The Violin
From the Preface:
This book is designed for beginners, learners and lovers of the violin and violinmaking. An experienced master maker might also find something of interest.
The intent is to explain the most important details of classical violinmaking and the changes that have occurred in the instruments and the craft over the centuries. In particular, this book shows the way instruments have been and are still being made in Mittenwald, Germany, one of the oldest centers, where violins have been made for about 320 years. The term "violin" is used as a synonym for the classical bowed instruments.
The historical part of this book provides basic information on the history and development of stringed instruments. It does not claim to provide an exhaustive historical account. However, it is important for beginners to learn something about the history behind the various procedures in violinmaking; this knowledge and understanding will help also in instrument repairs and restorations.
It is fair to ask why I have written a book devoted to the history and construction of the violin family of instruments, and more to the point, why you should read it. After all, for more than a century many books of this type have provided readers and builders alike with tales of the early makers and details of violin construction. I have examined dozens of these books, and I believe I can present a fresh perspective and a more integrated approach.
A teacher learns from his students. I have been fortunate to have spent much of my life in the teaching of violin construction. As a master at the State School of Violin Making in Mittenwald, and later as director of the school, I heard students ask again and again why not build using methods of construction that seem to be faster or easier. In addition to my work at Mittenwald, I have been the master instructor in violin building at the University of New Hampshire’s Violin Craftsmanship Institute for 5 to 9 weeks each summer since 1973. The students in this program ranged from complete beginners to experienced professional makers, yet the questions have always been the same as those asked in Germany. These students had read the same books I read, but perhaps did not gather from them the relationship that forms a necessary link between the historical development of the instrument and today’s construction techniques. They had not grasped that the merger of the elements in the building process is neither arbitrary nor casual. These elements are rooted in the work of the original architects of violin construction and their search for both an acoustic and artistic ideal. The experiments of the great makers of the 17th and 18th centuries resulted in the finest instruments known to the world, even today.
Can science replace practical experience in the arts and crafts? No, it can just complete or supplement, stimulate, prove, confirm, and underpin. For a beginner, it is most important to realize that 50% of the basic training in violin making, as in the visual arts, is the training of the eyes. Therefore, it is not my intention to go into the acoustics and physics of violins. This is not to exclude further development, but new ideas must be based on a full understanding, through discussion and building experience, of precisely why the early masters succeeded as they did. This book will point to the linkage that joins past and current technique. It will speak to wood selection, construction, varnish and set-up. The historical details provide paths from then to now. This book will help to guide you on the journey from past to present.
K. Roy
Mittenwald, Germany
Barrington NH, USA