I have a smallish fiddle with a neck very similar to what is seen on "baroque" instruments. I have beenold >by a luthier friend, however, that it probably doesn't even predate 1900. I don't think makers and players have ever been all that conscientious about fitting in with the history >books ;-)
I believe "country" amateur fiddle makers would sometimes borrow the squire's violin and copy it. And maybe the squire didn't play, but his father or grandfather did so he let the local farmer copy the old violin lying around up at the Hall. This would be one explanation of a persistance of old designs of instrument, especially among players of traditional music, church band musicians etc. On the subject of pitch, Tim, at the beginning of the 20th century it was usual for pitch to be higher than we use now. It was generally low in the 18th century and rose during the 19th century. Historical pitch is a huge subject exhaustively researched and written up in what is now the standard book on the subject by oboist Bruce Haynes "A history of performing pitch; the story of A". Before Haynes' work, understanding what was going on with pitch standards, transposition etc. especially in 16th century music was such a confusing can of worms for many musicians interested in the period that a biblical quote from Proverbs was often appropriate "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith".
BTW, with all due respect to those concerned, when doing a comment on this list please don't just click "reply all", otherwise we can get multiple copies coming in. The dartmouth address is all that's needed in the "To" line for us all to get it. And disable the function on the email sending program which automatically requests a reply from the recipient. Philip
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