Hardingfele
Alternate name(s)
- Hardanger violin
- Hardanger fiddle
- Harding fiddle
- Hardingfela
Date1810-1846 ca.
Place MadeSamnanger, Norway, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedChip-carved into inside of back on bass side of back bassbar in lower bout: 1701[underlined]MarkingsScratched into top above bass f-hole: S
DescriptionStringing: four bowed strings and four sympathetic strings passing under fingerboard
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain broadening toward the edges; grain converges slightly in upper bout
Back: two-piece, slab-cut birch: broad curl ascending from center joint
Ribs: quarter-cut birch: broad curl angled to right; one-piece lower rib
Head and neck: maple: birch; scarfed graft through most of neck with large wood dowels at upper and lower end of joint; head terminates in scroll with chipped decoration on pegbox sides and back; two birch wedges under fingerboard
Arching: very high, rising abruptly from the edges
Purfling: widely spaced double inked lines on top and back
Decoration: no further inked decoration
Varnish: medium brown
Fingerboard: ebony; inlaid on end with mother of pearl flowers and leaves with incised black and green ink-filled decoration and nickel-silver stems; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; inlaid on end with mother of pearl flowers and leaves with incised black, red, and green ink-filled decoration and nickel-silver stems; tailgut passes through holes trilled in face; four nickel silver hooks mounted to front edge hold bowed strings; two nickel-silver hooks comprised of single wire passing through holes drilled in face hold sympathetic strings; later
Tailgut: nickel-silver wire
Pegs: 10 brown-stained birch; roughly cut, slightly undercut heads
Saddle: brown-stained birch; deep; set slightly into top
Endpin: dark brown hardwood with mother-of-pearl eye; small head; later
F-holes: very narrow, curved wings; no notches; slightly bevelled lower wing surface
Linings: hardwood; very small and narrow
Corner blocks: hardwood; very small
Top block: integral with neck; base at joint with back extends in pointed shape over carved ridge running along center of back
Bottom block: hardwood; very small with bevelled corners; rests on platform at joint with back
Bassbar: carved from wood of top; very long; low height; very narrow
Back brace: shaped like a bassbar carved from wood of back, running along center and widening toward top; top and bottom blocks rest on platforms contiguous with this brace
DimensionsTotal hardingfele length: 585 mm
Back length: 350 mm
Upper bout width: 149 mm
Center bout width: 98 mm
Lower bout width: 189 mm
Upper rib height: 31-32 mm
Center rib height: 30-31 mm
Lower rib height: 31-32 mm
Stop length: 174 mm
Vibrating string length: 287 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 113 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Estate, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1988.
Published ReferencesBjǿrn Aksdal, Hardingfela (Bergen: Fagbok forlaget Vigmostad & Bjǿrke, 2009), pp. 148, 230.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Estate
Object number04557
On View
Not on view
1891-1910 ca.
1840-1900 ca.
