GEORGE CRASKE

Few figures in British violin making history arouse more divergent opinions than George Craske. Endorsements from players generally outweigh the purists’ reproaches of Craske’s methods and standards. A consensus is still elusive more than a century after his death. Most mortals, however, would prefer that posterity judge them by their best work, a daunting prospect in Craske’s case, considering his prodigious output.

After an early career in the London workshops of Dodd, Clementi and ‘Young’ Forster, Craske settled in the Midlands and struck fortune with a well-timed investment in the Manchester Corporation. Once financially independent, he continued building bowed instruments at an almost feverish pace in relative seclusion.

In July 1879 George Crompton announced his purchase of the ‘entire stock of Violins, Tenors, Violoncellos, and Double Basses’ from ‘the eminent Violin Maker’ George Craske (who was, by now, past 80 years of age). From their premises in Manchester’s Barton Arcade, Crompton and his son Edward offered Craske’s work to the public and members of the trade. Crompton took his advocacy to the pages of the new-born magazine The Strad in September 1890 (‘A Few Facts about Violin Makers and Their Earnings’, pp82–83), going so far as to place Craske on the same plane as Vuillaume. A decade later, in 1901, Arthur Broadley related a picturesque anecdote in the Musical Times of a pantechnicon (moving van) filled with basses and other instruments leaving Craske’s home in Stockport.

By 1897 another Manchester violin maker and dealer, Shelly Tarr, had acquired the rights to sell Crompton’s remaining stock of approximately 1,200 Craske instruments; but in June 1900 Crompton sold his entire Craske collection to W.E. Hill and Sons in London. No double basses seem to have been part of the latter transaction. The gradual dispersion of Craske instruments to all corners of the world was quickened, and the maker’s reputation burnished, through the agency of the world’s most respected violin authorities.

INSTRUMENT 

The c.1850 example shown here offers a rare glimpse of Craske’s monumental design in a rather pure state; it is, in my experience, exceptional because it eluded the 20th-century practice of reduction and alteration for the sake of player comfort. Th of William Burns, a long-time member of the Buffalo Philharmonic in western New York State. Since Burns’s death in 2014 the bass has belonged to his brother, a retired Silicon Valley executive.

MATERIALS 

The table is made from two 12-inch wide planks of a hardy quarter-cut pine, free from knots, with small wings added at the lower bouts. For the back and head, a slab-cut English sycamore of slight figure was used, while the ribs have more pronounced flame.

FORM AND CONSTRUCTION 

The silhouette and overall body dimensions of the double bass harken back to Dodd and ‘Old’ William Forster, with high shoulders and a relatively shallow countercurve at the neck root, design features that reflect the restricted compass of the instrument in Craske’s day. He probably roughed out the back outline from a template and then constructed the ribs directly upon it, using a somewhat free approach, the result of which is an internal air volume near the limit of what one encounters in British double basses of the mid-19th century. Plane and scraper marks were left internally and are amply visible on the external table. Full but relatively low table and back arches further underline Craske’s reputation as a hasty carver.

Stout and somewhat round edgework blends into the more subtly sculpted channel. One peculiarity, perhaps taken from a Brescian prototype, is the defined peak that runs lengthways down the centre of the table. The longitudinal arch of the back is treated in more orthodox fashion and finishes in a curvaceous and oversized button at the top.

HEAD 

The head seems almost petite in relation to the body architecture, with slightly undercut spirals and a prominent round scroll eye. Originally the pegbox held just three strings, in the English tradition of the early 19th century, but was modernised with an additional fourth string in the 20th century; it is now fitted with new lightweight, hand-finished precision tuning gears of brass and steel.

VARNISH 

A radiant golden ground sets off a swiftly applied madder-based pigment, resulting in variable saturation, transparency and texture which, in places, has been worn through player contact.

The author wishes to thank Zachary Martin for his technical assistance