Books › The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903 › scan 68
Scan 68
The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 54. See the scan on archive.org.
1work, according to the fashion or type of the violin. A glass papering of the parts will complete the matter so far as the exterior is concerned. Some restorers might recommend the glueing on of the scroll to be proceeded with earlier, or before the block has been finally reduced and cut to shape. There is not very much preference one way or the other; in the one above detailed we avoid the risk of fresh damage to the scroll while sawing and cutting, the rough or more violent tooling being done before the junction is effected. It would be as well to let the new wood be of full measurement to allow of fining down the new surface to meet that of the old, which may possibly have some lustrous varnish upon it, and which every good restorer would do his utmost to preserve. After this is all satisfactorily done, the lines may be traced which are to act as guides for the hollowing of the peg-box.
3For this purpose a rather small chisel of the kind known among cabinet makers as a mortising chisel will be required. Gently and by degrees the mass of superfluous maple will have to be removed. It must be borne in mind that maple or other tough wood will not bear the forcing that a piece of pine will. A hard-wood workman is essentially a man of degrees, the tougher the wood the less must be shaved off at a stroke. The strong, massive form of the mortising chisel is used in order that there may be as little spring as possible in it while cutting and so prevent a hacking of the parts instead of a clean cut surface; indeed, no other proportioned tool can be used with any degree of facility. It must not be ground to a very acute angle, or the objections that are sought to be avoided will reappear in another form. Great care must be taken that the mortising does not extend to a depth that will cause the back to be thin and weak. This mistake is often seen to have been committed in very valuable instruments, especially such as have the two grooves deeply modelled, or the contour downwards from the volutes is much indented. At times, on the other hand, sound judgment has been perceptibly directed to this part and instead of cutting away wood to allow of
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