Books › An encyclopedia of the violin, 1925 › scan 108
Scan 108
An encyclopedia of the violin, 1925
18 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 84. See the scan on archive.org.
1the sound board. They are not pierced until the sound board has been entirely completed, and its degrees of thickness established.
3In order to do so, take the model of the F-holes, Figure 6, Plate 30, and lay it on the sound board which has just been completed in such a way that the corners of the model as well as the C bouts are absolutely perpendicular with the corresponding parts, and then with a well sharpened pencil clearly trace the interior lines of the model.
5Three perforations smaller than the curves of the F-holes should be made, cutting from above, and into the three perforations the knife blade should be introduced and, little by little, all the wood found within the pencil lines should be removed, until the F-holes have been entirely cut out.
7Then the sound board is placed on the mold, on the side with which the ribs have been made level, and two holes are pierced, which, like those of the back, are plugged with two small pegs. This precaution is a necessary one, for as one will see later, when separated from the mold the ribs may at times warp, a disadvantage which is prevented by the pegs which we have just mentioned, since they compel the ribs to maintain the position given them when they were fixed in the mold.
9At this point the mold should be removed from the inside of the ribs. This separation is carried out by means of a chisel whose cutting edge is between the blocks, the corners and the notches of the mold. When the chisel is thus in position, its handle should be given a short, quick tap, and the corners as well as the blocks will separate from the mold, to which they were fixed by means of a single drop of glue, as already has been explained.
11It is now necessary as in the case of the back, to add the linings, which, as well as the ribs themselves, should be joined to the sound board. The blocks should then be rounded by means of knife and scraper, and the corners treated in the same manner, after any glue which may have run over from the ribs of the back has been removed with the chisel. Then the entire inner part of the blocks, the corners, the ribs and the linings should be smoothed with glass paper. The operation is completed by gluing the bass-bar to the sound board, and then gluing the sound board to the violin.
13THICKNESS OF THE BACK AND SOUND BOARD; POSITION OF THE BASS-BAR
15This work, that of giving back and sound board of the violin the requisite degree of thickness, is one of the most detailed tasks found in all violin making.
17By drawing a straight line between the two interior curves of the F-holes, and taking the exact center of this line, we obtain a point which serves as the fundamental base of all the processes used to give the back and the sound board of the instrument the thicknesses necessary to ensure the vibration of the various parts of the two pieces. It is on this operation that the greater or lesser beauty of tone of a violin mainly depends.
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