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Violin Makers Tournai thf ViolinMakers tournai APRIL-MAY. 1963 THE (n-FICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VIOLIN MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Rev. Ceo. R. Wright (see story on page 3) Issued as an Educational Feature to encourage and develop the art of violin making. • Eudoxa Flexocor Complete line of Violinists & Makers Supplies. Send for Art Cataiogue� Distri butors of Pi rastro Wondedone Strings in Canada. George Heinl� Toronto J ames Croft &. Son, Wi nn i peg Peate Music Supplies, Montreal Landers Di stri b'utors Ltd., V ancouver, B. C. 1HtaH llllfort COlllfan( 5948 JItlantic Blv�. + m9LWOO�t' Calif. + U.S.JI. GUITARS and GUITAR SUPPLIES. REQUEST GUITAR CATALOGUE. + + + + + Strinsed Instruments and Accessories Old Waster '.Bows Violins Violas Celli tRare '.BooRs Write for Catalogue and Price List. Discount to Maker and Musicians. OLD ITALIAN CREMONA VARNISH FOR VIOLINS Keep in Contact with the Players, Fillers for Tone Stain for Shoding Easily Applied They are Your Customers Made from Fossil Resins The American String Teachers Association is a non-profit ALL COLORS INCLUDING NATURAL musical and educationol organization established in J 946. Oil or Spirit It serves string and orchestra teachers and students. Promotes and encourages professional and amateur string Prices Postpaid 2 oz. $1.50 and orchestra study and performance. 4 oz. $2.50 8 oz. $4.50 The American String Teochers Association has a develop­ S. KUJAWA ment and progressive program which includes: 1958 East Hawthorne St. Paul 19, Minn., U.S.A. J. Summer Workshops for string teachers and amateur chamber music players. J 960 conferences were held at Colorado Springs, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Put-In-Bay, Ohio and Interlochen Michigan. 2. Publications. A newsletter STRING TALK is published four times each year. The Official Journal, AMERICAN STRING TEACHER is now published four times each WILLIAM REEVES Bookseller Ltd. year. Consideroble stock of Scorce Books ASTA has many other valuable publications available. on the Violin Fomily and Violin Making The AMERICAN STRING TEACHERS ASSOCIATION is only Books on Music in all its Branches $5.00 per year. If you are intere··ted in supporting the art of string playing ASTA is your organization. SEND FOR CATALOGUE Your ASTA contact is: Robert Klotman, Broadway, Akron, Ohio U.S.A. 1 a Norbury Crescent, H. 70 N. , London, S.W. 16, ENGLAND uke Violin Atake'l3 :JoWtnal MEETINGS HELD THE A Non-Profit Magazine Published ev ery six weeks SECOND SA TURDA Y by The Violin Makers Association of British Columbia OF EACH MONTH AT 4360 MAIN STREET. Opinions expressed and statements made in this paper are not necessarily those of the publishers; Editorials not necessarily those of the Association. Vol. 6 no. 3 CONTENTS APRIL-MAY, 1963 Page Present Day Violin Makers, the Rev. George R. Wright • • • . • . • . • . • . • . • • . • 3 The New Editor 6 Old Versus New. Contest, Arizona Journal 7 Cremona of the North and The Vertical Viola 8 Fiddle Fix .••••.•..•.••.•• 10 The Cello End Pin, by Harry Wake, and another 10 by Rev. George R. Wright . • . 13 An Experiment to Improve the Volume Output of the Violin, by C. Welstead 14 The Longitudinal Brace, by Harold Briggs 22 " Getting In The Act" , by Harry Wake 27 String Section, by Carmen White • 29 Reply to Enquiries, by C. Welstead 31 Wolf Notes, by the Editor • . • 35 If you do not receive your copy of the Violin Makers ]ouma] within reasonable time, please advise us. Notify us promptly of any change of address. For advertising space apply to the Editor. "T;,e Journal goes right into the Violin Makers Home" Our advertisers make the J ouma] possible. They have faith in us - Why not support them! L ithograp hed by Ape)� Printing, Vancouver, B. C., Canada. EDITORIAL PAGE OF Uhe Violin �ake'tj �Ulr.nal CLARENCE COOPER, EDITOR The Violin Makers Journal is distributed free to all "Active" Members and ''Associate'' Members. Active Membership is limited to British Columbia. Associate Membership is open to anyone interested in String Instruments. Associate Mem­ bership fee is $4. 