Original Baroque Violin - Made by Poirson?
What I never first realised as I initially set about fixing it is that this instrument is probably a genuine baroque violin (probably 18th century); the fingerboard being a fair bit shorter and the back being noticeably flatter and other proportions different to a Strad model. The purfling on the violin is simply drawn on and would have been done using a goose quill and ink. At some point in time - a long time ago by the looks of it - an expert luthier added a small wedge under the fingerboard, which was likely done in the C19th to elevate the fingerboards of older baroque violins to be closer to the steeper angle of a Stradivari model. But the neck is genuine and there is no graft. The steeper angle increases the tension of the strings across the bridge and so make the instrument louder. Usually when this was done a longer Stradivarius fingerboard was added. But not in the case of this particular violin. A very long time ago a small wedge was expertly fitted to the neck, to elevate