Andrew Hyde No.5 1886 Violin

Description

This violin was made by Andrew Hyde in Northhampton, Massachusetts in 1886. For its age it is in great condition and has had an official appraisal of 00. In 1842, Andrew Hyde worked as Thomas Edison’s assistant and later became interested in the violin and established himself as a professional maker in 1886. Hyde only produced 1,200 violins and cellos and developed a style of imitating wear and age in his varnish and finishing details. Most of his violins are made of a two-piece table of spruce, maple back in two pieces cut on 45o with irregular broad descending figure, ribs of similar maple cut on the slab, moderately figured maple neck, pegbox and scroll, with an orange-red varnish. This violin is in very good condition and not excellent due to one scratch on the back of the instrument which was repaired in Gilmanton NH in 1915, and some minor varnish wear on the back of the neck due to it being played a long time ago. Other than that everything about the violin looks beautiful and has held up beautifully for being 135 years old. Everything is original, including the case, which has aged pretty badly but thats why the violin is in the condition it’s in. There are two horse hair bows which came with the violin. One has unfortunately lost the hair and would need to be fixed up, and the other has lost some hair, but not much. The appraisal was strictly for the violin, but I will include the case along with the two original bows at no extra cost. The strings are original and this instrument sounds beautiful. It’s a great piece of Americana with deep American history tied to it, and it’s value should only go up with time. If you look for other Andrew Hyde violins online on rare and fine instruments websites you’ll find most are priced at ,000-,000, for similar or worse condition, and one is even at the Smithsonian. It will be packaged safely and securely for shipping.