RIN:41 The E.N.D Process

Have you been "taken?" Consider the words of an internationally esteemed authority, Mr. Recco Luppino, ASA, FVC:

2. You may look at a Stradivari, a Guarneri, a Bergonzi, a Gagliano, a Landolfi, or any violin which appears to be perfect on the exterior and it can turn out to be a ruined instrument. This is due to fine violins and other instruments of the violin family getting into the hands of amateur players and amateur violin makers who opened up the instruments and reduced the thicknesses of the graduations -- thinking that they were improving the instruments -- and, as a result, ruined them. A violin, undergraduated, loses its carrying power and is, therefore, not suited for large concert halls. If the amount of wood removed is replaced by gluing a piece of veneer to build it up again, then the veneer robs the instrument of a large amount of its natural vibrations and it becomes even worse. Many of the ruined instruments (even though they are documented to be the work of Stradivari and other famous makers) are sold on the market for the price of one that has not been tampered with, made by the same maker. This happened to me in my early days as a student of the violin, and it wasn't until I gained more knowledge later in life that I discovered that I had been "taken." This is also part of the answer as to why some of these famous violins are lower in value than others by the same maker. Many dishonest dealers will withhold information of this sort to promote a sale. In addition to graduations being tampered with, cracks in a violin in certain areas will downgrade the instruments. For example, a crack over the sound post will have serious effects on the tone.

3.. Also, cracks over the bass bar and cracks on the back of the violin will affect the tone. The value placed on a damaged violin by a qualified appraiser is in accordance with the amount of damage done to the instrument. Cracks outside of the danger area are not considered nearly as serious as damage done to the graduations of a fine violin which, in many cases, makes it worthless -- even though the maker was famous (emphasis added.)

Technical Aspect of Original Graduation
8. An instrument's original maker -- aware of the architectonic laws governing his work -- determines the optimal graduated thicknesses for the top, back, and sides of the violin. These graduated thickness patterns produce highly individual instruments, each one having its own unique, idiomatic tonal character and coloration -- as well as its distinctive amplitude of sound which complements both particular playing needs and the surroundings in which the instrument is played.

Artistic Aspect of Original Graduation
9. The original graduation patterns and thicknesses demonstrate a violin maker's mastery of the physical laws governing the functions of the violin -- the extent of his knowledge, skill, and art.

Collectability: The Final Aspect of Original Graduation
10. The original graduation patterns and the thicknesses of the top, back, and ribs are "essential original parts" of a violin. They play a critical role in establishing the instrument's physical condition and its relative collector's value.

Technical Aspect of Re-graduation
11. Re-graduation or periodic re-thinning of the wood of the top, back, and ribs is the unethical, irreversible, methodic, and highly questionable practice -- mostly secret -- by which one destroys "essential original parts." It can be used on new instruments. Primarily however, it is inflicted upon old, antique, master-made violins.

12. What is the purpose of this abominable practice? Why would anyone so vandalize and weaken, in their very substance, violins already fatigued by age? The immediate effect is to cause the wood of the top, back, and ribs -- now almost paper thin -- to vibrate with greater intensity. In other words, this short-cut, irreversible procedure produces -- but only temporarily! -- more tone and added carrying power. Generally, of course, this illusory "improvement" lasts just long enough for the instrument to be sold to a trusting, unsuspecting, and innocent player.

13. Naturally enough, the new owner wants to play the instrument. This is obviously a physical process. It involves pressure, pulling, and vibrations -- all now coming to bear upon an instrument severely weakened because of the diminished substance of its wood. The progressive, irreversible strain -- a consequence of re-graduation -- can become apparent in one or more of the following ways:

Deforming of the arching of the top, both in front of and behind the position of the bridge.
Flattening of the arching on the bass bar side of the top.
Bulging of the arching on the back, at the location of the soundpost.
Flattening of the arching of the back, bulging of the arching of the top, and corresponding dropping of the neck and fingerboard angle toward the top.
Needing constantly to keep a folded cardboard wedge between the fingerboard and the top of the violin, whenever the violin is not being played.
Diminishing responsiveness and lack of balanced tone production.
Increasing propensity to develop cracks (especially bass bar and soundpost cracks.)

