Before leaving this part of the instrument, it may be as well to take a glance at the peg itself and its insertion at the centre underneath the nut. This is in no respect an unimportant detail to be seen to in the fitting up and regulation of a violin. In olden times the peg was small, not half the size of those inserted in new violins of the present day. The increase in the size seems to have been gradual and to compensate for the hard wood of the peg pressing against the inner, softer substance of the end block with the thin slice of maple used for the ribs, both being insufficient to withstand the strain of the tail-string. Consequently the peg is pulled upwards, sometimes considerably out of position. This is especially likely to occur if the hole has been bored too large or the peg is too thin or short. The accurate fitting of these should have strict attention. Some modern repairers, when they find that there are indications of a softer piece of pine than usual having been used, enlarge the hole with a tool specially made for the purpose, having two cutting edges, or with a number of grooves having sharp ridges, others a rat-tailed file. The latter is perhaps the best, as being less likely to split the fibres of the soft pine. The tool is inserted, not directly in a line pointing exactly midway between the upper and lower tables, but slightly upwards or contrary to the tendency of the peg to accommodate itself to the strain. When the parts under strain have settled down, the peg is seen to be as near as possible horizontal with the length of the violin. The best way, undoubtedly, is to make the peg an accurate but not too tight fit, it should be sufficiently long to go right through the block. In cases where the hole has been enlarged, badly directed or even made ragged by a bad tool, it should be a stopped up very carefully with a plug, neatly glued in, and a fresh hole bored. Sometimes this has proved necessary from the carelessness of the original maker. The old masters were not always exact with their mechanical fittings in connection with the violin. The moderns, for obvious reasons, have paid much attention to them. I remember coming across an Italian violin that had changed hands frequently for the asserted reason of insufficient tone. The maker having a renown for considerable power, it appeared to me that the tone was possibly there, but that from some undiscovered cause it was not properly emitted. On examination I found that the maker had joined the ribs, not at the central part as usual, but too much to the left, perhaps a pupil or assistant had bored the hole at the junction. There were besides, some tinkerings by modern regulators endeavouring to counteract the uneven strain over the instrument. The right spot, or it may be called the axis of the instrument, having been found, the peghole was neatly and permanently plugged, and a fresh one bored, which allowed the strain to be better distributed. The result was satisfactory and delightful; the tone of much power and purity had free play in manifesting itself, and the violin was enabled to take its rightful position among its brethren. A few words as to the right spot for the peghole. This was treated by many of the old Italian liutaros as a matter for mere guess work apparently, when there was no join in the upper table, nor in the lower one, sometimes the lower rib being continuous. The best spot, and therefore the right one, may be fixed upon by finding the centre between the two inner edges of the purfling on the upper table at the lower part, the same between that of the upper, and drawing a faint line through the points with a piece of soft white chalk cut to a point, and guided by a flexible rule or straight edge down to the nut. If this line does not touch at the centre of the nut, then the latter is out of place, and it should be rectified. The line should pass through the centre of the nut, and immediately underneath this and midway between the edges of the upper and lower table will be the spot for the centre of the peghole. The line thus made will not always be found to agree with the centre joint of the pine; many of the old Italian makers may have not, from lack of wood of the right sort and in equal widths, been able to do otherwise. At times it may have been carelessness. Some of their roughly made violins have the joint line over a quarter of an inch from the centre, occasionally it will be not only wider on one side than the other, but the thread or grain will diverge instead of running parallel with the centre line. The judiciousness of careful measurement for the centre, instead of relying on the joint line, will therefore be obvious. There is not much to be said in preference of one kind of hard wood over another for the end peg, it being a matter of fancy as to appearance. Ebony being black and very hard, should perhaps take the preference in wear, and acquiring a polish from the gentle friction it is liable to. The old Italian end pegs were mostly of cherrywood, with lines neatly turned round a centre of ivory or bone.
CHAPTER IV.
INJURIES TO THE HEAD OR SCROLL—INSERTION OF FRESH WOOD—COLOURING OF WHITE WOOD—SEPARATION OF HEAD FROM PEG-BOX AND RE-JOINING—STOPPING MATERIAL FOR SMALL HOLES OR FRACTURES—THE PEG-BOX CRACKED BY PEG PRESSURE.
