Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 171
Scan 171
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
18 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 145. See the scan on archive.org.
1several fixed pegs, while the opposite end is pierced to receive other wooden pegs, which, however, are moveable.
3The twisting process is repeated several times, each repetition being separated from the other by various manipulations, carried out in different ways.
5A start is made by selecting two, three or even a greater number of guts which are quite humid, according to the string which is to be made, and assembling them in such a way that the thick end of the one lies beside the thin end of another. Thus prepared, the guts are attached, at one extremity, to a little peg which is placed on one of the hooks on the wheel, and it is then twisted around one of the fixed pegs of the frame. After this the guts are cut to a suitable length, and their free end is fixed on a small peg, resembling the preceding one, which is set on the second wheel. The wheel is then set in motion, and while the guts are being transformed into fiddle strings, the fingers are passed along them their entire length in order to prevent the formation of inequalities!
7As a rule the wheel is only allowed to make a small number of turns, since, thanks to the way in which its mechanism is arranged, this is enough to give the guts a torsion of several hundred turns.
9The twisting of the strings having been completed, the small pegs of the wheels are removed; they are introduced into the two holes opposite the fixed pegs of the frame, and the operation just described is repeated in the same way with a new bundle of guts, until the frame is completely filled.
11The Sulphur Bath
13The sulphuring of the strings follows after this first twisting process, with the object of whitening the strings. The frames are placed in a special room, the sulphuring room, usually in the evening. After having been put in the middle of the room the frames, with the strings which have been wound on them during the day, are left there, and flowers of sulphur are ignited in a vessel, while all the cracks and openings of the door are hermetically sealed with putty. While burning, the sulphur releases sulphuric acid gas which, as is well known, has a bleaching effect on animal and vegetable matter.
15It must not be forgotten that the quantity of sulphur, large or small, which is used, has no influence whatever on the success of the operation. Since the sulphur can only burn in proportion to the amount of air contained in the sulphuring room, the result is that, if too much be employed, whatever portion is in excess liquefies instead of producing sulphuric acid gas, which is an actual loss. Experience has shown that 25 grams of sulphur, as a rule, will be enough for a room of 2.616 cubic yards.
17The frames are left overnight in the sulphuring room. They are withdrawn the following morning, and are then placed on benches or on a species of inclined chest or box, called the freshening box, where they are exposed to the open air, but not to the rain, until the strings have partly dried. The
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