On 2 Sep 2006 at 15:44, Chuck Israels wrote: > On Sep 2, 2006, at 2:40 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > > On 16 Aug 2006 at 22:18, Johannes Gebauer wrote: > > > >> As to the difference of fiddler and violinist > > > > I'm not sure why this message from the middle of August just came > > through, but it gives me the opportunity to follow up on the > > fiddle/violin conversation. > > > > I was home visiting family last weekend, and my mother showed me her > > great grandfather's fiddle, which she had found in the attic of my > > grnadmother's house after she passed away. It was a cheap thing, > > probably from Montgomery Ward or Sears, but the fingerboard showed > > exactly what Kim had said -- only the first two or three positions > > had ever been used, as the rest of the fingerboard was uniformly > > black and the first few positions were worn through (with non-worn > > strips under the strings). > > > > So, it seems that what Kim had observed on the fiddle he was looking > > at must have been pretty common, despite the protestations of many > > on this list to the contrary. > > This would be more apparent on less expensive instruments. Good > Ebony can be worn away, but it takes a lot longer, and inexpensive > instruments often have softer wood fingerboards - Rosewood (which > is pretty hard, but not as hard as good Ebony) or, in the worst > cases, Maple that has been stained black.
Well, this was the cheapest possible instrument, and the fingerboard was clearly wood that had been stained black and the stain had worn off. My bet is that the majority of fiddlers out there are playing on instruments that aren't made with the finest materials. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
