Violin
Maker
Kurt Oswald Meisel
Date1965
Place MadeOwatonna, Minnesota, United States, North America
Serial No.40
SignedPrinted in brown ink on light brown paper label with visibly lined texture and wavy-line border, the location, date and serial number written in black ink: [bird on branch] Kurt O. Meisel [KOM monogram] / Violin maker and repairer / from Klingenthal, Germany [signed “Kurt Meisel” in blue ball point pen diagonally over all previous text] / Owatonna / Minn. 1965 No.40Branded on inside of back visible through treble f-hole, and in front of top and bottom blocks: K.O.MEISEL / OWATONNA/MINN.
Branded on inside of top in front of top and bottom blocks: K.O.MEISEL / OWATONNA/MINN.
Written on inside of top, upper treble bout, in black ink: Kurt Meisel / No.: 40 1965
Branded on bridge, toward fingerboard: K.O.MEISEL
Branded on bridge, toward tailpiece: OWATONNA/MINN.
Markingsnone
DescriptionKurt Oswald Meisel (1903-1995)
This is the last violin made by Kurt Oswald Meisel. The bird on the label represents the family branch, known as the “Bird” Meisels.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine grain; from Schwarzberg in the Vogtland, according to Lothar Meisel (7/7/03)
Back: one-piece, quarter-cut maple: broad curl ascending from treble to bass; from the Carpathian Mountains, according to Lothar Meisel (7/7/03)
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: broad curl, angled to left; lower rib divided by two strips of purfling; rib corners chamfered
Head and neck: maple: medium curl; inside of pegbox stained black
Edging: full, rounded edges
Purfling: wide center strip
Varnish: light orange-brown
Fingerboard: ebony
Nut: ebony
Tailpiece: ebony; engraved red-gold lyre inlaid in face; tulip-shaped
Tailgut: black plastic
Pegs: four rosewood with ivory pins; undercut heads; later, fitted by Lothar Meisel, made by Emil Lorenz, Bubenreuth, originally from Schönbach
Saddle: ebony
Endpin: rosewood with ivory pin; later, fitted by Lothar Meisel, made by Emil Lorenz, Bubenreuth, originally from Schönbach
F-holes: lower wings slightly channeled; inside edges stained black
Linings: spruce; wide
Corner blocks: spruce
DimensionsTotal violin length: 591 mm
Back length: 355 mm
Upper bout width: 168 mm
Center bout width: 110 mm
Lower bout width: 207 mm
Upper rib height: 29-30 mm
Center rib height: 29-30 mm
Lower rib height: 29-31 mm
Stop length: 195 mm
Vibrating string length: 327 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 132 mm
Published ReferencesThomas James Wenberg, Violin and Bow Makers of Minnesota (St. Paul: The Schubert Club Museum, 1988), pp. 64-65.
Prod. Julie Kucaj. “Lothar Meisel,” Arts & Minds. Bravo! News Style Arts Channel, Toronto, 30-31 Jan. 2003.
K. Lothar Meisel with Betty Vos. The Meisel Family Violin Makers: Klingenthal, Vogtland, Saxony (Ely, Minnesota: Singing River Publications, Inc., 2007), pp. 180-183.
Credit LineGift of Kurt Lothar and Patricia A. Meisel, 1998
Object number06145
On View
On view
