The Story on Aluminum Violins, Violas and Cellos

 

Here’s to thinking outside of the (string peg) box. But from a 21^st century perspective, covering the aluminum with faux wood was a poor aesthetic choice.

 

Perhaps one of the more curious aspects of musical expression is the unfettered creativity of instrument makers. It began with plucking strings stretched across the hard shell of gourds that, arguably, led to Stradivarius violins and electric guitars.

 

So it was a natural part of violin construction that in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries a number of instrument manufacturers turned to aluminum to replace wood in violins, violas, cellos and string basses. It’s fair to note the material never went beyond a niche following, never adopted by the great virtuosos, and never achieved great value (from a recent check on eBay the highest price found was $5,000 for each of two in a collection). Furthermore, the renowned violin makers crafting fine stringed instruments stuck to crafting them from wood in their storied violin shops.

 

The first American patent for aluminum violins was issued in 1891 to Alfred Springer in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was made by machine, using aluminum for the body but wood for the neck and fittings. Other companies (operating around the same time, evidently without patents) made aluminum violins, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, banjos and zithers: they were the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA, distributed by the Aluminum Musical Instrument Company), C.W. Hutchins Manufacturing Company, Barrows Music Company, and luthier (handmade violinmaker) Edgar l’Allemand of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  This was all at the same time that aluminum horns as amplification devices were attached to “phonofiddles,” making the violin an imitation of the newly devised and wildly popular Victrola phonographs.

 

Of course, there was a difference in the sound quality – wood and aluminum vibrate differently – so what was the motivation for using aluminum? Getting beyond creative experimentation, it had to do with resiliency and eventually, cost. The delicate nature of wood, its temperamental reaction to humidity, and maintenance were initial considerations. Later, during the economic disruptions of world war and the Great Depression, wood was in shorter supply. For a time it was considered supporting the war effort to forgo wood for aluminum, the latter of which is plentiful in nature.

 

Cellos, violas and the double basses were also made of aluminum. In fact, the use of the metallic material in these instruments was particularly advantageous because larger instruments otherwise required more wood.

 

Many of the earlier models had a faux-wood surface applied to them to give them the appearance of being made of wood. This ersatz treatment gives testimony to the fact that the makers and players wanted to use real wood instruments. In more modern applications, the high gloss shine of metal fits a punk (or steampunk) aesthetic that takes, intentionally, the instrument and its music far away from a Bartok violin concerto.

 

Some of the 1930s aluminum violins also incorporated Bakelite, the miracle synthetic of that era that was exceptionally popular in household items and industrial applications. Again, kudos to the creativity of musical instrument makers who look past tradition to identify new ways to make old things. Aluminum might have been the material choice 100 years ago – and there’s no telling what it will be 100 years from now.

Francois Tourte: Inventor of the Modern Bow

 

While considered subservient to the violin, the bow rose to much greater importance in the confluence of Tourte, skilled violinists, and the French Revolution.

 

Frenchman Francois Tourte is widely credited with inventing the modern violin bow, in almost universal use today by violinists of all levels of ability. But given he worked about 200 years ago (he lived from 1747 till 1835) – while fine stringed instruments existed before that, including those of the master Stradivarius, who produced his violins, cellos, and bass instruments in the 17^th and 18^th centuries – it begs the question: what came before the Tourte bows?

 

It turns out there were different versions of bows, largely used for different styles of music. According to a scholarly article on Prism/Scholarslab, a crowdsourcing interpretation website for educators, a shorter version bow (considered French) was used for dances and other social events; this style had short musical phrasing, therefore the bow was made for that. Italians preferred a longer bow fit for longer melodic lines, such as you might hear in a sonata; the Italian composers’ sonata da chiesa genre, with largo preludes and an allegro finale, would be a good application of the longer Italian bow.

 

Tourte standardized the length of the bow, to 74 to 75 centimeters. But the changes he brought about did not end there. He used more wood in the tip, a heavier frog for balance, and he introduced the spreader block. This latter innovation creates a flat ribbon with the bow hair. The screw and the end of the bow moderates the hair tension.

 

Another Tourte innovation was to use Brazilian pernambuco wood. This type of wood, when exposed to heat, can be bent to the optimal shape for bowing a stringed instrument. Previous bows where made by carving wood to the shape rather than a bent-wood process. And the Tourte bow was bent in the opposite direction than its predecessors, a concave dip that tightens and extends when pressed downward.

 

To be fair, it is believed that Tourte was coalescing various bow components seen in the works of other luthiers and archetiers (bow makers) at the time. But from a musical point of view, he opened up a whole new world for players. Today fine stringed instrument bows crafted by Tourte himself can be found for sale at higher-end violin shops.

 

An historical anecdote (i.e., not confirmed with scholarly evidence) is that the famed late 18^th century violinist, G.B. Viotti was friendly with Tourte. Viotti’s playing reportedly placed demands on the bow that only a Tourte bow could deliver.

 

Another historical footnote, which might explain why the Tourte bow achieved universal popularity: The French Revolution of 1789 dissolved the courts of the French aristocracy. Having lost their patrons, the violinists of the day fled the country and went on tour to earn a living. Composers that included Beethoven saw those performers and began writing music for violinists who had a broader range – all thanks to the Tourte bow.