Interesting Maine Violin Shop Photo

[David Sanderson]

Here's an interesting photo of a violin maker's shop, from Ebay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/C1905-Stereoview-SV-Country-Violin-Maker-Workshop-Mercer-Maine-by-W-H-Harris-/390855990659

 

It is comfortably cluttered, and will perhaps look familiar, one of the eternal verities of the luthier's profession. This man will be one of the two hundred or so violin makers who proliferated in Maine between about 1880 and 1910, and produced at times some very nice instruments. He may have a real bench, but it doesn't show here; the low bench to his right seems to me very much like one of the common shoemakers' benches of the period, and I wonder if this was not a workbench. Then again, he looks comfortable in his chair, and may have done a lot just sitting there. What I find especially interesting is the caliper in his right hand, which looks like a commercial product, not homemade.

 

It's a stereo view, and the starting price is too much for me, though I have to say I would dearly love to have it.

[Addie]

What looks like a cornerless mold I think is a work cradle.  He’s holding a fairly intricate caliper.  There’s a classic scroll template, a whole bunch of gouges.  There’s a finished scroll poking out from a pile of tools, on top of which might be a bending strap.

 

 

If you go cross-eyed, you can see it in stereo.  I trick I learned at U.

[Rue]

Very cool.   Love the old photos...but I'd be worried about the ceiling coming down on me personally...and maybe rats...although I like rats...

 

 

...

If you go cross-eyed, you can see it in stereo.  I trick I learned at U.

 

Dare I ask what you majored in?

[vathek]

I was trying to figure out the town name but just can't make it out. Might be possible to determine who the man is through city directories.

[joerobson]

Nate???

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

wow he didn't even have a kitchen table!

[captainhook]

"If you go cross-eyed, you can see it in stereo.  I trick I learned at U."

 

Actually, of course, both eyes look straight ahead rather than converging. I used to be able to do that but have lost the ability. It was fun while it lasted.

[Ron1]

Just look "cross-eyed"  enough to bring the two images together- they will "lock" and allow you to see the image in 3D.  

 

(Aerial photo-interpretation major, U.S. Navy air intelligence school) 

[nathan slobodkin]

The name of the town is Mercer ME. If you go to the end of the earth and take a left it's about 30 miles past Skowhegan.

[Doug Cotterill]

Is there anything Stradivari would take from that workshop?