14. Needing constant tonal adjustments of the soundpost and bridge (as a result of the thinned-out wood's greater susceptibility to climactic changes such as increased or decreased humidity.)

Artistic Aspect of re-graduation
15. The irreversible process of regraduating any instrument's original thicknesses will, inevitably, diminish and obscure one's perception of the violin maker's artistry -- the tonal powers he conferred upon his instrument. To a connoisseur of fine violins, re-graduation devalues the instrument artistically to an exceptional degree, -- just as would removal of the original varnish, restyling of F-holes, or acidic and other chemical treatments of the porous interior wood fibers.

Collectability: The Final Aspect of re-graduation
16. When purchasing instruments privately or at auction, discriminating dealers and collectors evaluate fine antique (as well as new) master violins by two primary criteria: authenticity and physical condition. Physical damage inflicted upon the original graduations can depreciate the collector's value of a violin by as much as 75 percent. In some cases, indeed, such damage makes the violin worthless -- even though the authenticated maker was famous!

17. Here, the central distinction may be stated simply. It is a contrast between professional violinmakers and restorers and musicians and amateur violinmakers who also sell violins.

18. True violinmakers and restorers of violins render services implied by their professional designation. They exercise to the greatest degree their skill, their art, their learning, and their integrity -- and they do so in the service of others, for the benefit of those who entrust "objects of art" into their custodial care. Conservation and restoration, performed by those advertising genuine professional competence, consist in arresting decay. And, to put the point quite directly, arresting decay has nothing at all to do with the process of accelerating decay. It has absolutely nothing to do with the dubious practice known as re-graduation, the irreversible process of Enhanced Natural Decay or E.N.D.

19. True violinmakers and restorers of violins both observe and are guided in their practice by an ancient code, one handed down through generations of Guild Masters. This creed (I summarize its essence in my own words) proudly proclaims,

That, as heirs to the skills and body of knowledge developed and perfected by generations of Masters of the Craft, and as custodians of violins created by other makers, living or dead, members of the profession of VIOLINMAKERS AND RESTORERS do NOT impose their own artistic values on instruments created by other makers, but undertake to preserve and restore these works as originally made and intended by the maker.

20. And, a similar code of ethics, the guiding document of the foremost body of professional violinmakers and restorers in the U.S.A., amplifies the meaning of the above proclamation. Under "Principles of Professional Conduct" it is commanded that "a Member of the Federation will always be mindful of the physical integrity of instruments and bows. He will at all times be guided by the 'Principle of Reversibility' in the (work of) conservation and restoration." (Section III-e.) Moreover -- and the point is of exceptional importance, since it takes us to the very heart of true professionalism -- Section VI charges members with the obligation to "expose without fear, incompetent or corrupt, dishonest or unethical conduct on the part of members of the profession."

21. Now a dramatic action comes to a head. As it makes its entrance, we see -- with terrible and terrifying clarity -- "The Final Solution, Chicago Style."

22. In stark contrast to true Restorers and Violinmakers-Dealers -- and governed neither by any "Principle of Reversibility" nor by other honorable professional standards and ethics -- a special figure stands forth. We encounter a "Brave New World" purveyor of violins, the Musician-Dealer.

23. By its very character, Chicago, U.S.A., is second to none in providing the social, cultural, and business environment for the germination and wild proliferation of Musicians-Dealers. Perhaps the most illuminating examples of this expansive "Chicago Strain" are: Lyon & Healy, old Wm. Lewis & Son, Kagan & Gaines, Kenneth Warren & Son -- and other newcomers. Encamped on the swampy banks of the Chicago River, Musician-Dealers are perpetuating the City of Chicago's legendary Standing -- Replacing the slaughter of the Chicago Stockyards with the re-graduation of priceless instruments -- as "butcher to the nation."

