ViolinFilter: Name that violin-maker!

July 25, 2007 4:32 AM

Can you help me find more information on the mystery-maker of my Grandfather's violin?

The only thing I know about the instrument for sure is that my Grandfather brought it back from somewhere in Europe when he came home during WW2. The interior "tag" has a glob of paint or something hiding the full text, but looks something like this:

"Carl Gott......ster. jun,
Mar......hen 1904"

The parts with the dots are where the text has been covered. Any idea where I might find nformation about who made this violin?

posted by DecemberRaine to media & arts (4 comments total)

"Markneukirchen is well-know as centre of German musical instrument making and for its Museum of Musical Instruments founded in 1883 by Paul Otto Apian-Bennewitz."

(I just found that by looking for towns in Germany that start with Mar and end with hen. Could be a red herring.)
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:20 AM on July 25, 2007

Google! Searching for German violin-makers turned up this page, mentioning the town of Markneukirchen as a major centre of German violin manufacture in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. Further searches with Markneukirchen + Carl turned up a possible match for the maker's name: Carl Gottlob Schuster (look at this page & at the 13th line on the table here.)

On preview, snap!
posted by misteraitch at 5:31 AM on July 25, 2007

Oops, my third link should have been this one.
posted by misteraitch at 5:32 AM on July 25, 2007

Oo, good work misteraitch. I didn't have any luck finding the person.
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:36 AM on July 25, 2007