Customer Reviews

The Violin-Makers of the Guarneri Family (1626-1762)

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I bought this book because there is a little in the Wikipedia regarding Guarneri violins. This book has two chapters dedicated to the best violin maker of this family - Guarneri Del Gesu, who is regarded as comparable to Antonio Stradivari. There are not only black and white photos of the violins of different periods, but also some good color photos of the famous Guarneri violins. The appendices contains dimensional information about the Guarneri violins made in different period. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Guarneri violins and the history of the violin.

This is a wonderful comprehensive book about the Guarneri violin-makers. Since I own two Guarneri-labeled violins and wanted to know whether either was made by that family, this book answered my questions. The fate of most genuine Guarneri violins is already known(they were destroyed by fire or other means or are owned by private individuals or are in museums). In the case of my two violins, there is a 'fictictious' label (as the authors describe and show in a photo), in both of my violins. That was disappointing to learn but it enabled me to buy a very nice-sounding violin at minimal cost (my second so-called 'Guarnerius') from the late 1770's even though it was apparently not made by the Guarneri family. If you own a violin with a Guarnerius label, it would be quite useful for you to own a copy of this book to determine its authenticity. The enormous and detailed research done by the Hill family makes this book well worth its reasonable price (at least at Amazon.com) where I bought my copy this year.

This is a wonderful book for those interested in learning about the history of the making of the violin. I myself am a violinist, and can appreciate everything there is to know about the violin. I highly recommend this book to anybody who loves the violin.

Length:: 1:54 Mins

This is my review of the book

recommended by a great luthier friend as a beginner "must read" book. He was totally right!

I would prefer to have my questions answered concerning this book. I have read this book thoroughly many times; what I wonder is what makes this book "collectible" and worth [price] rather than [price], as no description is given other than "paperback". Thank you.