Pagannini is reputed to have had a razor inserted into the frog of his bow so that he could do the string-breaking act at strategic moments.  I'm given to understand that circumstantial details suggest that the Perlman story is a myth, which might explain why it seems to be circulating so widely at the moment as an email chainletter.  Still, it's a more entertaining one than the more common hoax virus alerts.

Malcolm