Attention being paid to the foregoing, and the press or large screw cramp being already in position, the pressure, which must be great, is applied.
The glue will be seen oozing out between the surfaces of the table and its veneer; this can be wiped off easily, and save the trouble of removal when dry and hard.
Necessarily, a longer time will be consumed in thorough drying and hardening in a case like this than in an ordinary repair in which the atmosphere can more readily obtain access. When quite ready, the pressure and the pieces of wood, paper, cork, or indiarubber can be one by one released, and the simple veneer, now firmly attached to the lower table of the violin, can have its edges trimmed round with gouge, chisel, or scraper, and finally glass-papered to a good finish.
When neatly done, the edging of the veneer will decline gradually in thickness, and die off all round.
There is nothing further to be done now, but seeing that the bar is right in proportion, position, and fitting.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BAR IN OLDEN TIMES—THE MODERN ONE—THE OPERATION OF FITTING AND FIXING THE BAR—CLOSING AND COMPLETION OF THE REPAIRS—VARNISHING OF THE REPAIRED PARTS HAVING FRESH WOOD.
Much false reasoning upon insufficient premises has at times on and off been bestowed upon the subject of the bar and its supposed mysteries. Space at command will not allow of a dissertation on this detail of the constitution of the violin. A few remarks will perhaps be sufficient for present purposes. When violins were first sent forth by their inventor, Gasparo da Salo, the bar was sometimes omitted, possibly in all the earliest ones, the strain on the upper table being then slight as compared with that of the present day—at others it was very short and weak. The substance of the upper table was considerable, and much over that which the later and modern makers approve of, and thus there was a counter-balance.
At the present time still stronger bars are inserted, and very frequently without rule or reason. Occasionally a coarse bar will allow of good results as regards the emission of the tone, the length and thickness happening to be suitable to the proportions in detail of the instrument. A weakness at each end of the bar is an oft-recurring cause of bad going with regard to the vibrations.