Books › The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903 › scan 76
Scan 76
The Repairing & Restoration of Violins, 1903
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 62. See the scan on archive.org.
1artistically, all very well, but this is not likely to be always the case, although a comparatively easy bit of work with the original lines each side as a guide. This method of grafting is puzzling when successful, as little or nothing is perceptible from the front and not much, unless searched for, at the back.
3On measuring the different parts of an old violin in its original condition, we shall find the neck, taking from the edge of the upper shoulder of the instrument to a point where the nut is placed, to be not much more than four and a half inches, whereas our modern necks measured at the same parts would give five inches and an eighth. The old length taken at this part alone would give too short a fingerboard, causing the fingers to hamper each other, especially in the upper part of the register, where so many modern composers seek for effective passages. The neck must, therefore, to meet the requirements of the day, be lengthened. In the earlier part of the present century there was a method much in vogue for effecting this without interfering with the head and while keeping the greater part of the original neck (diagram 23). This was done by firstly removing the fingerboard, probably worn into ruts; the middle of the thickest or lowest part of the neck attached to the body had then to be loosened and removed, often no doubt a troublesome task owing to one, two and sometimes three nails being in the way, this in consequence of the habit of the old makers of attaching the neck with its scroll before closing up the body of the violin. Having accomplished this, the repairer chiselled off two square pieces, one on each side at the same end, and then fitted longer blocks with the grain running the same way. These were afterwards cut down to the proper form, so that the terminating part under the fingerboard increased the length of the neck to the modern standard. Of course, when fitted into the original space or socket from whence the neck was taken, the rounded part going to or above the button was now too large, this part was therefore cut, filed and finished down to the required size and shape.
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