Violin Making Part 4

The next operation on the belly is cutting the _f_ or soundholes, and I need hardly say (for it has been so often said, that surely you must all be informed on this point), how the drawing, the placing, and the cutting of this most crucial test of a man's powers as an artist or workman, determines the extent of one or other, or both; for a man may be the one, and show himself a blockhead as to the other. You ask for originality, and you find copy, copy all over the world; yet you may suddenly pounce on a line or two not seen in combination before, most abominably in juxtaposition to their entire opposites in curve as they are in grace as in character. For example or examples, suppose I found, crowning the severe, almost rigid column of the soundhole of Del Jesu, the mobile bend of Stradivari?

or, at the turn of the companion lines of Stradivari, the Gothic arch of Del Jesu? with the base of each of a like nature--do you think I should pa.s.s such without a severe growl of condemnation? And yet I _have_ seen such; and I scarcely expect to go on to the end without seeing more of such incongruous monstrosities, but I trust not from any one who _can_ give one thought to character as applied to form.

Fig. 13 is a rough example of the soundhole which I shall presently stencil on to the belly just ready for it. As you will notice, the soundhole is cut out of a piece of paper which follows the lines of one of the lower corners. So, upon the corresponding corner of the wood to be cut, I place this that represents the soundhole, exactly; and I dip a small stiff brush into lampblack, not too wet, rather dry than otherwise, and I dab on to the belly through the cut impression of the soundhole--then I reverse the paper, doing exactly the same at the other side of the wood. Of course, I know beforehand that the impressions will be anything but perfect, or clear, or alike; but I have a way of making them so in cutting, and you, many of you, I hope, will soon acquire the same power. The general feeling of active form, as I may say, must guide you; because, to have the stencil plate by your hand as you seek to give vitality to the dead form impressed on the wood, is one thing, but to copy it slavishly, even though it be your own design, is another. In one word, you must always _create_, no matter what work you are engaged upon, and, in this case, two as original soundholes as lies in your power, and resembling each other as much as you can cut them, but-- cut by an artist.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIII.]

Proceeding to put you in the way of doing this, I bore a small hole with the little piercer tool 0, and, inserting the fine cutter of fret saw, tool 69, inside the belly, so that I have the upper side to the eye, I press the said fine saw into the slot of the screw, and, with spring pliers 51, I fix it for cutting. Then I hold the belly with the left hand level against the lower part of my breast, and cut out a rough pa.s.sage round the inner part of the soundhole, never touching the line, though, but leaving that for the knife 8, which follows.

Where I must especially caution you in the use of this fret saw, is at the upper and lower points which face the holes, as they are so liable to snap there, especially at the lower. Still, with care, you will manage to do this neatly and safely, as you see I have done one, and now proceed to work with the knife mentioned.

This knife, as you see, is very much worn, and is very thin and very sharp. And the two latter characteristics it _must_ possess, as you will one and all of you find when you come to use such, for, as I cut from the inside, the steel continually cropping up here and there, in curves and near to corners, I must be prepared at any moment to work up or down, backwards or forwards, with the grain or against it, until I get somewhat of the shape I wish. But not nearly all I want; so I trim the longer lines until they bend gracefully, ready to fall as does the head of a rocket before it bursts, or give a majestic sweep at the base where they terminate in the spread wing. The apertures at the summit and base I round carefully off; the cuts at the centre of the figure, as a break, as finish to what was unfinished without it, and as a guide to determine the position of the bridge.

And you will conclude this finishes the one soundhole; but it does not, for after I have dressed down the work on the outside with No.

0 sandpaper, there is not a clean bit about it--not a curve or sweep or any part true; and when I retouch it all over, and damp it all over after doing that, when it dries, there are still bits I don't like, and patiently trim it and touch it once or twice again, as I have done to many a poem, to be, perhaps, only engraved in water, or ice at the best; typical, not only of its reception by the world, but of its ultimate starvation and ignominious effacement by the coming warmth of an inspiration congenial to all.

This being at length quite to my mind, I cut its companion as true to the lines of the other as possible, fig. 14, when I take in hand the placing of the ba.s.s bar on the belly, in the rough, preparatory to toning it down in shape, etc., when the glue has set hard.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIV.]

CHAPTER X.

THE Ba.s.s BAR.

