Books › Violin making, 1902 › scan 142
Scan 142
Violin making, 1902
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 84. See the scan on archive.org.
1that too much is not taken out of the slot I have to finish, either in width or inner recess, as that, one or the other, would necessitate lowering the neck end, which is not what I want to do. First the knife, then the files (coarse ones), and little by little, I get nearer and nearer to a fit, when I try angle and the straightness of the whole with the fiddle, using compasses to measure from inner point of purfling, upper corner, to corner of fingerboard on corresponding side, with their exact counterparts on the other; and testing height of fingerboard from belly. This is very weary work, and must be quite correctly done, or—well you will either hear of it again in words, or see your failure in the sweet smile which is more detestable than the severest frown.
3But all is at length right; the neck is forced home, and I mark round the button, on to the superfluous wood of neck, its curve, so that I may not cut beyond when I thin the neck to its proper and final shape and thickness.
5Many of you will, doubtless, be players of the fiddle, and to such, good, bad or indifferent, I need hardly say how much the disposition and general character of the neck of your instrument influences your performance on it. It is obviously quite impossible to lay down any rule or law, as to depth, width, or the curve at the end terminating at the button, for some will have this latter thin and abrupt, others less so, whilst a few insist on its being thick.
7If people only knew how much the strength of the neck has to do with the tone of the instrument, they
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