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"No, sir, I tapped it about, and found some hollow spaces that would admit my small knife; the plaster had not been cut evenly, and then not pressed equally all over. The back seems about as bad, although it being thick does not need any support." "No, James, the repairers, if we may give them such an honourable title, wanted to show that something had been done for the money charged.
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.
Jimmie came to "machinists", and gave a guilty start; then he came to "motor-cycle drivers" and "motor-cycle repairers" and suddenly he clenched his hands. A wild idea flashed over him, causing such excitement that he could hardly read on. Why should he not go to France he, Jimmy Higgins! He was a man without a tie in the world as free as the winds that blow across the ocean!
Coupled with this curling of the wood under the influence of damp is the want of proper regulation of the pressure after glueing and placing the parts in opposition. An old-fashioned method of uniting these parts is still pursued by some repairers the surfaces are planed evenly, the glue is applied over them, they are clapped together and string tied tightly as possible.
We may now leave this as finished, going to the other end of the violin where another nut is used for supporting the tail-string as it comes over to the end peg. This part is frequently done in a slovenly way, even by some repairers of good repute; there is no reason why it should not be as neatly done in all respects as any other part.
Wheelwrights, watchmakers, blacksmiths, music-dealers, drapers, sewing-machine repairers, smart errand boys, ironmongers, individuals from all the older aspects of engineering, have been caught up by the new development, are all now, with a more or less inadequate knowledge and training, working in the new service. But is it likely that this will remain a rude levy?
A golden rule to be observed by all repairers is that of never opening an instrument that is removing the upper or lower table until all other means of correction have proved futile. Extensive repairs to the interior may be accomplished without opening after a very careful look over with proper calculation.
I notice, in Vol. XXI, page 371, a communication headed, "Watch Repairers' Shop," in which directions are given to fill the chinks in the floor around the work-bench with soft pine and putty, etc., etc.; this is all well enough, but will not prevent the breaking of pivots should a balance wheel be dropped, neither will it prevent the wheel being stepped upon and so rendered useless, as often happens.
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. To the workroom we will again return.
We now may suppose ourselves again in the presence of the repairers, operator and master; the upper table has been successfully and cleanly released from the blocks and along the upper edging of the ribs, very few splinters here and there are left, giving double evidence of neat glueing on the part of the maker and systematic care on that of the modern repairer.
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