Part 6 (1/2)

We will now suppose that the instructions have been duly carried out, the different parts have now resuinal condition of cleanliness and have a wholeso and even undisturbed since being placed in position by thethe projection of the edging over the ribs After carefully noting this, and dae, these are removed and placed aside

The chief and his assistant are now enabled to thoroughly exae It is none the worse for being clean The comments upon the tool-rime are of a rather opposite character, the connoisseur noticing theover the surface by the old Italians as being different to that pursued now; the assistant sees nought but rough gougings and scratchings as with a notched or blunted tool, and concludes that the old ood workmen as thelittle else than repairing since you took up with this business, and have never had the opportunity of working a violin fro draay to some other work Consequent upon this your work has not so much distinctive character,apparent and in excess of good style These old Italians were designing andnew violins day after day for their livelihood Repairing, when they could ood, fresh instruments, was to them of secondary importance, and so we find restorations in the olden times were of a kind we should now call very indifferent, if not altogether bad”

The lower table or back of good sycamore is now turned about and well scrutinised by James, who now remarks, ”this back is warped, I think that is why the last tners could not make the other parts fit well, what is to be done with it, we are not likely to make a better job of it than they ith a back twisted like that?” The reply is, ”that old Brescian maker was not likely to turn out a new violin with such a twisted spine! that condition has arisen since and is not a constitutional defect, it has been caused by da repaired while in the strained condition, it retained the twist; we must alter that Fortunately, the back is in one piece, so we shall not have the trouble about the joint, although with the necessary extra care the treatet a cotton cloth sufficiently large when folded once or twice to cover a surface such as the violin back presents It must noell soaked ater till it holds asThe violin table will now be placed with the varnished side doards, the wetted cloth placed over it Be sure that the surfaces of cloth and wood are in contact by gently dabbing it down all over It can now be placed aside for about three or four hours in order that the moisture may soak into the wood for soet ready the , as far as possible, if not wholly, ot rid of It must be borne in mind that the hich was cut in its natural state frorain, will be disposed, under the influence of dainal forement, that is to say, with a sufficient amount of damp and no more, it almost seems to try to resu the effect of much wet upon any wood that has been previously bent into shape, or upon the separated ribs of a violin

The efforts of the wood to return to its original conformation will be apparent in the instance of the ribs, perhaps provoking, as the re-bending without injuring the varnish, which may happen to be of the most lustrous and delicate description, is often a reat difficulty, and at times an i the risk of such defacerih the ti the parts in detail may often be a drawback If the ribs are quite saturated, as when left to float in water, they will be sure to coht, and the varnish, if not of the kind that has been worked well into the wood, irrecoverably spoilt Even when quite so, the trouble does not end here, for the wood having taken nearly its own forain, will have to be bent, with all its attendant troubles, into shape Complete saturation of any part of the violin should therefore be avoided

The ” rid of the warp or twist of the back plate will now have to be decided upon

There is generallyover a mechanical difficulty, and in the present instance thereto bethe least number of obstacles to success will have attention The repairer takes in hand some of the softest wood obtainable, say American pine, or if any is easily obtainable, poplar; that kind known as ”black poplar” is perhaps as free from hard thread as any, a couple or more of slabs about three or four inches wide and two or three longer than the upper and loidths of the back, with about a quarter of an inch of thickness An opening is bored in each, one in which the upper or se to ad h for ad and a little more The object of this will soon be apparent

When the inner surface of the back plate has absorbed sufficient ment of the operator, the ill have lost very e is taken of this condition, and each piece or collar of wood passed over the proper portion of the back like a loop If fitting tolerably close, all the better; but it e or two in parts to keep it fro placed in position In some instances e where the tendency to twist is irregular

The operator now gets a short plank of ordinary wood, of even surface, straight, and true as possible in each direction; lifting the violin table with the loops of wood attached and placing it on the plank, some of the loops will be raised up on one side while others are depressed at the same In the case of the sile to the plane The process now is si at one side will be pressed down and held in position by either a weight or any contrivance handy It should be done a littlethe even line of the edging, which can be fairly well seen by looking along froht recoil when the loops or wooden cramps are removed

For a more determined twist the extra depression of one part can be acco parts so as to getis now required but the drying thoroughly This will be according to temperature and moisture present in the atmosphere; no artificial htest injury will accrue from the process described, provided due care is taken that there is no overstraining, and the da is neither excessive nor insufficient The result of the for, the line or level of the edging when looked at along its course, will look uneven, as if soe and caution are faculties brought to bear strongly and continuously on the subject by every repairer with a reputation for success Without the forht have ended successfully have proved to be failures and to require doing over again; and insufficiency of the latter is what is so strongly evident in a very large majority of so-called ”restored” violins The casesheroic treat, excision of an unnecessary a too much of a clean sweep of parts thattoo evident, besides the saving of time and trouble