24. Butchered wholesale are multimillion of dollars worth of instruments. Violins -- from the most exquisite to the more humble and common (yet each a representative of human ingenuity at one height of complexity and creative productivity) -- come to Chicago. They come to Chicago from the ends of the earth -- only to be emasculated and hastened on to a premature demise. In hidden chambers and workshops, these instruments are physically depreciated by the systematic, irreversible process of re-graduation. They are primed to perform their "last debut," yes, their "swan song" -- to perform (and only a sad performance can be imagined) in Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Berlin. They are primed for an aborted future.

25. Whereas most Musicians-Dealers discreetly disguise their degraded and degrading practices (under cover of metaphors such as "Acoustical Refinement," "Acoustical Adjustments," and "Acoustical Tone Improvements,") many newcomers lack this coyness. Presumptuously, without qualms or fear, they advertise and teach to their goose-stepping, neophyte followers the methodic, irreversible process of re-graduation. What is more, their teaching presents this process as "state of the art "Their shop manual describes in detail the procedure and measurements for regraduating the backs, tops, and ribs of instruments. Too, it explains how to remove identification labels -- and when and how to replace them. It even details the process for camouflaging their deeds of debasement, the way in which "backs (of instruments) may be colored with coffee and dry earth color (,) to get rid of whiteness." (This whiteness is the result of having removed surface wood through the irreversible process of re-graduation.)

26. Are these barbaric practices proliferating among Musicians-Dealers and Amateur Violinmakers? The answer seems to be an unqualified Yes! Lack of public knowledge -- and even the misguided, symbiotic support of some instrument teachers -- is causing a marked increase in this perverse practice of selling high-priced, certified violins which are often (to recall Mr. Luppino's authoritative judgment) worthless.

27. With a few notable exceptions -- the exception being those who remember and return to their noble professional training as true restorers -- the majority of those who have worked in the shops of Chicago's Musicians-Dealers continue, now in their own workshops, the practices we have been describing. The practices may be carried through in sophomoric fashion, with less elegance than their original employers routinely display, but these practices are still destructive -- the depreciating practice of re-graduation.

28. So, for a final time, we return to our central question: Have YOU been "taken?"

29. There is indeed a possibility. If your instrument was bought -- either privately, at auction, or from a Musician-Dealer -- the chances are high. Even Musician-Dealer "Certificates of Authenticity," certificates accompanying these instruments, take on the appearance of "Death Certificates" -- especially to the eye of a discriminating expert. And pictorial sales brochures look, to the same kind of viewer, very much like the obituary pages of The New York Times; they appear, and are read, as lists of famous "has beens."

30. On the positive side, part of the answer to our question -- Have you been "taken?" -- lies in possession of a genuine expert's "Certificate of Authenticity;" it is a kind of "passport" identifying the maker of the instrument or bow. Most important for assessing possible re-graduations and other physical depreciations, is a "Certificate of Condition;" it is much like a health certificate, and is the only reliable link for establishing the true potential of your instrument as an investment.

31. This series' purpose is, as originally announced, double. It seeks to increase readers' understanding and to provide practical information.

32. In conclusion, may I therefore suggest -- to any who may be in doubt regarding the physical condition of their instrument(s) -- that they consult a violin maker or restorer whose services and work are governed by the "Principle of Reversibility" outlined in the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, Inc.'s "Professional Code of Ethics." Any such maker-restorer will be able, without great difficulty, to assist you. He will know how to determine whether, or to what extent, your instrument may have been depreciated through re-graduation. And, certainly, all who seek valid "Certificates of Condition" (and other attestations and/or appraisals) should feel free to contact us for information.

RIN:041	homepage: www.fritz-reuter.com	.
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