Violin Making Part 7

Then fit the end pin, but, before doing so, look through the hole in which it has to go and ascertain if the post inside be straight--which is very necessary to the good ordering of pure tone.

Regulate with the broad end of the setter, and draw or push through the soundhole on either side, as may be necessary.

And when you have nicely gauged and secured by single k.n.o.bs the tail-gut to the tailpiece, the instrument is finished excepting the neck, the polishing of which we will now consider.

With constant handling you will find this neck dirty and greasy.

Wash it well with a sponge, and when dry, colour with a yellow water or spirit wash. Do not sandpaper at all yet; but make a nice orange-coloured spirit varnish, and place neatly over the yellow three or four coats. When thoroughly hard, clean it down with No. 0 sandpaper soaked in Lucca oil, smooth, and ready for the hand.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONCLUSION.

Then, my friends, reward your many anxious moments of thought and work--string your fiddle, for, be a.s.sured, you _will_ be rewarded, be your instrument somewhat crude in tone; and he is of a miserably cold, prosaic temperament indeed, who does not warm up at this juncture--this climax, this crisis. It may be the tone is good, very good; with what pride it is shown and tried; should it be mediocre, or even poor, a certain amount of pride is excusable, and faults are condoned.

Should there be faults that a touch of the soundpost may minimise, gently touch it, moving it hither and thither, until it meets with a desired response. Or your strings may be too thick or too thin; all may be of no avail, however, so work the fiddle for six months, and note if it shows signs of improvement; if not, look well to your construction next time, and build for posterity on early _failures_, on disappointments after long study and careful manipulation, or resolve to be master, after hearing your praiseworthy devotion rewarded by the empty sneers of those who, maybe, care nothing whatever whether you do ill or well, but only that they have the chance of showing their superior wisdom and making stagnant that which, given warm encouragement, would have flowed on until the future would proudly record the n.o.ble work of real genius.

THE END.

NOTE.--The writer wishes gratefully to record the very able a.s.sistance given by Mr. Barrett, of 131, Oxford Road, Manchester, in his most careful rendering of the various stages of the foregoing work in photography, from which blocks have been made.