Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume - Instruments

Instruments

A maker of more than 3,000 instruments—almost all of which are numbered—and a fine tradesman, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume was also a gifted inventor, as his research in collaboration with the acoustics expert Savart demonstrates. As an innovator, he developed many new instruments and mechanisms, most notably a large viola that he called a "contralto", and the three-string Octobass (1849–51), a huge triple bass standing 3.48 metres high.

He also created the hollow steel bow (particularly appreciated by Charles de Bériot, among others), and the ‘self-rehairing’ bow. For the latter, the hair purchased in prepared hanks, could be inserted by the player in the time it takes to change a string, and was tightened or loosened by a simple mechanism inside the frog. The frog itself was fixed to the stick, and the balance of the bow thus remained constant when the hair stretched with use.

He also designed a round-edged frog mounted to the butt by means of a recessed track, which he encouraged his bowmakers to use; other details of craft, however, make it possible to identify the actual maker of many Vuillaume bows. The bows are stamped, often rather faintly, either vuillaume à paris or j.b. vuillaume.

Other innovations include the insertion of Stanhopes in the eye of the frogs of his bows, a kind of mute (the "pédale sourdine") and several machines, including one for manufacturing gut strings of perfectly equal thickness.

Most Great Bow Makers of the 19th century collaborated with his workshop including Jean Pierre Marie Persois, Jean Adam / bow maker, Dominique Peccatte, Nicolas Remy Maire, François Peccatte, Nicolas Maline, Pierre Simon, François Nicolas Voirin, Charles Peccatte, Charles Claude Husson, Joseph Fonclause, Jean Joseph Martin, Prosper Colas are among the most celebrated.

Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume was an innovative violin maker and restorer, and a tradesman who traveled all of Europe in search of instruments. Due to this fact, most instruments by the great Italian violin makers passed through his workshop. Vuillaume then made accurate measurements of their dimensions and made copies of them.

He drew his inspiration from two violin makers: Antonio Stradivari, his favorite violin being the "Le Messie (Messiah), and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù and the "Cannone" which belonged to Niccolò Paganini; others such as Maggini, Da Salò and Nicolò Amati were also imitated, but to a lesser extent.

Vuillaume made numerous copies of his favorite violin ‘Le Messie’, the more noteworthy among them being:

It is said that Vuillaume was able to craft such a perfect replica of "Il Cannone", that upon viewing them side by side, Paganini was unable to tell which was the original. He was only able to recognize the master instrument upon hearing subtle differences in tone during playing.

The copy violin was eventually passed on to Paganini’s only student, Camillo Sivori. Sivori owned great violins by Nicolò Amati, Stradivari, and Bergonzi, but the Vuillaume was his favourite.

When making these copies, Vuillaume always remained faithful to the essential qualities of the instruments he imitated - their thickness, the choice of the woods, and the shape of the arching. The only differences, always the result of a personal decision, were the colour of the varnish, the height of the ribs or the length of the instruments.

His most beautiful violins were often named after the people who owned them (Caraman de Chimay, Cheremetoff, Doria)

Vuillaume occasionally named his instruments: twelve were named after birds, for example the "Golden Pheasant", "The Thrush" and twelve were named after the apostles such as "St. Joseph" and "Saint Paul". A few others were also named after important biblical characters "The Evangelists" and Millant, in his book on Vuillaume, mentions a "St. Nicholas."

A rare violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume (circa 1874, Paris) showcases inlaid ebony fleur-de-lys designs and is one of the last instruments to come out of Vuillaume's workshop, made a year before his death. Crafted for the famous violin dealer David Laurie, "Label reads: Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, 3 Rue Demour-Ternes, expres pour mon ami David Laurie, 1874", numbered 2976 and signed on the label. It's a copy of a Nicolò Amati violin originally belonging to Prince Youssoupoff (a Russian aristocrat and pupil of Henri Vieuxtemps). Only six copies were made.

He also had practice violins, known as "St Cecilia violins", made by his brother Nicolas de Mirecourt.

His main contribution to violin making was his work on varnish. The purfling's joints are often cut on the straight and not on the bias as was traditional, in the middle in the pin. His brand is burnt at a length of 1 cm. There is generally a black dot on the joint of the top under the bridge. He used an external mould. The stop is generally 193 mm long. In this respect he follows to the French 18th century tradition of a short stop (190 mm), which was traditionally 195 mm long in Italy and even 200 mm long in Germany. The violin's serial number is inscribed in the middle inside the instrument. Its date (only the last two figures) in the upper paraph on the back. His violins of the first period have large edges and his brand was then burnt inside the middle bouts. The varnish varied from orange-red to red. After 1860, his varnish became lighter.

In addition to the above-mentioned bow makers, most 19th century Parisian violin makers worked in his workshop, including Hippolyte Silvestre, Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey, Charles Buthod, Charles-Adolphe Maucotel, Télesphore Barbé and Paul Bailly.

Nestor Audinot, a pupil of Sébastien Vuillaume, himself Jean-Baptiste's nephew, succeeded him in his workshop in 1875. Vuillaume died at the height of his career, widely regarded as the pre-eminent luthier of his day.