It is true, that every piece of wood over which strings have been stretched will sound, and every such instrument will have its admirers. There are, however, dilettanti violin makers whose self-conceit and boldness is simply astonishing. The professional will understand this, for if a self-conceited man could see clearly and look into the matter, he would be astonished at his workmanship, as I was once myself.
As dilettanti usually lack that practice which is peculiar to the regular violin makers, they very often experiment in all kinds of machines by which they expect to lighten manual labor; their object, however, is mostly reached in a very roundabout manner, although they believe to have made an improvement, and this improvement they announce to the public as a great success. As most of their patrons have no knowledge of the matter, such a dilettante appears to them as an extraordinary genius. This supposition would perhaps not be disputed if it did not take considerably more time to execute with their machines a certain amount of work than the practical workman requires simply by the dexterity of his hand.
A dilettante violin maker can never be a thorough workman, and is entitled to be considered only as a "jack-of-all-trades;" he has a great many kinds of tools which the regular violin maker never uses.
Many dilettanti are presumptuous enough to believe themselves further advanced in theoretical knowledge concerning tone than the most experienced violin maker of the present day. Some of them ask, in consequence, a great deal higher price for a violin of their own make than does any regular violin maker for his. But it seems to me that such persons are often only the tools of Ole Bull, a once celebrated violinist with extravagant ideas, who misled them. They, however, believe to have learned from him the true secret of the art of violin making. He also tried to persuade them into the belief that when new violins sound well and are serviceable for concerts they are made of chemically prepared wood. If such pretended wise man would have some knowledge of wood, he ought to be able to distinguish wood which is chemically prepared and that which is not! About this point I have already sufficiently explained my opinion.
To give the wood the old natural color which is peculiar to the Italian violins, in a great measure depends on the material used, for not every wood intended for violin making has the necessary qualifications. Violins made from such selected wood are therefore especially valuable.
It cannot now appear strange that the general public has so little knowledge in the judging of violins, when a world renowned violinist like Ole Bull shows such ignorance. Here in America the latter preferred the company of dilettanti violin makers, for the reason that they were generally willing to listen to his ideas, and some of them have studied now so much that they cannot see any clearer nor hear any better.
Dilettanti violin makers form a peculiar class of violin makers in America; and they seem to be born for the sphere of such knowledge as is here shining forth. Their patrons write articles for them in which they try to instruct the public by their ignorance, as we find, for instance, in the Philadelphia Times, of August 30th, 1879: "Gemünder refuses to state the source of supply for his wood, and it is a well-known fact that he and others use at times chemical preparations for the purpose of changing the character and the appearance of their wood."
The writer of this notice made a statement without any foundation. Had he and his train a proper knowledge of the matter, they would be able to perceive that the material of my violins is not chemically prepared and the character of the wood has not undergone any change whatever. It is presumptuous in ignorant persons to make such statements against a man of long experience, for the purpose of bringing his productions into discredit; productions which are proofs in themselves that not a single violin can come into the condition of those manufactured of chemically prepared wood, as those of Vuilliaume in Paris. But such individuals manifest not only a prejudice against a better understanding, but also are impertinent, from which stupidity and meanness emanate; and thus they unmask themselves as false experts.
The cause for this assertion will have to be found, and for the disbeliever there is no other ground in the advantages I have gained by my studies, which to them seem impossible; and as the Italian violins are generally acknowledged the only good instruments, they try almost anything to oppose what has proven itself so gloriously, rather than acknowledge it as a fact.
Truth, however, can never be overruled, and the time will come which will impose silence on such individuals! Since mankind inhabits the earth their characters are as different as we find different plants. Many a flower is not fragrant, and how many stately and celebrated men are heartless! Those, therefore, who are void of generosity are able to do evil. Those classes who are as it were idle weeds, for the kinds are both useful and hurtful to men; all that nature produces has a meaning. If we could fathom all the secrets of nature we would also be able to understand the meaning of them, and idle weeds could be less hurtful. But in nature there lies a wisdom which remains a secret to mortal man.