John Rae

History

John RAE (1847-after 1924) was born on October 31, 1847, in Duff Street, Macduff, N.B., though John Dilworth states his birth year as circa 1843. He was the eldest son of James Rae and the eldest grandson of John Rae of Forglen, Turriff, who was a renowned bagpipe maker in northern Scotland. Soon after John Rae's birth, his family moved to Turriff and later to Netherdale in 1856 when his father became the tenant of the Carpenter's Croft. Young Rae attended a private school in Turriff under a Mr. Ingram, and subsequently schools in Inverkeithny, Aberchirder, and Marnoch for brief periods.

Around the age of eleven, a family misfortune occurred when their home and workshop were destroyed by fire, leading to significant financial hardship for his father. This event compelled John Rae to leave school and begin an apprenticeship as a joiner. At the age of twenty, he moved to Edinburgh, where he continued his trade and attended evening classes for mathematics and drawing. In 1869, he returned to Netherdale due to failing health. It was shortly after this return that he made his first violin, driven by an experimental interest in the relationship between proportionate form and musical sounds.

By 1873, his health had recovered, and he moved to London with the intention of finding employment as a violin maker. He discovered that violin making was not a recognized trade in the metropolis at that time. To further his understanding, he attended lectures on acoustics at the South Kensington Museum and conducted extensive experiments on the tonal qualities of various woods. In 1883, he secured an appointment at the British Museum (Natural History), which relieved him of the manual labor of the bench. He married in 1884, and his wife's support for his passion for fiddle-making reignited his dedication to the craft. From 1884 to 1890, he meticulously studied fiddle construction, creating his own moulds, models, and templets. Since 1890, he devoted all his spare time to his hobby, producing instruments at a slow, patient, and extremely careful pace, typically completing only two or three instruments annually. He famously stated, "I would rather go down to posterity as a diamond than as a ton of coals."

Craft

• Production: According to William Meredith Morris, up to the time of his writing, John Rae had made fifty-one violins and four violas. John Dilworth, however, states that he completed over 130 instruments, including violas and cellos.
• Workmanship: He was known as a slow, patient, and extremely careful worker, often spending days on details that other makers might complete in hours or minutes.
• Design: His instruments feature an original and highly artistic outline and model, characterized by pronounced yet delicately nervous curves. A notable feature is the balance between the upper and lower portions, with the upper bouts being considerably fuller than usual. The C-bouts are less angular and more sweetly extended and rounded, comparable to the finest Italian work.
• Scroll: The scroll is original in design and beautifully executed, described as prim and poised, with a swell and bent resembling the neck of a proud swan, deemed worthy of a Stradivari.
• Button & Corners: The button is of medium size, rather too long to be described as "rounded." The corners are full and fine, complementing the overall outline.
• Purfling: The purfling is inlaid without a tremor. In some instruments, it is of the usual description, while in others, the middle strip is so narrow as to be barely perceptible from a few feet away, an arrangement designed to emphasize the instrument's beautiful outline. When using this narrow purfling, he varnished the instrument in one of the lighter shades.
• Wood Selection: He utilized magnificent wood, including fine-grained pine without a joint for several front tables, sourced from a gigantic Sequoia Gigantea tree from California. This tree, 276 feet in height and 1335 years old when cut down in 1872, provided unconventional but effective material.
• Tone: The instruments possess a large, rich, and free tone. Those with bellies made from the Californian giant redwood exhibit a distinct, rich, and ringing timbre, which, while perhaps lacking the oiliness of Italian wood, offers an equally essential quality to the harmony of sounds.
• Pricing: His instruments were sold for £10, a sum noted as not indicative of their artistic merits, as they were considered to be in the front rank of modern work.
• Inscriptions: Instruments are inscribed internally, with examples including "John Rae. Maker / London / No. 112.", "No 50 / John Rae. Maker / London 1901", "Copy of the / Dolphin Strad 1714 / Made by John Rae 1920", and "Copy of Violin known as the / Messiah / Made by John Rae, London / No. 19..".

Influence

• Family Tradition: His paternal grandfather, John Rae of Forglen, Turriff, was a well-known maker of bagpipes, indicating a family background in instrument craftsmanship.
• Academic Study: He attended lectures on acoustics at the South Kensington Museum and conducted considerable experimentation on the tonal qualities of different woods.
• Design Inspiration: He derived his personal models from the works of Stradivari and Guarneri.
• Self-Study: From 1884 to 1890, he dedicated himself to studying the construction of the fiddle, creating his own moulds, models, and templets.

Legacy

• Artistic Recognition: His instruments are considered to be in the front rank of modern work, with his outline and model described as original and highly artistic.
• Philosophy: He expressed a preference for quality over quantity, stating, "I would rather go down to posterity as a diamond than as a ton of coals."

Further Information

• Birthplace: Born in Duff Street, Macduff, N.B.
• Residences: Resided in Turriff and Netherdale during his youth.
• Professional Locations: Worked as a joiner in Edinburgh and later moved to London in 1873.
• Employment: Appointed to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1883.
• Materials: Notably used fine-grained pine from a Californian Sequoia Gigantea for some of his front tables.

Summary

John Rae (1847-after 1924) was a Scottish violin maker known for his meticulous craftsmanship and original designs. Born into a family with a tradition of instrument making, he initially trained as a joiner before dedicating his spare time to violin making from 1890. Rae produced a limited number of high-quality instruments annually, emphasizing quality over quantity. His violins are characterized by their artistic outline, unique scroll, and the use of distinctive materials such as Californian Sequoia Gigantea for soundboards, resulting in a large, rich, and free tone. His work is recognized as being in the front rank of modern violin making.