Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 229
Scan 229
Old violins, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 207. See the scan on archive.org.
1all points the surface of the belly—flat and close, and with equal pressure. Now, if the bridge leans forward, the grip of the back part of the feet is slightly lifted, whilst the pressure of the front part is accentuated, and if it leans backwards, precisely the reverse takes place. Yet so capricious are fiddles, that some do not seem to like to have their bridges quite straight, and so they have got to be humoured.
3Without grave cause I should advise not meddling with bridge or sound-post after they have been re-adjusted by a good repairer. He may not have been quite right; he may not have had the time or patience to deal with your malade imaginaire of a fiddle—for amongst fiddles as amongst people, there are malades imaginaires which baffle the profession—but your fiddle-doctor will be probably more right than you—fussy, irritable, discontented, inexperienced amateur, and, if you leave off tampering with the works, the fiddle will very probably adjust itself and get all right.
5Then of course you must remember that whenever you touch the bridge you touch the elevation of the strings above finger-board. Put bridge back, you slacken the touch for the player by bringing the strings close down on the finger-board; put it forward or tilt it, and you lighten the touch; make it harder for the fingers by lifting the strings higher from the finger-board.
7And now a word about your finger-board. This is generally made of ebony; the old masters used various brownish woods, choosing, of course, the harder ones, which they often inlaid beautifully. Sometimes even
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.