If our instruments could talk!

Not only do I love when a quiet fiddle finally finds its voice, but I love hearing a fiddle’s history. I recently received an account of the adventures of the “family fiddle” from Howard McDowell. Howard told me that he began playing just a few years ago in his late 60s and was lucky enough to acquire his grandfather’s fiddle. After reading my blog about an exhibit of Instrumental Stories, he shared the tale of his fiddle with me. I was so delighted that this fiddle found its way into his capable hands and I immediately asked him if I could share his story with you!

What is your fiddle’s story?

Gretchen

______

FAMILY FIDDLE

by Howard McDowell

February 17, 2020

My grandparents, three maiden aunts, and two bachelor uncles lived on their family farm south of Raleigh, NC. They were old-fashioned and there were many curiosities in the house and around the yard in outbuildings and barns. An old fiddle sat on the top shelf of a fancy cabinet in the living room that was filled with old books and old things like a brass pocket match box and spinning wheel spindles. The fiddle was unplayable, strings loose and askew. In the 1960s my aunt had mechanical tuners put on and achieved “playability”. The fiddle sat there for another 50 or so years.

When the last resident aunt died, our last surviving aunt and us first cousins started closing down the house and dividing things up.  I had hoped I could get the fiddle as my daughter and I were learning to play, and my cousins all agreed that was fine.  My last aunt told me the story of how my grandfather got the fiddle.

My grandfather was born in 1864 on the farm, about 50 acres at the time.  About a mile from the house is an ever-running spring of very tasty water, running into a nearby creek.  It is a perfect place for a small distillery and in the 1800s one legally operated there.  One day Grandad was riding on the back of a mule with his older brother, on their way home from working somewhere nearby.  The still man hollered as they approached, “I’ll give this fiddle to anyone who can play it.”  Grandad jumped off the mule, ran to the man and asked for the fiddle.  They say he put it to the shoulder and did the best he could at appearing to play.  The man gave him the fiddle.  My guess is that Grandad was somewhere around 15 years old at the time, around 1880.  People said he was a fair fiddle player, mainly playing for his family.

The fiddle is a “Hopf” or more probably a “Hopf copy”.  It is stamped on the back and under the f-hole.  It has a burned edge under the chin rest.  The lore is that happened at the still.  If the fiddle was brand new when Grandad got it, its vintage would be about 1880.  Of course Grandad could have been older or younger when he got it, and the fiddle may not have been new at that time.  But 1880 give or take seemed reasonable to a luthier who looked at it recently.

I had the fiddle repaired, the neck and worn-out finger board was replaced.  Our fiddle teacher played it soon after its repair and declared, “It wants to play old-time music.”  The fiddle has a nice smooth, somewhat smoky tone as opposed to bright.  It sat idle for years and the new finish may have dampened the sound a bit.  It may further open up with more play, but it sounds fine as it is. I play the fiddle regularly and enjoy its distinctive sound.  I’m hoping for a next generation player in the family.