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John Juzek violin in brown varnish.
This is a full size (4/4) violin labelled 'John Juzek', Violinmaker in Prague, made in Czechoslovakia'.
It was probably made just after WW2, but there is no date on the label, so it could be earlier. What I can say is that it was made after 1920 when they were first imported to the USA, and before the Juzek factory moved to Germany (when the labels start reading 'formerly in' Prague).
Here is a sound file so you can hear what it sounds like, or here to open it in this window. This is me extemporising on “You've got to Love just a little” in D maj. in first position covering all 4 strings. Recorded with a cheap mono computer mic 2 ft away, and also using a cheap Chinese bow.
This fiddle is in quite good condition and plays very, very well. It has one repaired crack (1") at down from the right f-hole, and a repaired bout, visible in the photo of the side. The belly is good spruce (about 10 grain lines/cm), and there is a 2-piece maple back with quite strong and pretty flaming in the wood. The bouts and neck also have quite good flaming, as shown in the photos. It's a 'Strad' copy with quite low arching.
I bought this from the USA in 2004: Juzek's are sought after in the US (especially the 'Master Art' - but this is not one of them alas). I bought this Juzek because Dave Swarbrick plays one, and says he likes his a lot in the box CD set 'Fairport unConventioNal'. I took the front off then, set the tap tones right and put a new bass bar in in 2004. I've used in quite a lot of concerts since then and the full G-string sound carries well in a hall. It's pretty even between strings, with a good D string. Some might prefer a wound rather than plain wire E string.
The edges of this Juzek are a bit beat up but there's nothing seriously wrong. The brown varnish is in fair condition as shown in the photos. The strings are quite good: Dominant 'A', plain 'E', and 'Syntha-core' 'D' and 'G' strings . It could perhaps do with an even brighter 'G' string to get the best from it. The fingerboard has a visible crack across it (fully glued up and stable) but it's been like that for umpteen years and doesn't affect playing. When the fingerboard is showing signs of wear (which it isn't yet) then it can be changed.
It also has just the one fine tuner on the 'E' string: beginners may like to have fine tuners on all the strings.
The data for the completed instrument is :-
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J Juzek final data V1.xls
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28/11/11
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John Juzek (brown)
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Belly
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Back
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Difference (ratio)
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semi-tones
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weight
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~84
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~121
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grams
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Mode 2
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154
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161.5
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Hz
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-
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-
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Mode 5
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~318
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360.5
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Hz
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1.134
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2.15 !
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Fitted up with strings, & a chinrest of 52.6 gms. :-
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A0
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265
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Hz
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A1
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440
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Hz
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CBR
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375 and 410
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375 (?)
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Hz
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B1-
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403 & 421 =
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412
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Hz
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B1+
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495
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Hz
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Notes:
As the belly had a rather low Mode 5 with no bassbar, I raised it by about 20 - 25 Hz by exposing (just the) the front plate's inside to UV light for about 10 days continuously.
There is over 2 semitones difference between the Mode 5's of the plates, and that A1 and B1+ are rather low - but this is still a good instrument. There are 2 ‘dual peaks', which seems to be quite common as 2 resonances interact.
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