In Cremona, the early makers glued the saddle onto the surface of the rib, extending it directly upwards through the top. These saddles are all gone, but once in a while, as on this beautiful Carlo Bergonzi violin, one gets to see the shadow of what originally was there, in the form of the cut-line arc coming down from under the left end of the present saddle. There’s also a faint trace of the mirroring line on the other side, not too easy to see.
Old Pegs
A friend pulled these out of an old violin, and knowing I was interested in this kind of stuff, sent them to me. They’re violin pegs that probably predate 1800, and are maybe as old as 1750. (Notice that one peg doesn’t match–a later replacement, probably.) Eric Meyer, a great fittings maker on the west coast, tells me that they’re probably French, and, based on the number of them that he’s seen (that is: many), they were probably being commercially produced and distributed.
A Really Baroque Bridge
I hope the friend who created this drawing of a very grumpy prototype of a baroque bridge will not mind if I share it with you:
