Mystery Violin Identified
August 30th, 2010 § 1 Comment
by Matthew Raley
Lee Nelms, 1979, back
I’ve been writing about my evaluation this summer of a violin loaned to me by a friend (here, here, and here). My original low expectations were surpassed as I played it, especially after I put on better strings. But I have been bothered by two things. Who was the maker, Lee Nelms? And could the sound of the violin be significantly improved?
My googling of Nelms, you’ll recall, turned up zero. So I drove the violin up to John Harrison, noted luthier in Redding, on the chance that he had at least heard of Nelms. He had indeed.
Harrison told me that Nelms was a maker in Klamath Falls, OR, mainly known among fiddlers (like my friend’s uncle, the violin’s original owner). Nelms died, Harrison thought, sometime around 1988. Harrison stepped past a dozen violins and violas to a bookshelf, covered with a layer of sawdust, and pulled out a reference work on American makers. Nelms was listed, the bio reporting that he started in 1978 and had made 16 violins by 1986, the date of publication. Two instruments a year. Harrison himself had met Nelms numerous times at conventions and had seen several of his violins.
This particular violin, made in 1979, was one of the better Nelms instruments Harrison had seen. But “it has issues.” As a point of workmanship, Harrison noted that the scroll was commercial, not hand-carved. Worse, the tail-piece was too long for the size of the violin, which plays havoc with the main issue: the sound post. Harrison agreed that a more powerful tone could be coaxed out of this violin with a better-fitting post. But proper placement depended on getting a well-proportioned tailpiece.
It would take some investment to improve the violin, but it could be done.
I left pondering the fact that a man I never knew reached across 30 years, down several hundred miles from Klamath Falls, and gained my respect by making a violin. The internet can’t find him, but the members of his guild can. As Harrison said to me with satisfaction, “His violins are still being played.” Nelms won’t be a legend, but his craft has staying power. Not bad at all.
Playing the Nelms Violin
August 10th, 2010 § 1 Comment
by Matthew Raley
For several weeks, I’ve been switching between my violin and one loaned to me by a friend who wants me to evaluate it.
Lee Nelms, 1979, top
You’ll recall that I had low expectations of this violin until I saw it in the case and played on it a little. Its tone was even, responsive, and capable of different colors even with poor strings.
So I put on an old set of my own strings (Evah Pirazzi, “stark”) and started testing the violin across a range of pieces. I played several Rode caprices, and the better strings made an immediate difference. The violin was resonant, spoke brightly, and barked accents at my command. Double-stops and chords, in which the bow is pulled across several strings quickly, were clear.
I got similar results in the Novácek Perpetuum Mobile. As I played through a couple of Beethoven sonatas I found an additional virtue. The violin was capable of real sweetness when I played lyrical passages. This was confirmed when I read through the 1st violin part to the Brahms clarinet quintet.
But I was always bothered when I would begin playing this violin. It would sound nasal, brash. One evening recently, I started with the 2nd movement of the Brahms quintet, and was able to isolate some of the pitches that squawked the worst. But after ten minutes or so, when I went back to those pitches, the squawk was gone.
Conclusion? This violin is grumpy right out of the case. It needs to warm up.
There are other qualities I wonder about. So I’m going to Redding violin maker John Harrison soon to see if he can find any information about Lee Nelms, and if the sound-post might need adjusting. I’m not one to waste a good excuse to go to Harrison’s shop.