Leaving this part now, we can turn our attention for a time to reparation of injury to the head or scroll. This interesting and often highly artistic part of the general structure of the violin, and in which no man since the time of the old Brescian, Gasparo da Salo, has succeeded in effecting any permanent change of fashion, is subject to as many knocks as any other part. A piece out of the ear or first turn from the axis is, with a delicately carved scroll, so frequently seen as to be almost fashionable; little pieces out of the edges further off from the central part, are common disfigurements. Modern vandals rub these parts down with a file or glasspaper, to make it nice and even to their vision, saving themselves time and trouble. Many a graceful scroll, carved with loving care and enviable dexterity by a master of his art, has thus come to an untimely end. Should your cherished Guarneri or Stradivari scroll got chipped or fractured by accident and the piece drop, search for it at once, and when found, if you have not good mechanical ability and experience in fitting such delicate parts, it should, while fresh and free from soiling, be entrusted without delay to the care of a professional repairer of repute, but not to a provincial amateur or rough carpenter who would probably make matters worse. On setting to work after a preliminary inspection, the careful repairer will fit the parts together as they are, to ascertain that there is nothing to prevent a close join of the surfaces, sometimes a splinter will prevent a close fit of the surfaces; this must be pushed into its right position or, if in the interior, it may be better to remove it altogether. If the part is lost, then the bare space must be carefully examined and the direction of the grain and quality of the surrounding wood matched as closely as possible; otherwise the most accurate fitting and finishing off will not make a good restoration. The repairer of experience will have at hand a large quantity of odds and ends of different kinds of maple, curled or plain; perhaps old worn out necks or otherwise useless fragments of relics of a bygone age, and not necessarily of musical instruments. But sometimes these are not to be obtained, nothing but new or modern wood, and it may be of good appearance and applicable excepting for the colour. What is to be done? There is the drawback to new white wood, that it is difficult to colour down to match the surrounding wood, when it has been fixed, and besides, if the part happens to be where there is any friction, the white wood soon makes itself apparent, if not very conspicuous. It is advantageous, therefore, to colour the wood artificially before placing in position. There have been many ways adopted at times for meeting this requirement. It must be remembered, however, that there is no perfectly successful mode of artificially colouring wood so as to defy detection, but small portions such as are under consideration at the present moment may be treated so as to look tolerably well. Firstly, a well known, often tried, but very bad method is to steep a piece of white new wood in a solution of nitric acid and water. When dry, old age will seem to have crept over and through it, but of a delusive and unnatural kind. The corrosive properties of the acid still remain and gradually disintegrate the fibres until the whole mass becomes rotten. It may be fairly termed premature old age, as the lowering or toning down of the colour in wood and other materials seems to be caused by similar, if not identical, constituents of the ordinary atmosphere, but under different conditions. Another way is lay the pieces of wood upon a stove with a regulated heating power and watching for the exact degree of change in the colour with continued heat. There is very little to be said against it for small repairs, the degree of heat required for the desired tint is insufficient to damage the wood but enough to harden it, and if not too hastily done the colouring will go quite through.
Among other methods is tinting the wood by any of the various stains sold for the purpose. Few of them are of any good to the violin repairer, some choking the softer parts and leaving the harder ones or threads standing out lighter when they should be darker. Their colour, if it were not for this drawback, is sometimes good. Some of the manufacturers of new musical instruments on the continent lower the colour of the wood before varnishing by staining it with a solution of bichromate of potash. Sometimes when dexterously applied the colour is very good, but the stain is liable to make itself too evident in parts where the wood may be a little more spongy than at others. Most of the instruments treated in this way may be recognised at a glance, the curl of the maple is brought out strongly, in fact overdone. With small portions of wood for repairing this stain may, with much caution, be used to advantage. It has the property of throwing up the threads of the pine and the nutmeggy parts of the maple without impairing seriously the clearness of the grain under the varnish. The preparation of the solution is as follows—some pieces of bichromate of potash can be put into any ordinary bottle of a convenient size and water poured on to them. The water will take up a certain quantity in solution which will be too strong for the repairer's use; some of it, say a gill, can be put into an equal quantity of clear water, and then painted over the wood to be coloured down. There will not be any perceptible colouring for half-an-hour or so, but further exposure to good or strong sunlight will gradually bring about a change from the slight orange tint to the dull light brown approaching that produced by the slow secret process adopted by "Old Father Time." It must be kept in mind that bichromate of potash is a poison. There are other stains that will bring a good colour to the surface of the wood, but are likely to change colour when the varnish is applied. The whole work of careful restoration may thus be upset in a moment. All stains should be carefully and repeatedly tested before being applied to any work of importance. Some repairers use a hastily made solution of powdered colour such as burnt umber, and paint or rub it into the wood. This process is to be condemned as resulting in opaqueness and giving a tinkered aspect to the wood and work.
There are doubtless many substances or liquids capable of imparting a tint resembling that alone caused by age, but experience only will enable the repairer to decide which is best. It may be as well to point out that some tinting substances are more suitable for colouring wood of a dense quality than for a more open grained or spongy one. Much will depend on the judgment exercised and skill in matching tints. When it becomes absolutely necessary to use fresh white wood, this will require more colouring than an older piece, but a rather strange thing in connection with this is that if some of the varnish has been removed from the parts adjacent to the freshly inserted wood, the old material will require colouring down as well as the new, but not so much. This seems like some indication that varnish does get lowered in tint as age progresses; it may be, however, that the top surface of the wood gets darker than the under parts from the action of light.
The final touching up or finish of the newly inserted wood and its varnishing will have to remain over for the present, and will be taken up after the mechanical work is concluded.
