Violin Forum/Message Board

Mat Roop · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:34 pm Post subject: neck types

From the last thread I was looking at the pics of the oldest violins eg.. lot 273 Guarneri 1655 and Lot 275 Stradivari 1699.
http://tarisio.com/auctions/auction/lot/?csid=2198159360&cpid=2828861440&filter_key=6411603f8e24a988cd6f425293595de1
These have what appear to be regular dovetail neck sets... I was under the impression that anything prior to the mid late 1700's were originally of the thru neck type.
Am I correct to assume these have had the necks replaced with a modern style including new neck blocks?
Cheers, Mat

FiddleDoug · Member Joined: 08 Sep 2007 Posts: 227 Location: Hilton, NY

Strad, Amati, and others of the era used a glued and nailed on neck. The upper ribs were one piece, with a block on the inside. The neck was glued to the outside of the ribs, and nails were driven through the block and ribs, into the neck. This was done before the violin was closed.
The "modern", neck set was done when the neck type was modernized, after the mid 1700's or so.
The through neck is another "school".
_________________
Doug Wall

www.wallindependent.com