Conor Russell

A violin came in today to have the fingerboard put back on.

The varnish is a slightly faded looking yellow, slightly insipid, and looking as though it probably started life with a bit more colour. the purflings are painted on, not quite so neatly as some English fiddles The head is wonderful, nicely cut, with the pegbox sides hollowed all the way down , around the chin, up the other side and on into the scroll.

I have another by the same maker, the head very similar, but the body very much more crudely made - perhaps an earlier attempt.

The necks are set on the ribs, and a large screw driven down through the neck face to secure them.

I'll take some better photos of them tomorrow.

Does anyone recognise the maker?

PS. More of those boxwood pegs that someone mentioned on a recent thread.

I got this at a local flea market, and having cleaned it with the usual wire brush and detol, found that it still had some bits of strings on the pegs. they seem to be steel. Anyone know were they been sympathetic strings, and what bridge and endpin arangement might be expected? The whole thing is one piece of wood and the tail end is missing.

Some very big wings on this cello back, and the joints made at an angle. The edges are very good, lovely fine purflings set well in, giving a strong well rounded border.

I have a nice violin here, very well made, and I'm not sure where it was made, or by whom.

The head is probably wrong, although the neck is original. I'd like to give it back a more appropriate head, if the one it has now is too far off the mark, and I'd appreciate your thoughts.

The fiddle is beautifully crafted, lovely purflings and edgework, very good archings, and especially well cut f holes, showing really great fluency with the knife.

The blocks are of willow, and the upper and lower ribs lap the C bouts.

Thanks for your help.

Conor

I have come across so many old Irish violins, often unaltered, more or less as they came from the maker, but I have yet to see one with the bow that would have been bought with it. The bows all seem to have been lost, and I'd love to know what bows Perry, for example, sold with his instruments. The bows that I see here from that period are usually English, and I have never been able to match one to a particular violin or cello.

I often wonder what bows came with the London trade violins, and the Germans and so on.

If anyone has seen bows and violins that belong together, from any school, I think it would be very interesting to see them - not just the fancy ones, but the ordinary too. 

Many thanks,

Conor Russell