Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 234
Scan 234
Old violins, 1905
12 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 212. See the scan on archive.org.
1laying the blame on the violin when the string is the offender.
3Of course, if the sound-bar or the back or belly of the violin is loose, or the sound-bar askew, that will account for a good deal. By tapping all round the front and the back, just where these join the ribs, you can easily discover by a certain jar or rattle whether and where something is loose; it may be one of the blocks or linings.
5Test the fiddle and you may acquit the strings; test the strings and you may acquit the fiddle.
7You may sometimes experience a difficulty in playing the A or D string without striking the E or G; this may be due to your own clumsiness, but it may also be due to the curve of your bridge being too flat, or someone or more of the strings having eaten too deeply into the bridge.
9If your hand perspire much—and all hands perspire—your strings, especially your E string, will rag out. It is difficult to say exactly at what stage in the ragging process it is advisable to change your string. It is strange, but true, that the tone of an old ragged string is not materially impaired. I have sometimes fancied that such thorough tough and seasoned strings are even improved in spite of age and infirmity. Certain it is that the smoothest string will go without warning, and the raggedest will sometimes hang on down to a mere thread.
11Paganini perspired frightfully, so much so that he always carried a dry shirt in his violin case, and a gentle-
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