Please Help Me Identify the Maker of this Old Fiddle

[jazzfester]

New friends,

As a guitar and mandolin player, I am here a lot. This site is a trove of mandolin information that has helped me from the start. Thank you.

The next instrument that I would like to try out is the fiddle. My father has handed an old fiddle down to me that was handed down to him in the same condition. I have presented it to a local luthier who can not identify the maker. I would like to know the origin of the instrument to inform me of the value and what type of hardware I should use when I reconstruct it. The instrument is sturdy and in pretty good shape for its age.

The only marking on the instrument is on the heel and is of a many-pointed star with what looks like a capital H and capital S pressed over each other. The heel is visible in one of the photos attached. To be honest, it looks like a dollar sign; but, it is not an American fiddle, or so I have been told.

Any help leading to a maker is helpful. Thank you and have a great weekend.

...and if my first post to this forum comes out terrible, please accept my apologies in advance.

[Jim Garber]

Most likely it is a German factory fiddle. There are many of those imported into the US from the late 19th to 20th centuries. Some were branded or labelled by stores in the US. I don't know that particular branding but if you are worried that this is a stupendously valuable violin, I would stop worrying.

The best thing to do is to take it a a reliable violin shop and ask them what you have. They can usually tell you at least country of origin and quality of the instrument.

Parts on violins are interchangeable and it really doesn't matter what you use in terms of tuning pegs, tailpiece, etc. Just get good quality parts.