There are different opinions as to not only the function or functions of this ba.s.s bar, but as to its length, size in height and breadth, and the placing of it by the soundhole on the G side of the instrument.

As to the former, I think it is pretty well agreed that the bar--only one, please--answers the purpose of a support and vibrator, as opposed to the soundpost, which is of a quite opposite nature, being semi-rigid and a conductor of sound. It is a support where the belly, if too thin, has a tendency to sink; and how often do we notice this, aye, and in (market) valuable old violins too!

when bars, out of all proportion to the rest of the work, have to be inserted, so as to keep up a dignity of doubtful reputation! I will try to make this very vital point clear to you. The wood of this belly is very thin and very old, consequently, very sensitive and active, and more responsive than it ought to be to do battle properly with the ma.s.s of air inside, fine, solid tone being required. In a measure to check this over activity and give more resistance, this heavy bar replaces the old one; but do you not see that a counter evil results? for the over weight of wood added as a bar is not in sympathy with the rest of the thin table; and this, not being strengthened (as against all the canons of order or of etiquette of the initiated), it still responds as before its old companion was cast aside; and I maintain what is gained in strength is lost in quality, resulting from a jarring of two rival conditions.

As I told you, the tone of the belly was D when I stencilled the soundholes on to it; when I had cut the soundholes, it came to C; and it must be my business to bring it again to D, as I work only on these lines, as, if back and belly be of one tone, or too severed, or the latter, say C and the former D, or near to these, there will be weak and strong tones, beats, and perhaps more than one wolf, and not a result at all satisfactory.

Placing the belly face down in the rest before used when hollowing out, I take a strip of old pine (in fact, cut from this belly itself, when in the rough), eleven inches long, five-sixteenths of an inch wide, one and one-eighth inches deep. I then roughly plane this on the shooting board (the plane on its side as used for shooting the plates of the belly).

In fig. 15 you will see that I place the bar at a slight angle, lengthwise, and close to the soundhole; and you will also observe the small squares of pine glued along the joint, so as to give strength to that joint. And I must tell you to put these squares _cross-wise_ with the grain, as I have seen joints in violins give way, and the bits prove a mockery, as they were placed _with_ the grain, or lengthwise--that is to say, they offered no resistance when the collapse came, but quickly yielded and split as would have done a layer of a turnip! Surely, men must be artists indeed, not to forecast such a likelihood arising as this.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XV.]

Continuing _re_ Bar, I work away until I get it to fit absolutely to the surface to which I have to glue it; when I slightly thin it in width from the broad end to the narrow of the violin, as I study every possible contingency; and, by not over-weighting the lesser surface for vibration, I give it a freedom otherwise somewhat r.e.t.a.r.ded, even though infinitesimally. And you will wonder why I place it so much nearer the broad end than the narrow--against the laws laid down by the unctuous law-makers of no matter what nationality? Well, it is because I look upon it as a vibrator and as a _pendulum_; and surely you would never look for the true action of a pendulum, had it a tendency either to one side or another? No, it must work truly and have no bias whatsoever. So, I contend, must this bar, as a pendulum work clean and truly, taking its centre from the cuts in the soundhole, where begins concussion, and the surface of the whole body, wood and air alike. Then why do people act counter to this law, for such it is, and place short bars and long bars, thick and thin, but ignoring this principle for which I so strongly contend as of the greatest consequence? Let them continue to do so, and go on producing tone so satisfactory to them--I advocate an entirely different mode of treatment, as I produce a purity of tone which is a matter of so much comment--and I leave it to your investigation.

The cutting, shaping, and bringing the belly to the note D, by means of this, is part of the work to which you will have to devote great attention: from the shadow thrown by the bar in fig. 15 you will notice that it is shaped somewhat after a gracefully wrought bow, unbent, and at once makes it apparent that it will be a factor for good, as many such have I proved to be.

The reader must not consider the two blemishes on each upper curve of the D as shown on fig. 15, errors in work; they are evidently thumb marks, and dirty ones, through carelessness of photographer.

This brings us at length to the end of the construction of back and belly, both of which we shall leave for the present, whilst we consider the very essential ribs.

CHAPTER XI.

THE RIBS.

The thickness, but more especially the depth of these, is of much consequence in relation to strength and quality of tone. I have found a bare sixteenth of an inch answer very well for thickness, and on the model I have worked on before you, in depth one and a quarter of an inch at lower or broad end, gradually narrowing to one and one-eighth full at the narrow.

