German Violin with Berliner Patent Tailpiece: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This violin tailpiece was patented by Emile Berliner. Washington, DC., U.S. Patent #242,585, June 7, 1881. The violin was made in Markneukirchen, Germany, around 1880. It has an unusual spruce back and was made presumably under the direction of Mr. Berliner. Emil Berliner was an inventor working in many disciplines including the development of the modern phonograph. His invention on this violin is a mechanical device extending from the underneath the end of the fingerboard. The strings are attached to the mechanism rather than to a traditional violin tailpiece. This arrangement allows the player to adjust the downward tension of the strings on the bridge. The violin is made of a two-piece table of spruce, one-piece back of spruce, ribs of maple with even medium figure, similar maple neck, pegbox and scroll, and a transparent reddish-brown varnish.

Materials, dates and provenance

• patent date: 1881-06-07
• patentee: Berliner, Emile
• Object Name: violin tailpiece
• Physical Description: spruce (table material)
• Physical Description: maple (part material)
• Measurements: overall: 24 1/4 in x 8 3/8 in x 3 7/8 in; 61.595 cm x 21.2725 cm x 9.8425 cm
• Place Made: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
• ID Number: MI.324622
• accession number: 68614
• catalog number: 324622
• patent number: 242,585
• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. John W. Brackett
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.