Part 1 (1/2)

The Repairing & Restoration of Violins

by Horace Petherick

PREFACE

An ancient writer once asserted that ”ofmany books there is no end”; had the violin been invented and used as far back as his day he ht have added, ”and of repairs to violins,” inases that constantly occur and find their way into the presence of the repairer, are such as could not be counted and seees will therefore not expect to find every possible ailment to which the violin is liable, mentioned and its appropriate remedy marked out If the eneralised under a liroups It is with the hope that a sufficient nu difficulties pointed out plainly enough to enable the intending practitioner to follow on in the same lines, that this work is placed before the public All the repairings referred to, have, with the accoh by myself, and therefore the present little work may be taken as the result of personal experience and it is hoped may be acceptable to the readers

H PETHERICK

_July, 1903_

The Repairing and Restoration of Violins

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The art of the old liutaro of Italythe last two or three centuries, identified with the art of constructing such musical instruments as are played with the bow

As was the case with other and kindred arts, that of violinhad its rise in one of the old cities of Italy, where froradually spread to other places and over the borders, until there are very few places of iree of success, commercially if not artistically and acoustically considered

During the early period of the art, repairing was of a rough and ready kind, chiefly in connection with dae and accident; while extensive and costly renovating, such as is so frequently undertaken at the present day, must have been of rare occurrence, for the reason that it was then quite possible to get equal, someti sent forth every day by the resident ed; the art of the Italian liutaro having reached its climax so that ti in nu a sufficiently high degree of excellence; naturally enough the skill of the repairer has been more and more in requisition, so much so, that many who have shown exceptional ability for this kind of work have achieved a reputation for it alone, ae circle of dealers in the principal cities of Europe The necessities of the tiht into prominence a modification of the art of the old Italian liutaro, in which there has to be displayed inality; the high class of artisan has becoly in evidence, while the artist has disappeared It was in the consideration of these facts that the idea was first suggested that a work treating of the general methods adopted by professional restorers for ie and acceptable to amateur as well as professional repairers, besides the nues of which the following chapters were first issued

In sending out the matter in book form, some alterations and additions have been, as usual, found advisable for completeness All readers readily ad upon one half of the various accidents and ail life; the most likely ones have therefore been taken, and it is hoped that the suggested treatment of these cases may enable the repairer to beco such others, serious, or slight, as may not have been here referred to

Further, the author is hopeful that those readers who may feel indisposed themselves to put into practice the various hints, instruction, or advice, will be enabled by knowing how good repairing is carried out, to select the proper kind of person into whose hands they can safely intrust their cherished instruments

CHAPTER II

SLIGHT ACCIDENTS--MODERN RESTORERS--”CHATTERING”--THE PROPER SORT OF GLUE--ITS PREPARATION AND USE

Under the above title (dry and unpalatable as the subjectbefore the reader soeneral, and particulars in detail that estive as to the future

In the first place, the si that has been fractured by accident or intent--will be in the lue or adhesive ht pieces to be attached, neatly or not, as the skill or experience of the repairer may be sufficient or available

The nose or li in close proxiive little or no trouble further than the collection of the fraginal relationshi+p, the spreading of a sufficient a accurately into position; easy work to a person endoith average powers of mechanical adaptation, under circu nature retain their forth of time But if any parts are lost different faculties and powers educated for the work are requisite and brought to bear on the subject The additions, besides the estimated proportions and fore, perhaps in quality, even when of the sainal, and make further demands on the trained eye, both for discrimination of material and appropriateness for the work in hand There will be lastly, but not least, the art of io and when to stop in the dressing up of new bodies in an old guise so as to produce harenerally, and where possible inthe repair or restoration of objects of art

Much ability, energy and patience have been expended on the reparation of ancient art work in which rees of hardness and texture have been employed, and which require the attention of a restorer of extended knowledge and mechanical dexterity There is in connection with all of this a kind of law keeping pace with the necessities of the hour If the works of art of a perishable nature beco the onward march of time, they receive proportional attention frohly skilled workmen A costly work of art in need of repair or restoration is placed in the hands of an artificer whose reputation warrants the confidence of the owner The works of art, however, hich our subject is connected, differ in iratification of the senses is to be favoured solely through the medium of the eye; they not only frequently deenuity of no eneral appearance, but further and additionally, the no less important details concerned in a renewal, so far as may be possible, of their powers for the exhibition of acoustical properties such as were iinal constructors In the instance of a re-uniting of separated pieces, the insertion of fresh material to fill up spaces that , or even renewal of such parts as may have become worn away or--as is too often met with--”honey-combed” from the inroads of those vandals of all ti of the interior and re-decoration of the exterior must be taken chiefly as htful position a friends or rivals in the sa i froiven by his majesty the public that there are not any instruments of the violin family ready to take the place--that is, worthily--of thosethe two hundred odd years before the commencement of the nineteenth century, and also that there does not see at least for a few generations to co has been going on for a long time, not only in Italy but over the whole of Europe, with the hope that in so in obscurity sonised work by an oldShould one be unearthed, if but a wreck of its forerly grasped and placed--not yet in open daylight before the gaze of the world, but in the hands of a specialist in re-vivifying these dry bones of a bygone age, re-habilitating theiven him other portions of a similar maker, or itparts

The specialist in the repairing and restoring art is now not of the same class as in olden times When the A turned out one after another, there was not soall the pieces or splinters of precious pine that had been separated by the fracture of the upper table from any cause, there was a better reht whose reputation was possibly more than local and whose self confidence prompted him to make a fresh table rather than devote time and labour for which adequate compensation could not be hoped for As a result, we frequently find old violins and their kindred turning up with fronts and backs which, although fitting well as regards size and outline, have been made by a distinctly different workinator

At the present day, however, this kind of restoration is much e is very extensive or vital portions have been irrecoverably lost

The er within reach, pine with requisite acoustical properties, of which the old Italian e a store, or if not, the knowledge where to obtain it As a consequence there has, in response to the pressure of necessity, arisen a class of workmen some of whose dexterous conversion of a mere bundle of splinters of an old randeur of aspect would have astonished the original designers These modern restorers are not to be confounded with the ers, than who and honest withal The art of repairing and restoring has now beco, that e arhout The faculties, skill and experience directed on the restoration of a violin ”on the sick list,” differs from those exercised by the first constructor whose mechanical dexterity is an aid or secondary to other qualifications: whereas it is paramount in importance in the constitution of a first class repairer

The construction of a violin fro to end may be said to be an art based on certain fixed principles, not all of them known, however