00 per year. Back copies may be obtained. When paying by cheque please add 25¢ to cover exchange. Advertising rates may be procured from the editor. Published at Vancouver, B. C. Address all communications, and make all remittances payable to The Violin Makers Association of British Columbia, 4163 Sophia Street, Vancouver, B. C., Canada OffICERS EDITORIAL BOARD President - Ragnar Helin Editor - Clarence Cooper Vice -President - Peder Svindsay Chairman - Ragnar Helin Treasurer - G. R. Wright (Founder) Secretary - W. A. Gough Secretary - George Friess Members - G. R. Wright and P. Svindsay Recording Secretary - W. A. Gough Editor's Address - 1761 Pembroke Street, Publicity and Legal Adviser - C. Cooper Victoria, B. C. All manuscripts and articles should be sent direct to the Editor. EDITORIAL The Violin Makers Association, at their meeting held on March 9th in Vancouver, B. C., decided that the time had come to have an Editorial Board to publish the Joulllal. At this meeting the following were elected to the Board: C. Cooper, as Editor R. Helin, Chairman of the Board Alan Gough, Secretary P. Svindsay and Rev. George R. Wright, as Members. The Board reviewed the activities of the JOUllla 1 and considered the purposes of the J oUlll a1. The Board wishes to express its thanks to those who have so generously contributed articles, drawings, pictures and plans of violins for publica­ tion. They also wish to express their appreciation to those who support the Joulllal in the form of advertising and financial support. We also wish to ask the indulgence of our readers for our delays in not replying promptly to their letters. The death of our former Editor, Don White, caught us somewhat unawares and we were delayed in the publication and found it necessary to reorganize. We will also be delayed in supplying back numbers of the J oumal, particularly of the earlier issues. Most of these, unfortunately, are out of print and we propose to make a reprint. We, of course, will make an announcement in the Journal when these reprints are made so that our readers may then procure copies of them if they wish. Those members who have previously requested back numbers can gently remind us that their order was not filled. We are presently giving some thought to printing a yearly bound copy of the back issues. We also propose to prepare a comprehensive index by subjects and authors of all articles in the Journals to date. Both of these ambitious projects, particularly the latter, may be held up partly due to the financial situation. Our thinking on the matter of a comprehensive index is to enable our readers to have a useful source of information and at the same time be able to compare all the writin�s. The present day violin makers can contribute much to the Journal, and likewise can benefit from the ideas of other contributors on all the problems of violin making. We propose to keep the Journal as a logical medium in which such ideas 2 can be expounded and compared. At the same time, the Journal can serve as a Roster of our present-day makers and for those who contribute articles. The Journal will be a record of the expression of their thoughts and experiences in violin making. In this issue of the Journal, we have two very interesting articles on experiments in violin making. Mr. Harold Briggs recounts his experiences on his experiments with Longitudinal bars and Mr. Cid Welstead has produced numerous suggestions of modification of the central vibrating area of the top. These articles show a diverse interest in new dis­ coveries and our readers may wish to express their opinions on these matters. Mr. Welstead has also contributed some very learned and practical tips on varnish and Mr. Wake appropriately gives his discussion on varnishes in his article "Getting In The Act". It is pleasing to note that there is such modern thinking on varnishes and a common-sense approach is noted. As the result of Carleen Hutching's article in the "Scientific American" in which she suggests other viola sizes than those to which we have been accustomed, has created an interest in the vertical viola and the " tenorin". We have notes of one such instrument in the article by George Friess, together with Mrs. Sackrison's letter of appreciation at being able to find one in the "Cremona of the North". We wonder if our readers have had any experience with this other size of instrument and if they have developed any working drawings which might be available. We would like to hear from those who have tried different sized instruments and receive articles from them with their impressions and drawings. It may be that our readers are not too interested in the above mentioned instruments, but would like to have articles on other good violin makers and drawings of the instruments of these makers. For example, we do not hear much about the instruments of the Venetian School, such as Montagana, De Conte, and others. We would be interested in knowing if drawings of some of these other makers are available, and if our readers can obtain them. In this way the whole scheme of violin making can be broadened and we would then have a better basis of comparison. We hope our readers can help us here. Our Editorial Board looks forward to publishing a Journal which our readers can enjoy and at the same time feel that they have a useful document in their hands to which they may refer from time to time in solving their violin making problems. We trust that our readers will propound their problems so that we may publish them in the Journal, so that all may benefit in their replies.
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