This instrument is no longer available

A violin made by Alexander Hume in 1913



     Alexander Hume was an ardent student of violin craft, spending his summers learning from the masters of Saxony and Bohemia. He made instruments in his home at Dumfries and then later (circa 1912) to Peterborough and finally settling in London in 1917. His violins, modeled upon several Italian master's works, won him many prizes at competitions around Europe. In 1907 he developed a 'pure gum' varnish which he applied to all his instruments of 1908 until his death in 1941, the intention being a light, flexible, and tough finish which would not chip nor scratch, failings in the varnishes of many other makers which he abhorred. He further experimented with violins of smaller than full size in an effort to prove that such instruments responded better to the bow, though this violin is a full scale copy of a Stradivari instrument.

     The quality of workmanship on display in this violin is beyond that of which most makers are capable. Hume was clearly a master of every aspect, the carving and smoothing of the woods, the inlay, the overall concept, all being rendered with a clarity and degree of perfection rarely witnessed. In his own time his work was compared favorably with the greatest work of the Cremonese masters... it seems having been born Scottish consigned him to a lesser status owing to the bias of collectors and players for those antiques. In near impeccable condition, there are no cracks, no significant damage whatever in 97 years of use. Tone is even and incredibly rich, the strings responding crisply, volume more than adequate.