Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 104
Scan 104
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
22 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 78. See the scan on archive.org.
1blocks, their ends are introduced into these pieces in order to fasten them more firmly. The small clips straddle both the linings and the ribs themselves, and hold them together.
3The linings having been glued and, the glue having dried, the clips are all removed, and the edge of the linings, near the mold, are removed with the knife, after which they are rubbed with glass paper. Finally, gouges are employed to round off the corners and the blocks level with the mold.
5Before going any farther we would advise all those who make use of this treatise, as amateurs in violin building, always to have a group of the tools used before their eyes (Plate 29). The processes of work here described will then appear far less difficult to understand than would otherwise be the case.
7HOW TO BUILD THE BACK OF THE VIOLIN
9It is not hard to understand that the back of the violin must necessarily be that part of it which forms the under side when the instrument is being played.
11The back and the sound board are made in the same way; the presence of the F-holes in the latter being the only difference between the two pieces, and the back should have absolutely the same arching, the same appearance as the sound board.
13As has already been seen, there exists, in the middle of the pieces of maple or plane wood (Fig. 13, Plate 32) of which backs made of a single piece are to be formed, an elevation destined to form the arch of the instrument. In backs made of two pieces, the two heaviest sides of the slabs of wood (Fig. 14, Plate 32) are joined by means of glue, which gives the back the same character as one formed of a single piece of wood.
15Hence, if the back is to be formed of two pieces, one must begin by splitting the piece of plane wood in the middle, following the marked line (Fig. 14, Plate 32).
17This done, the two thickest and broadest sides of the split wood are smoothed by means of the plane, and when, fitting one to the other, it is evident that they form a perfect jointure all along the line, they are glued together. Once the glue has dried, the two pieces, which now form but one, are absolutely similar to a back made of a single piece, and from this moment on they are handled in the same way.
19The flat slab of the back is placed on the workbench, and with the griper raised enough to provide a point of support for it, both sides should be planed down in such a way that both sides are equally thick at their opposite edges. Care must always be taken not to dig in the iron of the plane too deeply for fear of tearing out chips.
21The two nether sides of the back having been carefully scraped and leveled, the piece of wood is turned around on the workbench in order that its flat surface may be scraped, and it is scraped until the application of a rule proves
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