FIXING NECK, FINGERBOARD, ETC.
As this neck and mortice business is very difficult of manipulation,
I will direct you how to cut the end of neck so that a perfect fit
may be obtained in the body of violin where was cut the mortice
previously, fig. 19, into which said neck has to be inserted. To the
exact outline of this I now cut the neck end, one and three-eighths
of an inch broad at top, one and three-sixteenths of an inch at
bottom, and one and nine-sixteenths of an inch deep. I cut on an
angle, so as to get the elevation required for correct height of
bridge. And then, all being square, I slope to the end which is
ultimately to be joined to the button. You will gather all this from
plates of scroll.
To obtain the peg holes, I mark at certain distances a guiding
point, through which, at one side E and A, and on the other G and D,
I bore preliminary holes with hand bit No. 12 (on tool plate),
square, absolutely, through to the other cheek of peg-box. After all
are done, in brace bit 29, position 28, I place taper bit 59, and
cut, E, A, D, G, finishing approximately for pegs with tool 15.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.]
Then, before I fix the neck into the violin, I attach the
fingerboard and nut--the latter in rough ebony, as I always work
this neater with some wood over and above what I want. This
fingerboard must be perfect in fit, put on with very hot, thin glue,
and well cramped with three No. 11 cramps, having wood guard 31 over
fingerboard for protection. When set and hard next day, I prepare
the end incision for the neck to enter, and proper elevation of the
ebony, so that the correct angle for a bridge of fair average height
may be obtained. I give you what is a fair average height--one and
three-eighths of an inch; but there is no absolute _rule_ as to
this. What is here given is that which will suit the instrument just
made, as I know by many constructed on similar lines. This height is
got when the bridge is held down by the strings, and the measurement
is from belly to middle of the arch of the bridge.
Your fingerboard must be at such an angle when the neck is fixed,
that the end of it near bridge must measure exactly thirteen-sixteenths
of an inch from belly to top of ebony; by this means your bridge, as
described, will be just a nice height for clean fingering of the
strings.
This brings me to fixing the neck, and I do it thus:--In the first
place, I have to remember that the length from nut on the
fingerboard, inner side, to the bridge, must be, when all is
finished, thirteen inches exactly, and the angle as above. So I have
to be _very_ careful that 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.
But 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.
Many 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.
If people only knew how much the strength of the neck has to do with
the tone of the instrument, they would leave to the maker or expert
to determine what was best for it, either in the original making of
the violin or in placing a new neck in an old one. But it is
_convenience_--what we like and what we _will have_; so, in
consequence, suffers the tone of the instrument.
You have a violin thick in wood: if I find on it a neck also heavy
in material, to a certainty I have to register thin, woody tone;
whereas, given a thinner neck there would be more vibration in it,
and an undoubted impetus would be given to the somewhat inert body
of the violin--its heavy timber being too much for the mass of air,
which acts its part in that it moves in response to compulsion, but
fails, in producing so feeble an agitation of the whole wood.
But, on the other hand, I find a thin neck attached to a thin body,
and I also find a whole pack of wolves, hollow, rasping tone, and
difficult of production--in fact, a wretched fiddle.
Then, as to width of fingerboard--a narrow one is often clung to as
"so nice and handy," etc., but it is forgotten that the strings in
consequence have to be brought closer together than clean fingering
requires; and, moreover, the E string must, of necessity, be brought
too near the edge of the ebony for firm stopping; so I have no
sympathy whatever with a narrow or too thin fingerboard and neck.
But I have to work away at the rough neck after having traced the
outline of the button upon the under end of it--not the _actual_
shape of this necessity, but such as will serve as a guide to one of
more grace. Added to that, I roughly mark the shape and thickness of
the wood up to which I have to cut away, to insure nice handling. To
this line I cut with bow saw 68; and I then use all the knives I
have, and many files--rasps in the early stages--until I get to the
_shape_ I want, after which I wet with a sponge, renewing the work
when dry with finer files and glass-paper, No. 1-1/2, making a
second stage, then wet again, to two more stages, when all _should_
be very clean and nice. Of course, I round the fingerboard's edges
somewhat, and clean on each occasion of wetting. When finished, the
neck should measure round thick end (one and a half inches from
extreme end of wood), three and a half inches; and round thin end
(one inch from peg-box) three inches. This finishes the neck, which
is now ready for insertion in the violin.
I have, above, treated of this: I now do it actually. I have wood
guard 31 ready for protection of fingerboard, and 32, for the back,
and one of No. 11 cramps. I dab the neck and the cutting with hot
strong glue, and gently work them together, until the glue oozes out
at all points, when I put on the wood guards and clamp hard. Then I
wash the superfluous glue away with a sponge wrung out of hot water,
after I have tested whether I have got in the neck straight and at
its correct angle. (See fig. 27.)
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.]
But there is the neat finishing off of the neck and button, which I
attend to carefully, when all is set hard on the following day,
paying much heed to grace and _character_ here, as it is a part of
the fiddle which cries out at once if slovenly, or ungainly, or the
_least bit_ out of line or centre.
And I fashion the nut over which the tail-piece gut has to stretch,
and cut the bed into which it is glued. Then I very carefully wash
the violin all over with a clean sponge wrung out of _warm_ water,
giving it plenty of time to dry before I finally clean every part
thoroughly with No. 0 glass-paper--and the violin is finished in the
white.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXX.]