[Dixielandjazz] Fiddle-Horn

[Bill Gunter]

Regarding the Stroh violin, listmate Ittzas Tomas over in Hungarly plays one 
with his ragtime band. He also plays a normal violin and great ragtime 
piano.

It's amazing how much volume that Stroh fiddle can produce!

Cheers,

Bill Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com


>From: <jobriant at sunrisetelecom.com>
>To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Fiddle-Horn
>Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 11:13:47 -0800
>
>Roy (Bud) Taylor wrote:
>
> > [At] ... to the Rochester Philharmonic Holiday Concert
> > ... the annual visit by Santa Claus was set up this
> > year because "he always wanted to play with an orchestra".
> > ... After some small talk, he pulled his instrument out
> > of the pack on his back and proceeded to play a jazzy
> > Stephan Grappelli version of "Santa Claus is Coming To
> > Town".  [The violin] ... had the expected neck and
> > bridge assembly, but was amplified not by a wooden
> > body, but a brass neck that hooked up from the bottom
> > of the strings aiming up at a 45 degree angle away
> > from the player and bell that looked like it could
> > have been from an old alto horn.
>
>Sounds like a Stroh-Violin to me.
>
>However, according to pictures on a manufacturer's website and at
>Wikipedia, the Stroh-Violin had the bell but not the traditional
>sound-box of a wooden violin. See:
>
>http://www.strohviolin.com/
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroh_violin
>
>http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=46
>
> > ... Could this have been an instrument from the early
> > days of acoustic recordings when sound level was a
> > premium, ...
>
>Precisely.
>
> > ... or just a construction thrown together by Santa's elves?
>
>Since a true Stroh Violin doesn't have the violin shaped sound box and
>Santa's fiddle did, it may have been a "home-made" version, made by
>highly skilled elves who live at the North Pole, or course.
>
>Jim O'Briant
>Tuba
>Gilroy, CA
>
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