Violin
Alternate name(s)
- Folk violin
Maker
Dorothy Pahuke
Date1938 ca.
Place MadeChicago, United States, North America
ModelExperimental
Serial No.none
SignedWritten in pencil on inside of top, upper treble bout: Dorothy / PahukeMarkingsIllegible pencil inscription on inside of lower bass rib, written before rib was cut.
DescriptionThis unusual violin appears to be of the same model as one made by a 16-year-old Iris Nelson Bancroft in 1938 in Chicago as part of a Works Progress Administration project. This violin was played throughout her life and is now in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (catalog number 2010.0039.01). Interestingly, while the name written on the inside of the National Music Museum's violin is not very legible, there appears to be someone of the same name, Dorothy Pahuke, who married in Chicago in 1920 at age 18, according to Cook County marriage registers. This violin was purchased from a Chicago instrument seller, Fred Miller, by Arne B. Larson in 1951.
According to documentation provided by Iris Bancroft to the Smithsonian when she donated her viola in 2009, it was made at Gompers Park, on the North Side of Chicago under the tutelage of a park employee whose WPA job was to assist musicians who needed instruments. Other instruments produced along with Iris' included a violin, a cello, and a double bass, made by three others who also took the class. The instruments were played together upon completion. Given the extraordinary similarity of models and finish work, it is likely that the Smithsonian's viola made by Iris Bancroft and the NMM's violin were made from the same pattern, and probably under the instruction of the same person.
Experimental violin constructed from flat, three-ply plywood, with curved center bouts, upper and lower bouts made from multiple, straight pieces of solid wood, and a guitar-style headstock
Top: one-piece, three-ply pine plywood
Back: one-piece, three-ply birch plywood; nearly round button
Ribs: birch cut-off-the quarter, semi-slab-cut birch, and slab cut-birch; upper bouts: six straight pieces of birch, butt-joined at two different angles; center bouts: two pieces of birch cut to a curved shape with a band saw, rather than bent; lower bouts: five straight pieces of birch, butt-joined at two different angles, the bottom piece continuous, without a joint at the endpin
Head and neck: birch: three-piece, tapered, flat headstock, the upper and lower ends terminating in obtuse-angled, slightly rounded points; headstock with separate oval-shaped openings for each string
Arching: none
Edging: beveled, except at chinrest position
Purfling: none
Varnish: medium brown
Fingerboard: black-varnished birch
Nut: rosewood
Tailpiece: black-varnished birch; nickel-silver saddle
Tailgut: steel wire
Pegs: four ebony
Saddle: rosewood
Endpin: black-varnished birch
F-holes: long; nearly upright; not curved, but cut in straight lines, angled to form widest points at normal notch position; no notches; small, pointed wings; small eyes
Linings: none
Corner blocks: none
Top block: spruce
Bottom block: birch; small
Other: band saw marks visible on inside of center ribs
DimensionsBack length: 352 mm
Upper bout width, upper break: 162 mm
Upper bout width, upper corners: 178 mm
Center bout width: 108 mm
Lower bout width, lower break: 209 mm
Lower bout width, lower corners: 193 mm
Upper rib height: 38-40 mm
Center rib height: 39-42 mm
Lower rib height: 39-40 mm
Total violin length: 601 mm
Stop length: 199 mm
Vibrating string length: 332 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 131 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number04275
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