John Macintosh

He was born where he now lives, at Strath Cottage, midway between Galston and Newmilnes — places now become famous as the centres of the lace curtain industry of Scotland — in the year 1853. With an inborn predilection for the fine arts in general, and for music in particular, his attention became at a very early age centred on the violin, and he learned first to love its rich and melodious tones by hearing it performed upon by a relative, who was a good player of Scottish reels and strathspeys. Mr. Macintosh is a gentleman amateur, and makes only from love of the instrument. He has made several violins of the orthodox type, but he also has experimented largely with the view of discovering the relation between form and sound. Some of his violins are decorated on the back with portraits of celebrities and landscape sceneries in oil colours. One of these is made throughout of oak which was taken from ,the roof of the old castle at Mauchline, said to be the house wherein Robert Burns was married to his " Bonnie Jean." When the Burns Memorial Museum at Mauchline was opened, the violin was presented to the promoters and gladly accepted by them as a relic worthy of a place in an institution founded in honour of the immortal poet. Another bears the portrait of Sir Walter Scott, and has the following ditty inscribed on the back inside : — “Hey diddle, diddle, Who made this fiddle ? I know, I know, Hey diddle, diddle, here is the riddle — Where did the wood of this fiddle grow ? " "Sir Lewis Morris," a decorated violin, made on original lines, has a large, round, and fluid tone. He uses Whitelaw's varnish, mostly in dark amber colour. In addition to violin-making, Mr. Macintosh writes much on antiquity and kindred subjects, and he has published one or two volumes of poetry.