Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 161
Scan 161
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
20 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 135. See the scan on archive.org.
1button, taking care that the hole which is to receive the screw on the bow is situated in the center. Then the bow maker causes the square end of the screw to enter the hole of the button by main force, guarding against the screw's sliding to one side in the process.
3This done, he mounts the nut upon the bow, and, using the vise, compels the screw of the nut to rise to the edge of the wedge box. Thus the button is placed in position against the end of the stick, and with a file the eight panels which exist on the stick are formed on the button.
5On the head of the button the turner has left a small circle to which a bit of mother-of-pearl is to be affixed. It is quite easy to take off the piece of mother-of-pearl while filing, hence the glue should be used a little more liberally than usual, and after the glue has dried it should be filed once more, and then put in flowers of vitriol.
7FINISHING, POLISHING AND VARNISHING OF THE BOW
9When all the processes we have described have been completed, the nut of the bow is mounted and the stick is bent in order to make it slant backward to a somewhat greater degree than the various manipulations to which it has already been exposed have accomplished.
11First, one should study out, holding the end of the stick at which the button is placed close to the eye, whether the bow is perfectly straight. If it leans to either one side or the other, this must be rectified by exposing it to the heat of a fire.
13To carry out this operation, which is a delicate one—if it is clumsily done the stick may easily be broken—coal should be lit in a furnace, and when it begins to glow, the stick should be heated at the place where it is evident that it is not straight. It is then bent, holding it in both hands until it has become perfectly straight.
15The secret of successfully carrying out this operation lies in heating the stick only little by little, until, having become perfectly hot, it yields freely to manipulation. Care must be taken that the stick does not begin to smoke, for in such case the wood has been burned.
17When a careful visual examination shows that the stick is perfectly straight, the time has come to mount the nut, and to see whether, when looking through the nut, and at the same time glancing at the lower plate of the head of the bow, the belly is sufficiently curved to allow it to appear on the optical line which runs from the nut to the head. If this is not the case, the belly of the bow should be curved somewhat more. Finally, the head of the stick should be taken in the left hand and the other end in the right, and forcing the belly of the bow to rise on the side of the stick, one should make sure that there are no places left which are insufficiently curved. If there are, the bow may be reheated.
19At this point all that remains to be done is to polish every part of the
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