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Clog violin

Alternate name:Violin
Date: 1975 ca.
Place Made:Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, North America
Serial No: none
Signednone
MarkingsWritten in ballpoint pen on masking tape affixed to back (bottom of shoe): [in circle] 16 [this number is the shoe size, according to ABL, 9/2/85]
DescriptionThis size 16, Dutch wooden clog (shoe) was given to Arne B. Larson around 1975 by the Orange City High School Marching Band (Orange City, IA) after Arne gave a lecture demonstration of some of his instruments at that school. This marked a challenge by the Band, which, incidentally, march in these shoes in the Tulip Festival parade, to see if Arne could really make a musical instrument out of a shoe--apparently, Arne said he could do so! And, several years later, he finally did!

Body made from Dutch clog
Top: one-piece spruce cut off-the-quarter: wide grain
Back and ribs: poplar or willow Dutch clog, the pointed end facing the player; black wooden dowel through center treble side, probably to fill hole
Head and neck: maple: plain; rounded back neck heel edge; inside of pegbox stained black; from Markneukirchen or Schönbach (Luby) commercial violin
Arching: none
Edging: top edge tapered to continue shape of clog
Purfling: none
Varnish: dark red brown
Fingerboard: varnished mahogany
Nut: white plastic
Tailpiece: black-stained pearwood; ebony eye; beveled lower end; ca. 1800-1850
Tailgut: red gut; passes through two holes drilled in face
Pegs: two ebony with mother-of-pearl eyes; one black-stained pearwood with mother-of-pearl eye; one rosewood with mother-of-pearl eye
Saddle: none
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye set into raised center; small head
Bridge: slab-cut maple; oval heart; round kidneys not cut to edge; tall feet not flared
F-holes: lozenge-shaped; inside edges lined in ivory
Linings: none
Corner blocks: none
Top block: none
Bottom block: none
Bassbar: wide; high; short; veneered in ivory where bassbar passes under bass sound hole
Other: chisel marks visible on inside of clog
DimensionsTotal violin length: 549 mm
Back length: 332 mm
Upper bout width: 85 mm
Center bout width: 100 mm
Lower bout width: 122 mm
Upper rib height: 50-66 mm
Center rib height: 53-71 mm
Lower rib height: 45-73 mm
Stop length: 187 mm
Vibrating string length: 315 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 127 mm
ProvenanceClog originally belonged to Orange City (Iowa) High School Marching Band, gifted to Arne B. Larson about 1975.
Arne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Credit Line: Arne B. Larson Collection, 1979
On view
Object number: 03769