Now, take the thickness for granted; but follow me very closely while I describe to you how I arrive at the depth being just what I want and sought for to obtain the note B _before_ the soundpost is inserted, when you blow in the _f_, C, _after_ it is fixed. Of course, this is making the scientific part of the work, or one of them of no sort of anxiety to you, being already done by me at no little trouble and much thought; but, as I set out as a teacher, if only of moderate calibre, I shall go through with my endeavour to make some good workmen out of my listeners and readers, therefore you are welcome to what is, I think, of importance, never minding what will be said at the outset, that all this fuss is somewhat of nonsense, seeing that it was _so_ easy to copy the depth of a rib, and get to what was wanted and avoid it. But I do not like copying where I can help it; besides, what I shall lay before you has the merit of getting at what you want to a nicety, and of finding out what depth of rib will suit the model in hand, and obtaining the ma.s.s of air of which I before spoke.

On a finished back, just like the one which we have before us, I fitted a set of ribs about one inch deep to three-quarter inch taper, and on a similar belly to this, another set of like depth; but I so arranged that those on the back should be one thirty-second more _out_ than usual--that is to say, nearer the edges of the wood--and those on the belly one thirty-second more _in_, or away from those edges. Then, after filing and sc.r.a.ping for a long time, I, with no little patience withal, contrived so that I fitted one set over the other of the ribs, (as a double box) and got a sort of fiddle body, clumsy of course, but I saw my way to doing just what I had set out to do, and I did it eventually.

Gradually shallowing the ribs by lowering belly or raising back, I got various tones or notes for the air ma.s.s, trying E, D, C, B, A, but no resonance such as that of B suited me, so I roughly glued these ribs firmly together, fitted up the whole thing with every accessory such as would allow me to play on the instrument, with the satisfactory result of proving a case beyond question.

So I get to the necessary and somewhat difficult process of making the ribs, etc. But the mould in which they are to be temporarily fixed must be first made by you, and this is the way to go about it.

Get a piece of dry beech--birch or maple of the plain sort will do--18 inches long, 7 inches broad, and 1-1/2 inches deep. Take the half outline of the violin which you have decided to make, and place it flush with the edge of the above block, equal s.p.a.ces being left at either end. Then very firmly and very accurately draw the half outline on the block for your mould. After you have done this, you must trace an _inner_ line all round the other, one-eighth of an inch from the real outline; and, when you get to the corners, carry this inner line to a broad, open point somewhat beyond the square of the corners, as by this you are enabled to pa.s.s your ribs a little over the terminus at said corners, which will most materially a.s.sist you to effect a good joint there.

After this is well done, and your under surface quite level with the plane, take the block to a good band sawyer, and get him to saw _just through_ the inner line, and you will have your mould in a measure ready for your ribs. Still, there is something to be done before you can set to work to fas.h.i.+on them, and the first is, square after the fret saw every quarter inch of its work, with steel square, 60, on tool block, your basis being your planed under surface, as most reliable.

Then, about one inch from inner mould, and one inch apart all round, drill holes through the wood with tool 56, or similar; and three larger holes, about seven-eighth inch diameter, one and a quarter inches under the centre of the D or middle bout, the other two some distance under the two corners. The small holes are for the bent steel cramps 2 to hold by when the linings are being fixed to the ribs, etc., and the three larger ones to hold down the centre rib in the same way by means of fitted wood block 33, and for the corner blocks, when they are fitted properly to the shaped ribs. (Cramp 11 is used in these latter cases.)

Having the mould ready, and in good order, prepare your ribs in this manner:--selecting what is nearest in figure to the back--good, honest wood--dress down both sides of it, the outer to a more finished surface, of course, and cut them to the dimensions previously stated, viz., one and a quarter inches to one and one-eighth of an inch whole length; but this whole length you will have to determine by measurement of each separate bout--lower, middle, and upper--which, when done to a nicety, mark on respective bouts for all future guidance in exact length.

