Scan 75
A Review Of Ancient And Modern Violin Making, 1899
2 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1I have spoken of a "perfect system of graduation." This is conditional. What would be perfect for one form of arching and quality of wood would be imperfect for another. If any one expects to master these complications in two or three years of apprenticeship to one who knows comparatively nothing about them his failure will be certain. To enumerate all of the points that have a tendency to prevent the higher class of work will take too much space, so I will mention but one more in this connection. I refer to the arching. This is a part of the art that has been seriously neglected, as the means of shaping the arch has been very imperfect, for I find when properly tested none are correct, and but few nearly so. Some makers trust largely to the eye to even the arching—that is, to have the right and left sides the same. While one may shape one side quite satisfactorily, it is a very difficult thing to shape the other like it. Others use callipers of the ordinary sort, which are but little better, as they are not sufficiently accurate to give true results. In the hundreds of violins that have passed through my hands for the purpose of examination, or improvement, I have failed to find one perfect. After ascertaining the
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.