1/2 Size JTL French Violin- Mirecourt circa 1915-1920

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We have a gorgeous Jerome Thibouville-Lamy (JTL) 1/2 size violin. The beginnings of French violin making came from the northeastern French city of Mirecourt, the famous center of violin making in the Vosges mountains. It began in the 17th century. 50 luthiers were operating in Mirecourt in the 1600’s and the oldest surviving apprenticeship contracts date as far back as 1629. Young men worked farmers hours: sunup to sunset. The Mirecourt guild was established in 1732 outlining strict rules governing training and quality control of instrument making. The guild system produced many highly skilled craftsmen, many of whom took their learned knowledge to other cities across France and abroad. Several of these luthiers eventually returned to Mirecourt as master luthiers, hiring many workers and establishing famous shops. During this same time, international trade was expanding at an unparalleled rate. The Industrial Revolution gave Europeans access to resources from all over the world and Mirecourt quickly established itself as a commerce center. By the turn of the 20th century a handful of large workshops emerged in Mirecourt. One of the fine shops was the JTL shop where this violin was made.

This high-quality violin was made around 1915-1920. It is a Stradivarius model with medium-high arching. The violin has the typical JTL style with a slightly elongated body and a glowing orange/brown oil varnish that has excellent clarity. It has the typical extremely even grain in the spruce top plate, and the bee-stings of the purfling also set this violin apart. The back plate is two-piece flamed maple. The violin is in excellent condition with an undamaged body and has been completely gone over here in our workshops where we carved all new ebony fittings. We bushed all eight pegs holes before cutting new pegs.

Corpus 312.0 mm., Major Width 181.0 mm., Minor Width 142.0 mm., Rib Height 26.0 mm.

This French violin is stunningly gorgeous, but it will also win you over because of its powerful and clear sound. The sound is full of character and romance, not only on the bass side but also in the upper ranges. The entire violin is wrapped up in a buttery sound, and has a fight to its power, which is a great combo to have. The instrument has a little bit of an edge. Edginess adds to the responsive overtones. Yes, a very good sound for 1/2 size violin, great age, some patina in the plates, to be expected because of its age, but WOW for a 1/2 size.