Notes:

"On looking at this violin, one cannot but be struck by the beauty of the formation of the long and relatively slender corners. It recalls to our minds some of the happiest efforts of Antonius and Hieronymus Amati, with the addition of a certain grandeur which they lack. The corners are not really longer than those of some of the violins of the preceding years, 1698-1703, but the fact that the bouts are a little more curved, in addition to a pronounced drooping of the corners, especially of the top ones, which are also a little longer than the others, gives that effect. In order that they should not have a too protruding appearance, Stradivari pushed the mitres of the purfling to the extreme limit -- we have seen but few other specimens treated in this way -- and when he failed to get the mitre right up the groove cut out for it, he filled it in with a black mastic, which perfectly completes the appearance he sought to obtain. The uniformity of the outline presents the perfection of symmetry : the full, rounded model swells away from the edge with but a semblance of hollowing round the purfling; the "f" holes, cut with masterly decision and placed in a comparatively upright position, seem to fall naturally into complete harmony with the surrounding features; the head, though cut as Stradivari only knew how to cut it, lacks something,-there is a squareness in the design, the fluting is wanting in breadth, the throat is hesitatingly cut; in a word, it does not rise to the greatness of the occasion.

The beauty of the materials from which this instrument is made leaves nothing to be desired. The back and sides are of handsome maple, with well-pronounced broad curl; the back in two pieces, with the figure slanting from the joint in an upward direction-a feature but rarely met with in instruments of earlier date. The pine of the belly is more open in the grain than hitherto: fine at the joint, but widening out to a full 16th of an inch at the edges."

Antonio Stradivarius: His Life & Work, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, Antonio Stradivari: His Life & Work (1644-1737), London

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"The "Betts" violin, another masterpiece, made in 1704, is a notable and wonderfully preserved instrument, standing out from the violins made in the adjoining years in a like degree to the " Tuscan," although any affinity with the latter in either tone or design is only indirect. The distinguishing features of the tone are the mellow brilliancy of the quality and the facile articulation."

Antonio Stradivarius: His Life & Work, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, Antonio Stradivari: His Life & Work (1644-1737), London

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"The 'Betts' is arguably one of the four or five greatest violins in existence today. Its enormous power and limitless range of colour and expressiveness make it, in my opinion, absolutely one of a kind. . . . I would say offhand the Betts has the highest arch [of all Strads], a relatively round arch that goes with that kind of violin."

Elective Affinities: Tributes to Antonio Stradivari by well-known players & experts, Earl Carlyss, The Strad, December, 1987, London

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"The Betts has the strangest long corners of any Strad! Look at the upper corners: the corner ends, and then the little black point goes out about 3 mm. I've never seen anything as long as this. . . . It still has about 85% of its real varnish, which is something you don't see on Strads very often."

Guided Tour of the Library of Congress Collection of Stringed Instruments, Robert Bein, Journal of the Violin Society of America, Vol. XVII, No. 2, Flushing, NY

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"Most striking are the long corners and purfling joints and crisply defined edging, still marvelously intact after hundreds of years and multiple owners. What also strikes the viewer is the curiously lopsided placement of the f-holes, like the assymetry of human eyes, which gives its visage an almost human character."

National Treasure, Philip J. Kass, The Strad, November, 2006, London

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"The bottom rib is of one piece and has a small knife cut marking the centre line of the ribs against the back. I have seen this tiny, almost invisible knife cut on several Stradivaris which still retain their one-piece bottom rib. . . .

On the left side of the 'Betts' scroll the eye finishes with a string whereas on the right-hand side it finishes with a tiny flat cut similar to that of the Guarneri school. This flat cut is not generally a feature of Stradivari. . . ."

The 'Betts' Strad 1704, Roger Hargrave, The Strad, May, 1989, London