Books › The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903 › scan 37
Scan 37
The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1wood is hard and dry. The material should be selected for its solidity and hardness like that for the other nut. In olden times, say those of the early Italians, this part, owing to the small amount of strain in consequence of low pitch, low bridge and short neck, seems to have been treated with almost indifference, a very slight piece of ebony, cherry, pear, or other variety of hard wood found in Italy, sufficing for the purpose (diagram 10). It was left level with the surrounding soft wood, or nearly so; there was no occasion for raising it at the time, as the tail-string projected from the underneath of the tailpiece instead of that almost universally now known as the secret tie (diagrams 11 and 12). This latter necessitates the use of a higher and more substantial nut, otherwise the tailpiece would be close down to, if not touching, the table, causing a rattling. Further, in accordance with mechanical law, the strain or pull forward increases with the height of the nut. It is therefore obvious, that unless well fitted and held strongly, the nut will be liable to be wrenched forward out of position. This is more frequent than would be suspected, and is sometimes a secret source of damage or bad influence leading to disaster in other parts of the instrument. The same observations concerning the preliminaries apply to the fixing of this as to the other nut. The modern arrangement of the part leaves but little to be improved upon.
3The length and thickness of the nut required having been determined upon, we will suppose ourselves in the presence of an old worthy from Cremona requiring a fresh attachment, the wood selected—Mauritius ebony for preference—and the measurement as follows, \( \frac{5}{6} \) in length and thickness according to the width of the border, as the nut looks best when the inner edge runs in a continuous line with that of the purfling (diagram 13). In highly finished work and when the end of the violin has a perceptible curve instead of being nearly straight, the nut should be made to follow the course of the purfling, this will require some care in the cutting and finishing of it. For this a piece of almost any veneer cut
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