hot rods." I wonder if Jason Price got it right mentioning an XK150 with a V-12. He might have built that more recently, but when we were hanging out together his "cool ride" was a Mark 10 convertible with an American V-8. He was from Texas, after all. I'm saddened all the more because we had a big falling out as he was finishing up his book on Tourte. That project was so important to him, and I know he felt the pressure of time as he had been courageously fighting serious illness for so many years. Paul had asked me to research certain aspects about Tourte's clientele that I had brought to his attention, but between the Yellow Vest protests here in Paris and then Covid, I wasn't able to bring him anything of value. The result was a verbally violent scene on the street between our apartments with Paul cussing me out for wasting his time. I had been thinking enough time had past and that I should call him to see if there wasn't a restaurant he wanted to check out together. I'm sorry now not to have picked up the phone sooner.
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This is an interesting question! I have seen H. Amati II violins with posthumous Nicola labels, and printed labels with a different wording, mentioning that he was Nicola's son. The wording of this label matches what the Tarisio site says is in the "Bonjour" cello (but no image and no mention if its label is hand-written). 1697 seems to be the year he left Cremona for Piacenza and it's interesting that this label doesn't say where the instrument was made, only that H. Amati was from Cremona. Then again his usual label also only says "Cremonensis," so that might not mean anything. If any of the big-time experts stumble on this thread, and have any observations to share, I'd be curious to read what they have to say!
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Careful inspection, as LCF wrote. If there is no visible distortion or compression caused by the bridge/soundpost, the area is probably sound, as if there were worm damage, I'd expect the area would have been dangerously weakened. Is there a soundpost or breast patch?
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They don't usually make visible entry holes. They're very small larvae when they enter, then they eat and tunnel and grow. They exit when they're ready to turn into beetles, fly away, mate and lay more eggs. If this hole really is only 2-3 mm deep, then great, but I fear it's more likely the tunnel makes a sharp turn and gives the impression of stopping.
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More to the original question, my impression is that there are more high end fiddles "on the market" in London than in Paris, but that may be misleading. The high end shops and auction houses (that act more and more like shops) publicise their wares in London, whereas in Paris, the process seems more discreet. If you go to a big shop in Paris and say you're looking for a Strad, it's highly unlikely they'll have one in stock, but they will probably "dig one up" from their contacts after a few weeks.