JacksonMaberry Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hey all, My fiancée is a fine young violinist, and between her and myself, violins of all sorts seem to find their way into our hands. One such curiosity is what purports to be a 1784 violin, rather highly ornamented, by Johanes Christiang Hamig, or Johann Hammig as I have more commonly seen his name spelled on the net. It is in rather unfortunate shape. It bears two repairman's labels inside as well, the first reading "reperert af instrumentmager J. Hjorth, Vestergade No. 45 i Kjobenhavn 1846" and the second reading "Repaired by Frank W. Musgrave, Lebanon Oregon, Mar. 3rd 1939". There is a rather nasty glue seam on the belly in the lower bout that I wonder may be the handiwork of.Mr. Musgrave, and the endpin is roughly carved, poorly fitting, and has pulled the endhole oval. At any rate, I thought I'd share this curios with you and see what you might have to say about it. I'm inclined to see it as a wallhanger, but am willing to work on it in order to gain more experience if the masters here think it's a good idea. =) Best always, Jackson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deans Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 I'd say its late 19th century Saxon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin swan Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 It most certainly wasn't repaired in 1846. You can discount the Hammig label - this is a fancy MK fiddle from the late 19th/early 20th century as deans has said. If you practice your repair skills on this violin you will not be visited in the middle of the night by the Maestronet Stasi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacksonMaberry Posted December 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 Deans, Martin, (And perhaps Dean Martin?), That's good to hear! I had my serious doubts about this instrument because the "Hamig" label looks very much like a facsimile - little tiny dots seem to make up the image. What's more, I'm pretty sure that there are no blocks in the upper corners. Hammig seems to have a decent reputation and the construction of this axe doesn't seem to warrant that. The corners are out of square with the plates, in addition to the other issues I mentioned. Again, thank you for taking a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~ Ben Conover Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Beautiful decoration to the back, and nicely done.Scroll has nice straight tool marks. Cool fiddle, good find !How's it sounding ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacksonMaberry Posted December 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Thanks Ben! It is quite attractive, and I'm rather fond of the "off the tool" look of the scroll also. Counterfeit or no and damaged though it is, it does sound pretty good. It has a bit of a reedy, rustic sound to it that seemed especially appropriate when my fiancée lit in to a series of reels =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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