CHAPTER XII

REMOVAL OF OLD SUPERFLUOUS GLUE BY DAMPING--REPLACING OLD END BLOCKS BY NEW ONES--TEMPORARY BEAMS AND JOISTS INSIDE FOR KEEPING RIBS, ETC, IN POSITION WHILE FRESHLY GLUED

To the workrooain return The back has had a other work of an ordinary or trifling character The loops or collars are gently released, put aside for future use, and the now ht for the chief's inspection ”That will do, Jao ahead with the other parts, and perhaps we shall be successful enough when the whole is finished to retful at their hasty disposal of the paper full of scraps of old Brescia While we are in the bending nini into a little better trim, you left it on that shelf over there last week” Jaone affair to an ordinary observer; it had been cut open, the head sawn off, placed inside, the upper table laid on and a string passed round the waist and tied with a loose knot ”Look at it, Ja is untied, and the parts laid on the bench and examined one by one ”In excellent preservation, sir, in h it has been opened lue left about it” An inch rule is taken up and passed over the separated parts for coht expression of amazement passes over Ja to his chief he remarks, ”I didn't see that at first, sir, it's worse than that old Brescian; just look here, sir, the ribs are not upright, but bending inwardly; across the upper part they are so much out of the perpendicular that when the upper table is laid carefully on, instead of there being the eighth of an inch of overlapping border it is nearly a quarter of an inch each side; and what is lued since they were first put there, excepting a small part at the upper and lower ends, and see, sir, when I put the upper table on it is like an arch, and to press that part down on to the ribs will send a crack along fro up the whole affair by degrees” ”Well, whata good restoration of it, James? Give it a look over carefully and tell me” The assistant well knows the attendant circuood restoration or a bad one; if left as it is, it may be sold ”in the trade” for so much, if badly restored it will fetch less, if well done it will be worth to the outside world a considerable suards the emission of its doubtless fine tone, the value as a whole would be greatly enhanced Much thinking and careful calculation is therefore concentrated on the subject, and after awhile Jalue all roundwith it as it is” With this his chief agrees; so he sets to work, not with a chisel or any cutting instru to know fro the sharply defined and level edge of the rib as left by theor cutting is resorted to; he therefore adopts aa few pieces of cotton cloth or white sheeting--old calico is equally efficient--he folds the by about three-quarters of an inch in width Nearly a dozen of these are got ready After being soaked in water, they are taken out and slightly squeezed so that they no longer drip One by one they are placed all round on the edge of the ribs close to each other so that no vacant space is perceptible between each, and after a gentle patting doith the fingers along the course they are left to do their work quietly, more effectively, too, by far, than any steel tool with the brute force necessary for ploughing through that lue

These folds of cottonthe impurities away from the system; they, in the present instance, afford hi that will task his energies to so the poultices to their work, the old Brescian is again taken in hand under the direction of the chief ”Now, Jaetting the end blocks attached to the back We have got that into a tolerably straight line again, so that we can work on the affair almost like a new fiddle Those old blocks, well I should like to retain the over them very little discernment is sufficient to conclude that fresh ones will be not only better but necessary In the first place, they are very shly cut in the first instance, and since have been ood new ones properly fitted will be far better than old ones added to, necessarily for strength

Soood, that French ill suit our purpose We will choose the latter See that the grain runs perpendicularly or at right angles with the cut surface that is to be glued down Chop or split it, don't saw it into shape, and then you can finish it off when glued into position, when you will not find you have to cut against the grain” This, as a matter of course, is conformed to, the blocks split off the bulk or plank, sawn to a little over the proper length or height to allow of finishi+ng, and then the surface to be glued is ainst which the ribs will be hereafter glued The lower end one will of course require a trifle of curving to allow of the ribs following the course of the curve of the border; this the assistant duly sees to by trying it in position until it appears to be satisfactory The parts of the blocks to be left facing the interior of the violin he leaves roughly done to shape and size of those infound the best from experience since the demise of the old masters of Italy

The upper one is left more protuberant, or nearly semi-circular; the reason for this is that the strain upon both upper and lower table at this end is greater than at any other part, therefore if the block is too narrow there is not enough grip or extent of glued surface, a frequent result of which is the lowering of the fingerboard, and a buckling of the surface underneath of the upper table, a condition much to the detriment of the proper emission of the tone Great attention should always be paid this particular part Many repairers seem fearful that the air-space of the interior of the violin will be lessened by a projecting block A little consideration will enable them to see that for effectiveness of purpose the form of the interior of almost any violin will not--froe block with a flat glueing surface above and below

