Autumn 2021 - Hugh Woodney part 1

One of the projects in my workshop this year is a violin from Manchester. It is owned by a friend who is a great violin enthusiast with a special taste for slightly unusual violins with character. He has been on a quest to find out everything he can about he history of this violin. It is stamped on its bottom rib 'Manchester H Woodney'. After trawling violin dictionaries and archives he found that H Woodney is Hugh Woodney, who had a shop in Manchester in the 19th century, selling and potentially making various kinds of musical instruments. It would be very interesting to see other violins (or violas or cellos) from this shop and compare them. If you happen to know of one, do get in touch, we would be pleased to hear from you. You can read more about the search here: Hugh Woodney violin thread

When the violin came to my workshop it was fairly dirty, and the things that especially needed work were a failing neck graft and various cracks in its back. The blackness hints at soot from coal fires, and its worn front and back treble edge work and the scroll treble side hint at intensive use over the years.

On closer inspection there turned out to be four cracks in the back, and the lower end of the centre joint had opened.