John Furber

He was the third son of Matthew Furber, sen., and a pupil of his father and John Betts. He made a large number of instruments on the grand Amati pattern, and some copies of the " Betts " Stradivari, when that famous masterpiece was in the possession of Betts. His work is excellent in every respect. I quite recently saw one of these copies, and I must say that I considered it a superb example of the copyist's art. The wood of the back was of a broad " flame," with the curl slanting nearly at right angles to the longitudinal axis in the direction of the lower end of the instrument. The varnish was golden red, mellow, tender, and not too thickly laid on. The tone was clear and penetrating, and very fine on the two inner strings. The only part of the work which might be considered to be lacking in depth of feeling was the scroll, which was not quite in the spirit of the master, being somewhat stiff and over masculine. His Amati copies are considerably modified in many instances, and some of them are rather deeply grooved and highly arched, but the tone is almost invariably clear and penetrating. His best violins realise as much as £20 to-day, and they will sell at a still higher figure in years to come. Furber worked for J. Betts at the Royal Exchange, and many of the fine instruments which bear Betts' label. His own label is:- JOHN FURBER, MAKER, 13 ST. JOHN'S ROW, TOP OF BRICK LANE, OLD ST., SAINT LUKE, 1839