These conditions having been seen to, the assistant with solue paints over the surfaces of the ends that will be fastened to the lower table As this is to be for a per must be of the best When dry, the surface is scraped even and the usual glueing and craain; sufficient ti allowed for the moisture in the folds of cotton to affect and be absorbed by the glue, the assistant fetches it froht carefully, lifts up one of the poultices, touches the glue with the tip of a slue has been softened and is now little more than a jelly attached to the proet so or paper, place it handy and remove one of the wet pads or poultices, then with the s blunt and worn slue or jelly is carefully scraped away The advantage of using the blunt knife will be evident, as it does not cut the surface as it passes over it The point is occasionally used for any corner thatdipped in ater is passed over the edges and removes what is left untouched by the knife

This is repeated with each separate pad in succession all round and when completed the work is put aside and allowed to dry A previous examination of the inside surface of the upper table had shown the necessity of similar treatment, but not to such an extent

Not s the parts before his chief ”As clean almost as when new,” is the exclamation of the latter; ”it really wants little ether” ”Yes, but about that difference of measurement, sir, across the upper and lower parts” Here the assistant takes the upper table and places it like a lid on a box; turning it back doards for better inspection, he says, ”it's nearly a quarter of an inch out, the border overlaps frightfully, you would not glue it up like that, would you, sir?” ”Certainly not,” says the other, without the least sign of annoyance on his features Turning to his man he says, ”Now, James, here is a nice little instance where you can study with much interest and profit the subject of cause and effect You drew my attention to the excellent preservation, and you have reht the only ilueing You have rightly observed that the back has never been removed, and yet the ribs bend inwardly when tested and seem to require a siven the ht consideration The maker, as you knoas an excellent artificer and was a pupil of the great Stradivari Now here is the cause; the violin has been, as you know, opened several times by persons more or less unfitted for the proper performance of such an operation, fiddle tinkers I call thelue, have with a coarse brush dabbed it all round and then screwed the lid down The successors in this ghastly process have not had the decency to treat the instrulue have again repeated the work, if it nified by such a term, spoliation is perhaps a better one Noe know that the violin has been separated and left so, beingwolves or tinker dealers for nobody kno long, with the rays of the sun falling on it for many days; the result is as we see, the back has contracted and drawn the ribs in to solue-bound, ill set it free, the wood itself will help us, as if glad to resuivehanded to his of the brush passes over the surface, going round but leaving untouched the label, which seems to have remained undisturbed: the joint down the centre is avoided in a similar way After some time, as the moisture has penetrated the wood, he turns to the assistant, saying, ”now, Ja he will just catch his master, says, ”fits exactly now, sir!

but won't it coain beautifully as it dries” ”Well, that is just e are going to prevent, James; while this is wet, cut some soft sticks of wood and place thehtly, as ” This does not take long, the sticks are inserted like sostructure is onceand then placing the sticks of various lengths across, his chief was close by suggesting now and then so variation in the adjustive a look now and then as you proceed, in order to ensure against an over aainst the large curves, it will bulge out too far, and the shape will go” While proceeding he was now and then cautioned as to this kind of insertion of pieces or joists Very frequently old Italian instrun area different curving to the other; they are, indeed, seldom exactly the same on both sides, as modern makers try to make them It will be evident, then, that care e curve should be treated with36) When this inequality is very apparent, a double syste wood, say plain light any, so its course The ends are to be cut so that they will rest within the body of the instru each end between the upper and lower linings, if at all The two ends will touch or rest against the upper and lower end blocks and the pressure, when the sticks are placed across, will be against these, the pushi+ng outward of parts of the ribs or linings being regulated to a nicety

Should one or more of the sticks or joists be accidentally cut too short, a se of soft wood inserted at either end as may be deemed best will correct matters As the violin at present under consideration is suffering fros are fairly stout, the joists will be arranged so as to keep up a gentle pressure on the upper ones A very considerable amount of effective restoration can be done by e supports,--soreat use for a variety of purposes other than the one being referred to; they can be used not only for pressing against, but for the opposite, as when a rib or portion of it has froed outwardly It will be perceptible at once that for direct pressure against a part of the ribs, situated near the upper block, that the little joist will slip unless a nick is e support or beam This is so evident that a reminder seems scarcely necessary

[Illustration: DIAGRAM 36]