When finally dressed, cut into lengths, and the ends of the middle rib filed down so as to enable the ends to pa.s.s and join upper or lower bout as the case may be, they being filed to fit, put your heating iron, fig. 5, and another iron to match, so that you will have a reserve of heat always on hand, into a bright, if possible smokeless, fire, and from one to the second of the heaters, get a good hot temperature--not scorching, be sure--and place a piece of brown paper over the narrow end of the heated tube. Then hold tool 64 in your right hand, middle rib in the left, and, with one end on the brown paper, the tool on that, very gently, cautiously, and by intuition, as it were, _feel_ your way to a sweet curve of upper corner, using the broad part of the iron for the lower. Of course, although I have not told you, you will have bent the wood _face to the mould_ for this centre, as the reverse for the outer, or larger ones, naturally. This done to your mind--do not be discouraged when I say I hope it _may_ be--for you have hot work before you in more ways than one--get to the sharp corner curves of both the other ribs, face against iron afterwards, inside against it. Mind, as is your true shape to mould, so will your ribs be when it comes to be attached to the back; and there is no patching or trickery allowed here; so do your best. After this, fix the three sections into the mould, and keep them in position by means of cramp 2, and the centre one with block 33, held firmly by cramp 11.

Your corner blocks must be a trifle broader than the ribs, and about as wide as them--also from corner to inner surface, about one and a half inches. Cut and fit these nicely for future glueing, and then prepare and bend your pine for linings. This pine must be about five-sixteenths of an inch broad by about three-thirty-seconds of an inch thick, cut to taper for inner dressing either before or after fixing to ribs. These are not too easily bent, but not nearly so difficult as the ribs; but do not put on too much pressure, or snap is the result.

It will be necessary to see carefully to the gradation of the depth of the ribs from one and a quarter inches to one and one-eighth of an inch, either when they spring from a whole length or from three separate ones. In any case, my advice is to mark the beginning and end of each section from the broad end to the narrow, Nos. 1 to 2, lower; 2 to 3, middle; 3 to 4, upper; so that you cannot well get wrong in bending, from which would spring the first cause of error.

Having your glue somewhat thin but firm, at the point of setting, glue and clamp well your corner blocks (your mould being in the vice) and after that, remove the fitted wood block over the centre rib (it being now fast at both ends by means of the blocks just glued), and accurately fit the two small linings there, removing each end of said lining between block and rib, at either end, and, by first forcing half-inch chisel where the lining will have to go, as a sort of slot. This you must also do at the ends of all the other linings. Now glue the two small ones for centre and carefully fit and force them end by end into slots, finally placing wood block 33 over glued linings, and clamp firmly with cramp 11. The other four are much easier to fit and fix; small cramp 2 being used; but here you must always be sure of a perfect fit all over, or you will find when taken from the mould there will be apertures, Fig. 16.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVI.]

When dry next day, and before you take from the mould, remove most of the cramps (one or two being left to keep the work fixed) and very neatly cut and clean all the work, as shown in figure of open instrument, and go about it in this manner:--the heavy corner blocks must be reduced with large gouge, and the linings made to fall away from their _full_ thickness at edge of ribs to fine union with said ribs at the extreme of their (the linings) width. After that, clean every atom of superfluous glue away, and finish off with two or even three courses of sandpaper, rough to fine.

Then remove these so far finished ribs, and take the knife 19, being made by you exceedingly keen of edge, and square both edges all over, so accurately that, when they are glued later on to the back and belly, they shall fit and well, being jointed so that no aperture whatever is apparent.

But, you will doubtless murmur, it is all very well to _say_ all this--please show us how to _do_ it all; for, on the face of it, this is no child's play. And you are right to speak out; for it is one of the most difficult points we have to master, and I fully intended to make it quite clear before leaving it.

Hold the rib by left hand firmly to your breast, face side to you.

Then take the knife 19, and cut away the superfluous linings and corner block wood, holding the steel absolutely square with the rib, or you will be all abroad. It is this squareness that is the severe test and your great trouble just now. Try on anything and on everything before you try it on a rib you may spoil; but _do_ it on something or other, and finally you will do it and well on these ribs.

But, after cutting, you will have still more to do--lay them flat and keep them so and rigid with left hand whilst you, with rasp 47, fine side, level from one end to the other, _not from_ you across the rib, as the other way is safer for keeping square, and obviates the risk of tearing away part of a lining or slip from a corner block.

You will have dressed the ribs at the outset as instructed; but you will now find them anything but fit to attach to the back; so trim and make them free from any blemish or stain of dirt, and then do your best to fit one side accurately, so that, when glued afterwards, there may be no discrepancies nor goings back.