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DIAGRAM 24. Modern French method of grafting head. |
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DIAGRAM 25. Modern English method of grafting head. |
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DIAGRAM 26. Foreign secret method of grafting occasionally met with. |
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DIAGRAM 27. Method occasionally met with, Italian. |
Another method has been known as the French, and when neatly done is one of the most sparing of the old wood (see diagram 24), but it is beaten in this respect by another foreign method (diagram 26), which is less evident to the eye, although requiring more skill in accurate cutting and adjustment. Another yet more secret I have only seen in an Italian grafting, and it may be native; no join whatever is seen in a front view nor in the peg-box if this part is at all soiled or dusty, as is usually the case. This is owing to the join—there must be one of course—being each side at the angles formed by the walls of the peg-box. This is counterbalanced however by the necessary cutting away of the central line or ridge at the back for a considerable distance. If done accurately and artistically, all very well, but this is not likely to be always the case, although a comparatively easy bit of work with the original lines each side as a guide. This method of grafting is puzzling when successful, as little or nothing is perceptible from the front and not much, unless searched for, at the back.
On measuring the different parts of an old violin in its original condition, we shall find the neck, taking from the edge of the upper shoulder of the instrument to a point where the nut is placed, to be not much more than four and a half inches, whereas our modern necks measured at the same parts would give five inches and an eighth. The old length taken at this part alone would give too short a fingerboard, causing the fingers to hamper each other, especially in the upper part of the register, where so many modern composers seek for effective passages. The neck must, therefore, to meet the requirements of the day, be lengthened. In the earlier part of the present century there was a method much in vogue for effecting this without interfering with the head and while keeping the greater part of the original neck (diagram 23). This was done by firstly removing the fingerboard, probably worn into ruts; the middle of the thickest or lowest part of the neck attached to the body had then to be loosened and removed, often no doubt a troublesome task owing to one, two and sometimes three nails being in the way, this in consequence of the habit of the old makers of attaching the neck with its scroll before closing up the body of the violin. Having accomplished this, the repairer chiselled off two square pieces, one on each side at the same end, and then fitted longer blocks with the grain running the same way. These were afterwards cut down to the proper form, so that the terminating part under the fingerboard increased the length of the neck to the modern standard. Of course, when fitted into the original space or socket from whence the neck was taken, the rounded part going to or above the button was now too large, this part was therefore cut, filed and finished down to the required size and shape.
This method of lengthening the neck, however, went out of fashion as connoisseurs and performers, finding the old necks so frequently devoid of figure—the reason being probably that plain wood answered best for the cutting of the volutes—made the repairers remove the whole of the neck and substitute one of the best figure they could obtain.
This forced fresh attention to the splicing as it is termed of the scroll to the neck or graft, and the method has continued to the present time of clearing away the whole of the neck and using handsome wood. Further impulse was given to the practice by the fact of the fingerboards put by the old makers rising so little above the body of the instrument. The bridge was made very low to accommodate this state of things. The increased rapidity of the movements of the bow from one string to another over the middle ones in the performance of modern music made a higher one absolutely imperative, as the heel of the bow would too frequently chip pieces from the waist curves. There were thus three good reasons at least for placing an entirely new neck on an old violin; firstly the plain wood of the original maker, shortness and the low angle with regard to the plane of the body.
In order, therefore, that everything may be accomplished with sufficient exactitude, we will begin with the roughly sawn block ready for measuring and shaping up for its destined purpose. The scroll, which is to be replaced on a neck according with modern ideas, we will suppose to be on an Italian violin that has come down to us from the early part of the last century. The violin tuned up to the present concert pitch and music of our period having many of the modern style of difficulties, would prove utterly inadequate to the task of giving out its tones in a manner expected of it.
In proceeding to work then, the workman executing this modification having selected his block of curled maple, planes it to an oblong of equal breadth. He calculates as to the best position for showing off the curl on each side of the neck when finished. Having decided which is to be the upper part or that covered by the fingerboard, this is planed to a good level and smoothed. A line drawn with a good pointed pencil or pointed knife, and sharply defined, is then drawn down the whole length exactly in the centre. At the end which is intended for the thickest to be inserted in the body of the instrument an equal width each side must be marked. Near the other end, at a distance that shall correspond with the opening of the peg-box, an equal width each side of the line must be marked off as at the other end. These two measurements will represent as nearly as possible the width of the neck along its course at the junction of the fingerboard. From the point representing the opening of the peg-box one of two lengths upwards must be decided upon; if the splicing is to be effected in the manner common in this country, a greater length will be required than for that of the French style. This latter is more to my fancy than the other, as there is less of the original wood lost. If for the former, a length of wood beyond the opening will be required of two inches, if for the latter or French a little over one inch and a half will be enough. The central line has of course been continued for the whole length of the wood. The waste wood at the end can now be sawn off down to the line. The next measurement will be, supposing the French style is adopted—that of the extreme width of the end, which will be given by taking a point at half the thickness of the peg-box wall at the part and similarly placed on the other or opposite and taking the width between the two. This divided equally and marked on the wood of the new graft each side of the central line will give the narrowest width of the part to be inserted in the peg-box. The outside may be then removed by the saw vertically. There will now be necessary the marking off a part on the graft that shall represent the thickness of the nut or the distance between the end of the fingerboard and the peg-box opening; the breadth across, or we may call it the length of the upper part of the nut, will be exactly that of and at the part where the opening will be made in the peg-box for the reception of the graft.