Having thus far got to work upon a fractured or lost piece that may have been knocked off a projecting part of the scroll, there are other injuries likely to occur to this part of the instrument and caused in a variety of ways, some occasionally seeming mysterious in their origin. Thus from a weakness or flaw in the grain of the wood, or it may be from a blow having first started a crack and successive ones gradually increasing the fracture, the scroll itself will come away bodily, separating at the weakest part just behind the second turn. This is a delicate matter for manipulation. If the fracture is quite new, the raw surfaces uninjured and some properly prepared rather strong glue is handy, then an almost instant application of it to both surfaces and pressing them together, exactly fitting, will result in an effectual and lasting junction of the parts. But supposing the breakage to have occurred some time back and the parts to be separate and soiled, the difficulties are much increased, as in the majority of cases no purchase can be obtained whereby a good pressure can be directly applied. Cramps cannot be applied, therefore, with any degree of safety, even if a good grip can be obtained and with the safeguard of some padding, as the first is bound to injure the wood around, leaving an ugly imprint of the grip, and thus making things worse in appearance instead of better. The other is likely to be productive of slipping out of position, the hold not being retained, and vexatious results ensuing with the accompaniment occasionally of unprintable language coming from the repairer. The best way on all occasions will be found to be that in which patience is not taken as a virtue but as necessity, and the presence of Old Father Time altogether ignored, which may often mean time saved. Constant practice may give facility in keeping pace with that steady old party with the hourglass, but a good result is seldom obtained when the clock is much consulted during the progress of the work in hand. It is this which has caused the complete ruin of many a damaged gem from Cremona's workshops of the olden time. We will therefore suppose the repairer to be unfettered by time and that he will be properly paid for work that will tend to restore the commercial value, as well as the usefulness and beauty.
The main consideration will be the manner of getting a proper attachment of parts that cannot be wedged or forced together at once, in fact, to get a good purchase or leverage. This must be either obtained indirectly or dispensed with altogether. For the former, building up or "making," as it is termed, must be resorted to, and which may include temporarily glueing fresh wood on to the old parts to be separated or cut away afterwards. Many inexperienced repairers are too apt to look upon all glueing as for permanency, but practice should soon make it plain that all joinings are effected only for such length of time as may be desirable. In making or building up a part from which we can obtain a stand or commanding point from which to get a more direct purchase, it may be necessary to glue one or more pieces of wood, cut to a proper shape and stuck with a dab of thick glue and left until dry. For this purpose the soft white wood or poplar referred to at the beginning will be found useful, it is so easily cut with a chisel or knife keen edged—this condition is an essential at all times. By the bye, some readers may be thinking of the best means of getting a nice clean edge to their knife or chisel. There are several kinds of oilstone or hone in repute for giving a finishing or sharp cutting edge, England, America and the European continent supplying them, the "Chalney Forest" being the commonest known in England; the American "Arkansas" or "Washita" are expensive when very good, but there is nothing that can beat a well selected piece of "Turkey stone" with a nice even surface to begin with. For obtaining a clean cutting edge, a few drops of oil before rubbing will be sufficient. Olive or good mineral oil will do, the latter preferably as it gradually evaporates; whereas vegetable oils acquire a siccative property from contact with the minute particles of steel; the stone then gets clogged and unworkable till thoroughly cleansed. Mineral oil disappearing gradually leaves but little residue, which can be now and again wiped off. In cases where the utmost delicacy of surface cutting or close fitting is required, and where no other tool but the chisel can be used, it may be as well to have at hand a stout, smooth leather strap fixed at each end over a piece of wood about twelve inches in length. The residue on the Turkey stone can be taken off with a knife—care being taken that no dust or grit is with it—and smeared on the strap with a little olive oil. The chisel or knife used briskly and gently on this will after a few passes become as near perfection of keenness as possible. After getting everything in readiness, which will include the carving to shape, of any wood that is to act as a support or fulcrum, these parts must be made to fit as accurately as possible, and may not require glueing but at one or two places and those selected to come in contact with those of the original structure least liable to be affected or damaged. Thus the interior of the peg-box will be found a convenient position from which to build a support that shall reach up underneath the volute or under turn of the scroll. Having well tried the parts as to the fitting, the support or prop may be secured or glued in roughly to the lower surface of the peg-box—presuming of course that the pegs have all been removed—and left to dry hard. When so the parts had better be tried for fitting again, and if any little inaccuracy shows itself, or the pressure in glueing the fracture is likely to be uneven and the junction be untrue, a little paper or card may be inserted or even glued in between, or where judgment may dictate, to enable a good distribution of the balance of pressure necessary. There can be no certain description given of the size or form of the supports or made up parts to be temporarily fixed; all must depend upon the estimation of what is best to be done under the circumstances; it can be likened to engineering on a minute scale, quite as interesting, but less dangerous, while more comfortably conducted in your own home without exposure to the baleful influence of unsympathetic elements.