Images(3)

Clog violin

Alternate name(s)

Violin

Maker Arne B. Larson

Date1975 ca.

Place MadeVermillion, South Dakota, United States, North America

Serial No.none

SignednoneMarkingsWritten 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 LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number03769

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