Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 176
Scan 176
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
10 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 150. See the scan on archive.org.
1the sulphur bath, since, as chemistry teaches, all acids have the property of turning Dutch orchal and, in general, all vegetable blues, red. This will also explain why blue strings usually end up by turning red, especially if they are always in the neighborhood of sulphurated strings. When the blue strings, however, have taken on a red color, it is easy enough to make them return to their original tint by exposing them to an ammonia vapor bath.
3Silk Strings.—Besides the gut strings, the violin makers use others made of silk. These came from China originally, but are now made in America as well as in Europe. The Chinese silk strings were twisted or plaited strings (Chinese watercord) enveloped in a layer of gelatin. They have been reproached with a tendency to stretch when mounted, and with not holding their tone. In spite of this serious defect, open-air musicians, especially village fiddlers, used them largely at one time. Many were also sent to colonial possessions in warm countries, where the action of the humidity together with the heat softens gut strings so that they not only break very easily, but are also incapable of rendering service when needed.
5American and European silk strings, especially those made in Paris, are far superior to the silk strings of furthest Asia, because, before putting them on the market, they are subjected to a very severe tension which at once allows them to rise to pitch and to hold the pitch for a considerable time. They are usually composed of some 140 filaments, each filament made of 12 silk-worm threads, which gives a total of 1,680 filaments. After the skein of threads has been softened in an acid vapor bath, it is twisted together by means of a special wheel, then, when the string has been completed, it is covered with a light layer of gum arabic, and polished with a piece of white wax until it exceeds in uniformity and transparency the best of gut strings.
7Covered Strings.—It only remains for us to mention the strings covered with wire ribbon, which are generally known as covered strings, in order to distinguish them from ordinary strings. The fourth or G string is the only covered string used on the violin.
9These covered strings are strings of gut or of silk covered with silvered copper or with silver wire, whose spirals are very close to one another. When the interior string is of gut, they are not subjected to a sulphur bath, nor are they oiled. In the smaller factories the metallic outer sheath is applied by means of a wheel similar to that employed by the lace trimmers. For this purpose the string is attached to the hook of the wheel, while the opposite end is fastened to a turning loper, which is suspended by a weight from a band which, passing over a pulley, is attached to the loper. A workman then winds the extremity of the metal wire about the string, quite close to the loper, while giving the wheel a uniform movement. The string then begins to turn and communicate the same movement to the loper, and, while the workman supports it with his left hand, with his right he directs the metal wire in such wise that it rolls itself upon the string with the most perfect regularity. In
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