The interesting story I was told about my violin was this:Papa had done a service ( funeral or wedding I don't know ) for a German immigrant who had no money to pay him. They agreed that Papa could take his choice of anything in a shed belonging to the man. Papa found pieces of a fiddle in a box and that is what he chose to take. There is a label inside that says "Antonius Stradivarius
Cremonenlis ( l ?) year 1721. The label is pretty clear except for the "l" which could be an f or t. There is also a label that says "Repaired and retoned by D L Swank Dickson, Tenn Sept. 1927. We can only suppose that Papa took the fiddle to Dickson to have it put back together.I was very young when Papa died and Mother and Daddy kept my violin on display in our den. I asked about it often, I always loved music and anything musical. The finish on the violin was full of big drops of varnish and the pieces were coming apart. My sister took it to several places in Nashville to get estimates on getting it repaired ( all were too expensive). The name of Stradivarius on the label inside impressed no one, all said that meant nothing, counterfeits were very common. No one could make the fiddle playable - every time a bridge was put in place and strings put on the bridge would snap and break.
In the early eighties I became aware of a violin maker in Verona Miss. by the name of Ed Exline. Mr. Exline became famous when he made a violin with Jimmy Carter President from (dates) engraved, actually carved in the back. I've held this violin in my hands at Mr. Exline's. This was presented to the President at his inauguration but he later had to give it back - it seems that people became aware that a violin takes many years to make and that in order for it to be completed by his inauguration it would have had to be started when he was first elected Governor. Who thought Jimmy Carter would be President then? Mr. Exline did. The violin was appraised too high for the President to be able to accept it as a gift.
Mr. Exline took my violin to try to repair it. Many months went by before I received a note from Mr. Exline that my violin was ready. When I went to get it Mr. Exline asked
me many questions before he would let me see it. He said it had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard in a violin. When I saw the violin it was beautiful. Mr. Exline played it for me and it sounded wonderful. He started to hand it to me, then took it back. He said to me sternly, "I'll put this in your hands but don't you ever let anyone else have it!" This is what he told me. The violin was definitely made by the hand of Stradivari and 1721 would be an accurate date. It seams that Stradivari was the only one who could carve the tone bar out of the block of wood that made the top of the violin. All other Violin makers had to glue their tone bars in constantly changing
their length to get the desired tone. Stradivari got it right the first time and this is the signature that confirms a genuine Stradivarius. My violin had the tone bar hanging down from the top when I took it to him - everyone who had seen it thought it couldn't be genuine because of this. Mr. Exline said that the reason we could never put strings
on before was that the neck of the violin had been shaved down and a much smaller than normal finger board had been put on. ( This is the Killer) The tone bar had been cut out - from the solid piece of wood - shortened, then glued back in. Mr. Exlines only explanation was that Mr. Swank in Dickson must have been trying to make the violin fit the hand of a child or a very small woman. The tone bar would have needed to be shortened because of the smaller neck ( the label says retoned).The value of the violin is therefore only it's antique value. ( I wouldn't part with it for all the money in the world) The only Stradivarius' worth a lot of money are the ones he dedicated to Kings and Queens. Thousands of parts were said to be left after the death of Stradivari and his students used them all to make violins. These have very little value.
Today my violin looks as close as possible to the way it did in 1721. Mr. Exline used materials as best he could to match the old way of finishing. He only charged me $ 70, his cost for the materials he used. He said it was such a privilege to work on such a wonderful instrument he wanted no payment for his time. Sometimes when I'm quite sure no one is listening, a very rough version of Amazing Grace can be heard coming from this old fiddle. I think Papa would be pleased.
I recieved this email in regard to "My Fiddle Story" and wanted to share it.----- Original Message -----
From: Charles A. Exline
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 12:29 PM
Subject: Your Fiddle StoryMy cousin sent me your story and it really brought back a lot of memories of an old fiddle maker covered in sawdust doing what he liked to do the most. I am Charles A. Exline and Ed was my dad and hes been gone for a very long time now, thank you for bringing him back to life if only in my memories, you described him very well. And to let you know, if the wood was already aged and ready to begin building, he could make a violin from scratch in 540 hours by hand. I think one time he figured he must me making about 35 cents an hour on a single violin.
Thank you very much,
Charles
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