GETTING PARTS TOGETHER THAT APPARENTLY DO NOT FIT--THE USE OF BENZINE
OR TURPENTINE--TREATMENT OF WARPED OR TWISTED LOWER TABLES.
"We will now," says the chief, "have a look at that old Brescian violin
that I bought last week, it is in that set of drawers by the bench there,
the third from the top." The assistant gives a look in the direction
that would strike a spectator as expressive of doubt whether a violin
could be even squeezed by hard pressure into any of the drawers.
Nevertheless he obeys, opens the drawer, and seeing only a brown paper
parcel tied with thin string, takes it out and holding it up says, "do
you mean this paper bag, sir?" "Yes, that is it." The paper bag is
brought to the table at which the chief is sitting and who undoes the
string and paper, letting loose a number of begrimed pieces of
veneer-like wood, some of these fractured, the upper and lower tables
comprising three parts, a head that some modern makers would think ugly
enough to cause a nightmare, with its short heavy neck as left by the
maker about three hundred years back. The condition of the whole
concern was suggestive of its having been raked up from some out of
the way dust heap that had, after the oblivion of a century, at last
caught the eye of a modern sanitary inspector. There was only one sort
of person to whom it would be at all inviting, that of our chief above
mentioned. "Now that is what I call a bargain, James," he begins, when
turning over the pieces one by one; "all perfect, not a part lost. I
bought it of a dealer in the country who said he could not get the parts
together, they would not fit, and he was glad to get rid of the lot
with as little loss as possible." James at this moment has been placing
the two tables of the violin together and remarks, "I don't think these
belong, sir, the back is nearly a quarter of an inch shorter than the
front and narrower too." "Never mind that," is the answer, "the style
is the same, the purfling, the work and the varnish are the same, it
was all together at one time and looked well enough, and it will have
to go together again and possibly look much better, and you will have
to do it under my instruction, as you proceed, it will repay for all
the trouble and time spent upon it by its appearance and tone. The man
who sold it to me said that its former owner told him he had a good
try at getting it together and failed. This is the direction in which
they have both made their mistake, they treated the unmechanical old
Italian work as they would a modern copy of a Cremonese maker, and which
had been built upon a machine cut block that served for ever so many
warehouse fiddles; these old Italians had to use the hand bow saw, which
was not adapted, unless great care was taken, for getting very true
upright sides, hence the upper and lower tables are as often as not
differing in size, sometimes the upper is largest, at others the lower.
Occasionally the length may be the same with the width differing. Now
you had better set to work and wash all that muck from the pieces, be
careful not to separate any parts that may be fairly well fixed. I want
you to do this cleaning in my manner, not that which you were accustomed
to before coming here. I know the too frequently pursued method of
putting the whole collection of parts in a tub of water and there
letting them float about until the glue has dissolved and left the wood,
but the following is preferable. Firstly, get some hot water sufficient
for your requirements as you proceed, renewing it occasionally. Your
piece of sponge you always have ready, and your cotton cloth as usual.
I have cut down a hog hair brush of half-an-inch in width, you can use
other sizes according to convenience. Being cut abruptly across, they
can be used as small scrubbing brushes after dipping in the hot water.
The advantage is that of your being enabled to leave untouched or even
dry, certain parts which you are not desirous of interfering with. The
occasional sopping up with the sponge and cloth will show the progress
that is made. The dark, dirty glue of the modern fiddle tinker will
gradually wash off, leaving frequently the ancient, light coloured
stuff in quite a fresh state and sharply defined, further, it will
sometimes give you a hint as to the exact position which the adjacent
pieces held originally. There will not be any necessity for scrubbing
very hard with the cut-down brushes; if this is done the surface of
the wood will suffer; a little patience as one part after another is
cleansed and the whole completely denuded of its covering of dirty glue
and grime, and it will be perceptible that there is method in this,
and consequently the most rapid real progress.
"Occasionally there will be found in and about old repairings or
tinkerings lumps of pitch-like substances, hard or soft as the occasion
has seemed to the workman to require, or possibly the only stuff
obtainable, if not with the idea of a damp resisting material. These,
as you know, will be treated in your usual manner, that is, removing
with a blunt knife for a large piece and a piece of fine flannel wetted
with some pure benzine, which having a strong affinity for any oily
particles, absorbs them rapidly and leaves a clean surface. Spirit of
turpentine will also answer the purpose, but is less rapid in its action
and does not evaporate so completely, leaving a slight residuum of
resin. Alcohol of any degree of strength must be kept quite away from
the work, as even supposing it specially adapted as a solvent for
removing the objectionable material that may be found clinging
anywhere, it has such destructive action upon the old Italian varnishes
that the slightest drop on the surface will cause irreparable injury.
Keep it quite clear of your repairing work, it is not absolutely
necessary under any circumstances, although it is very tempting to a
slovenly repairer."
We will now suppose that the instructions have been duly carried out,
the different parts have now resumed their original condition of
cleanliness and have a wholesome aspect. One or two of the ribs left
standing and even undisturbed since being placed in position by the
maker about three centuries back, serve as a guide respecting the
projection of the edging over the ribs. After carefully noting this,
and damping round the inner edge, these are removed and placed aside.
The chief and his assistant are now enabled to thoroughly examine the
work of this product of a by-gone age. It is none the worse for being
clean. The comments upon the tool-marks now visible after the
dispersion of the grime are of a rather opposite character, the
connoisseur noticing the manner of working over the surface by the old
Italians as being different to that pursued now; the assistant sees
nought but rough gougings and scratchings as with a notched or blunted
tool, and concludes that the old makers were not as good workmen as
the moderns. "Now, James," says the other, "you have been doing little
else than repairing since you took up with this business, and have never
had the opportunity of working a violin from the beginning, straight
off the stocks, without being drawn away to some other work. Consequent
upon this your work has not so much distinctive character, much effort
at mere smoothness being apparent and in excess of good style. These
old Italians were designing and making new violins day after day for
their livelihood. Repairing, when they could make equally good, fresh
instruments, was to them of secondary importance, and so we find
restorations in the olden times were of a kind we should now call very
indifferent, if not altogether bad."
