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.
Traces of a Cremonese Saddle
