Guido

Mind you, a good silver or whalebone wrapping will last decades, whereas leathers are replaced more routinely, sometimes every couple of years. And then it's useful that the frog end of the wrapping is secure.

Got a nice nickel mounted German bow here (no stamp) with a couple of features that I'd like to share and ask if/ where this may have been seen before? Stick and frog have assembly marks "II" both on the stick and on the frog. However, on the stick the mark is hidden midway under the grip and on the frog its on the front of the tongue. See photo. Both of these placements are a bit unusual I think. Then, the grip was originally actual whalebone (fluorescent) and affixed at the frog end under the leather with a pin, that is, a proper pin like in the one-piece heal plate. I attach a photo of the pin I pulled out.

Are you an AI?

A basic basil wood student bow. You can try some bows which cost as much as a rehair and see if you like any of them better. One thing to consider though is that a rehair usually gives you a better quality hair than what would be on a new entry level bow. So a rehair would be an upgrade. I wouldn't worry about the dark spot.

Most definitely a new-ish Chinese violin of average merit but very little value. The case looks usable.

I think the online advertisers know that already; and you'll succumb to the click bait that tells you what you want to hear. If you are looking for a bow to physically use, you should look for it and it's properties in the real world.

I think you shouldn’t do anything. if you don’t have the problem at home and only in this one location temporarily, this will be fine. Bows are regularly under tension for many hours at a time. whats more, the hair will stretch with use and time, add the impending weather change to increased humidity and you will have plenty long hair. if you lengthen it now it will likely be too long very soon.

358

Of course. And the wonky ones from outside Italy usually don’t make it into any reference books… But it is tempting. The maker of above half cut pin also made narrow throats. See below.

After lots of flicking pages and chasing ideas, the only things that somewhat come close to the OP violin are wonky Italians, like this one.

What he said. And: You might fetch a couple hundred dollars on ebay or the like. Best case.

David isn't just anybody, mind you. He regularly hands out and receives toasters!

@PaganiniWanabee the story goes like this: Attic violin is found and taken to the nearest luthier with $-signs in the eyes of the bearer. Luthier says not worth repairing, and no, I don't want it either. Violin is "disposed of" on ebay, the owner "knowing nothing about it".

Just for a bit of fun.

I was hoping to get away with the description above: close to unilateral spruce blocks, willow linings, not let in.

Instrument in hand, I'd say the purfling back and front is consistent. And this is how the story would come together: the back started unpurfeled. Pins in the button and block were added later (as a repair effort). Then the violin got a new top and the back was purfeled with the new top. This is how we end up with a non-original half-cut pin and consistent purfling back and front in a composite violin. If the head belongs is difficult to assess if we don't know what it is that it is attached to. Certainly, the narrow throat looks French, but the volutes maybe not so much. If the back was originally unpurfeled that seems to point more towards English or, you know, the I-word, but maybe less likely French.

I'd think ebony. Just had another look under magnification and the one through the button looks like the third (!) pin in this place. If it came together with the half-cut one (as they look similar), then the purfling would not be original to the violin.

I thought it might be a little off the beaten track. Maybe Swiss, to throw out a wild guess as an example.

Silver

Thanks Martin, agree with the observations. The tube in the butt is not lead, it might be stainless steel or even silver. I don't think it is there to add weight, but rather to reduce or prevent wear. The bow is a healthy 62.5g and one could have added weight more effectively by just running the wire all the way under the leather rather than fill it with masking tape. As for the button I can see it looks a bit large. However, the diameter matches the outside edges of the stick and I wouldn't exclude the possibility that it belongs.

Here is the corner with the black light fluorescence under magnification. It's possible that the tip of the purfling is actually missing and the area filled with glue. Also, the blacks seem to have some grain structure. So, probably no whalebone after all.

Here a good quality silver mounted bow. Branded Tourte with some relevance considering the camber. Main thing I'm curious about is the metal sleeve in the butt to guide the screw (last pic). The tube goes all the way to the mortice. I don't think it's a repair but an attempt to prevent the typical wear from new. Seems clever. Anyone seen anything like it before?

You get bridge blanks at all sorts of width for this purpose (similar to what's more common with cello bridges).

P.S.: I reached for my volume of "400 Year Violinmaking in the Netherlands" but it didn't solve it for me :-( P.P.S.: LOB is 358

I don't think I've seen anything like this before. The face with the relatively short and angled ffs seems to ring a bell, but I can't place it. The upper eyes are only 37mm apart. The arching (which would be difficult to see in the photos) is ever so slightly "pinched" in an Amatise way. Blocks are spruce, linings are willow, but not let in. The blocks are also closer to unilateral and certainly don't look anything like Fuessen diaspora. However, rib joints are mitred as they would be with inside mould construction. There is a half-cut pin outside (!) the purfling, which makes me wonder if the lower one is just fully covered. Plate overhang seems large all around both plates. When I first noticed it I though composite, but its fairly consistent all around and on both plates. And here is a possibly decisive clue: I caught a tiny bit of fluorescence in a corner where purfling is not covered by varnish. Any help appreciated.