I Want to Know More About My Violin

There are a lot of violins that have been handed down from generation to generation. They don’t seem to come with a lot of information about who made them or how they were made. You know there is some history as the violin is antique, but what are the stories? There is usually a little engraving or a stamp or label on the inside of the violin. When you put that into any search engine you get little or no information. Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with what you typed into the search engine. It is only that there are a few realities about antique violins that you need to come to grips with.

First, is that since the time of Antonio Stradivari there have been millions of luthiers (makers of stringed instruments). There are very few famous ones and a few more obscurely famous ones. Then, there is the multitude that has fallen into oblivion. The quality of their violins was such that there was no impetus for anyone to track them. There is just not enough demand to make it worthwhile tracking someone who built 500 nice instruments over a lifetime. Most of them knew that even when they constructed their instruments.

Marketing for luthiers is a challenge now as it was then. The most common way to give credibility to instruments was to make copies of the masters. So, there are a lot of Stradivarius, Amati and Maggini copies. These were the antique versions of knockoffs. The quality of these knockoffs depends on the talent and skills of the copier. Some copies of the masters are quite famous and draw 6 figure prices. Most are mediocre to good and their value depends on the quality of the wood used and the construction techniques used in making the violin. That resonates in the sound, which is the core of the value of any instrument.

A second major theme in the history of violins is that the major production center for violins has moved around the globe, over the centuries. In the golden age of Stradivari, the center of the violin universe was Cremona Italy. That is why there is a reference to Cremona in so many violins. Violins were handmade in small shops and cottage factories. In the late 1800s and well into the 20th century, Germany was a hotbed of violin making. There was a plentiful supply of high quality maple and spruce wood that you can see in the violins made in that era. The method of manufacture ranged from moonlighting luthiers to full time one man manufacture to cottage factories, to the full blown assembly line factories that evolved with the industrial revolution. Other countries in Europe had a violin industry, so there are French, Czech and Italian violins made in that era.

Early in the 20th century, Nippon, as Japan was known at that time, made the move into violin manufacture. The distinguishing characteristics of these violins is that many are made with European wood and they have "Made in Nippon" stamped inside of them. They evolved into using local wood and you can clearly see the difference in the grain of the maple and spruce. Luthiers from Germany emigrated and so you have a few notable violins made in America and other parts of the world. The latest hotbed of violin manufacture is, of course, in China, at this time.

So, what I am trying to say in conclusion, is that you may not know exactly what you have. You will not find the exact information about the name that is inside of your violin. However, there is enough evidence in the wood and the building techniques that a qualified present-day luthier should be able to tell you where, when and how well your violin was made. The bottom line on the value is how it sounds and that is directly dependent on these criteria.

What is a luthier?
This may help you find the luthier you may need after reading this article.