Books › Violin making and repairing, 1927 › scan 8
Scan 8
Violin making and repairing, 1927
8 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Sycamore is the wood generally used for the first-named portions, and although maple and bird's-eye maple, when well chosen, make handsome instruments, it will be better for the beginner to stick to sycamore. Bird's-eye maple is very tough and difficult to work, the "eyes" easily lifting out in gouging; and it is very difficult to work a plate satisfactorily when this happens.
3The finer the figure of the wood, or "flame" as it is technically called, the more difficult the work, and it is as well in building a first instrument, at all events, to choose a piece of wood showing a fairly plain figure. Plain wood, generally speaking, makes the best-toned violins, and, after all, tone is the final object of the workmanship.
5The material must be thoroughly dry and well seasoned, and the older it is the better. On no account must "green" wood be used, as it will twist and warp after construction, causing the workmanship, however fine, to go for nothing. Neither must wood be used which has been attacked by worms, for although it may appear on examination that the material is only slightly damaged, it is impossible to tell how far the damage extends. A crack or "shake" in a valuable piece of wood may be glued up, and the damage remedied, but worm-holes belong to a very different category.
7To test wood for "faking," which is, unfortunately, occasionally used to give green wood a fictitious appearance of age, touch it with the tip of the tongue. Acid will at once make its presence known by means
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