The lower table or back of good sycamore is now turned about and well
scrutinised by James, who now remarks, "this back is warped, I think
that is why the last two owners could not make the other parts fit well,
what is to be done with it, we are not likely to make a better job of
it than they were with a back twisted like that?" The reply is, "that
old Brescian maker was not likely to turn out a new violin with such
a twisted spine! that condition has arisen since and is not a
constitutional defect, it has been caused by damp and straining, and
being repaired while in the strained condition, it retained the twist;
we must alter that. Fortunately, the back is in one piece, so we shall
not have the trouble about the joint, although with the necessary extra
care the treatment would have to be much the same. Now, first of all,
get a cotton cloth sufficiently large when folded once or twice to cover
a surface such as the violin back presents. It must now be well soaked
with water till it holds as much as possible without dripping. The
violin table will now be placed with the varnished side downwards, the
wetted cloth placed over it. Be sure that the surfaces of cloth and
wood are in contact by gently dabbing it down all over. It can now be
placed aside for about three or four hours in order that the moisture
may soak into the wood for some depth. Meanwhile we may determine upon
and get ready the means whereby the warping, as far as possible, if
not wholly, may be got rid of. It must be borne in mind that the wood
which was cut in its natural state from the tree and mostly with the
grain, will be disposed, under the influence of damp, to return to the
original form or condition in a more or less degree. Under good
management, that is to say, with a sufficient amount of damp and no
more, it almost seems to try to resume its old condition. This will
be borne out by watching the effect of much wet upon any wood that has
been previously bent into shape, or upon the separated ribs of a violin.
The efforts of the wood to return to its original conformation will
be apparent in the instance of the ribs, perhaps provoking, as the
re-bending without injuring the varnish, which may happen to be of the
most lustrous and delicate description, is often a matter of great
difficulty, and at times an impossibility."
It was for the purpose of avoiding the risk of such defacement that
the brushing away of the glue and grime by parts at a time was
recommended, although the time consumed by taking the parts in detail
may often be a drawback. If the ribs are quite saturated, as when left
to float in water, they will be sure to come out nearly straight, and
the varnish, if not of the kind that has been worked well into the wood,
irrecoverably spoilt. Even when quite so, the trouble does not end here,
for the wood having taken nearly its own form again, will have to be
bent, with all its attendant troubles, into shape. Complete saturation
of any part of the violin should therefore be avoided.
The "making" or arrangement of whatever may be needful for getting rid
of the warp or twist of the back plate will now have to be decided upon.
There is generally more than one way of getting over a mechanical
difficulty, and in the present instance there may be many, but the one
promising to be most successful and offering the least number of
obstacles to success will have attention. The repairer takes in hand
some of the softest wood obtainable, say American pine, or if any is
easily obtainable, poplar; that kind known as "black poplar" is perhaps
as free from hard thread as any, a couple or more of slabs about three
or four inches wide and two or three longer than the upper and lower
widths of the back, with about a quarter of an inch of thickness. An
opening is bored in each, one in which the upper or smaller part will
pass through, the other sufficiently large to admit the lower or larger
half. The opening must of course be enough for admission of the rise
or modelling and a little more. The object of this will soon be apparent.
When the inner surface of the back plate has absorbed sufficient
moisture from the wet cloth, this being so in the judgment of the
operator, the wood will have lost very much of its resisting power to
twisting by the hands. Advantage is taken of this condition, and each
piece or collar of wood passed over the proper portion of the back like
a loop. If fitting tolerably close, all the better; but it may require
a soft wedge or two in parts to keep it from shifting after being placed
in position. In some instances more than two or even three or four
pieces may be of advantage where the tendency to twist is irregular.
The operator now gets a short plank of ordinary wood, of even surface,
straight, and true as possible in each direction; lifting the violin
table with the loops of wood attached and placing it on the plank, some
of the loops will be raised up on one side while others are depressed
at the same. In the case of the simple warp, one of the two will vary
in rise or a different angle to the plane. The process now is simple,
and the loop rising at one side will be pressed down and held in position
by either a weight or any contrivance handy. It should be done a little
more than seems necessary for restoring the even line of the edging,
which can be fairly well seen by looking along from end to end; this
is to allow of a slight recoil when the loops or wooden cramps are
removed.
For a more determined twist the extra depression of one part can be
accomplished by inserting layers of wood under the opposing parts so
as to get more distance for the remaining one.
Nothing is now required but the drying thoroughly. This will be
according to temperature and moisture present in the atmosphere; no
artificial means should be resorted to.
Not the slightest injury will accrue from the process described,
provided due care is taken that there is no overstraining, and the
damping is neither excessive nor insufficient. The result of the former
is likely to be an inequality in the bending, the line or level of the
edging when looked at along its course, will look uneven, as if some
upheaval had taken place here and there. Courage and caution are
faculties brought to bear strongly and continuously on the subject by
every repairer with a reputation for success. Without the former, many
attempts which might have ended successfully have proved to be failures
and to require doing over again; and insufficiency of the latter is
what is so strongly evident in a very large majority of so-called
"restored" violins. The cases may have been considered by the repairers
as requiring heroic treatment, overstraining, excision of an
unnecessary amount of the old wood, making too much of a clean sweep
of parts that may have afforded food and lodging for bore worms being
too evident, besides the saving of time and trouble.