The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-01-22

Inv exnosure TO sun. The strength and bril-
lance Of tone depend chiefly upon the
| thorough seasoning oil the wood. NO mos
ture or foreign matter can be lett IN the
in the pore to interfere with the perfect
| sorority Of the wood. Age is the best sea-
soner, however, and deal which has been In
long use for other purposes, is eagerly
SOUGHT by violin-makers. The benches
from old mountain churches have been used
and there is a story of an enthusiast who
ransackcd Switzerland, went into the
meanest novels. and brought up the pine
table and chairs, bargained, or the wood
work of the chalets, and finally bought
from the curate of a small parish the whole
ceiling of his sitt1p groom because it was
Just the right condition for his sounding
boards.
Swiss sycamore is used for the neck, back
and sides of the violin. Being denser than
deal, it vibrates more slowly and yields a
note of different pitch, which diffe. ence has
been proved necessary fer the harmony.
The wood is cut into lengths and widths,
fixed by mathematical calculations, hollow
ed into layers no thicker than a sixpence,
and then shaped and wrought, with ex-
IRENE precision into those graceful, wavy
outlines. which are not chosen because they
combine the greatest strength and power
with convenience and beauty. These shap-
ings are all lone by strict rule and measure
ments. but the endless accidental variations
in the curves give rise to endless differ
ences OF tone in the finished instruments,
and hence we never hear two voices OF eX-
actly the same quality.
The belly, back and a slim sounding-post
of deal connects the belly and back still
more intimately. A clear, transparent var
pish is put over the surface; the tail-piece.
Go-ar lror1 and ctrip IF fine pnOnU
are added the tiny instrument is strung
with it's four strings, and the violin is
ready.
But in yielding it's marvellous volume of
sound the violin bears a monstrous strain.
It weighs not more than twenty ounces, and
when it is turned up to concert pitch, the
tension on each of the four strings is about
eighty pounds. As if, for example two men
should take the opposite end Of a string
and pull against each other with all their
might. A wooden she'll, so thin and frail
that you might splinter it across your
knee, has resisted a pressure of hundred
weights for centuries. Why does itno
collapse ! So it would, like a sheet of glass,
were it not as wonderfully built inside as
out, and strengthened by such cunning
continuance that the vast vibration is not
marred by clumsy thickness. Inside ofthe
| little body six blocks OF lghtwood are glued,
one at the top where the neck joins the
body, one at the bottom, one at each Of the
four rounded corners. Two sets of thin
Innings, about the a quarter Of an inch deep,
run around the inside to connect the blocks
and to distribute the residence. On the
outside is the bridge, which, though most
needful in giving strength and power to the
sound, serves also to relieve the sides of
the tension by throwing the strain upon the
IoIlr ThIc &c ,oporta ~ nc fnrn nv
small block Of deal, called brass-bar, glued
under one foot of the bridge. These are
all the helps which the violin has to with
stand the dragging Of the strings, which
tug at it's frail body night and day.
In this little machine, so simple and COM
pick, SO finished and harmonious in every
part all accidents seem to have been pro-
vided for, and it is almost indestructible.
If it is broken, ind worn, and battered, it
can be restored and mended; nothing but
being burnt to asbes, or ground to powder
can put it beyond the skill of the ~repairer
and his magical glue-pot, and it comes out
from every fray as good as new, in truth,
for age and long use can only improve the
tone of good violin. 1t grows sweeter,
and purer, and mellower with every year.
These old instruments, many Of which
have stood the wear and tear of two CEN
turtles, are very precious to their owners,
and are very precious owners, and are
worth many times their weight in gold.
Men who fashion violins now strive in vain
tie initiate the perfect curves and proper
ticns OF the old models, their ethereal, ring
irg voice, and the lovely hues of the var
nishes, just as modern painters study TIE
secrets of color and battling charm Of the
old Venetian pictures. Like these pictures.
too, many early violins a:e CAREFUL kept
in museums. The violins of Paganini, the
great violinist, who was said to have sold
himself to the devil for his marvellous exc
%cution, is locked up in Genoa its strings
never struck. Others belong to the nobill-
ty for in the palmy days Of violin manu-
facture a Cremona fiddle was considered a
royal gift.
But where these instruments may be, they
are we'll known TO musicians, and they are
spoken of by individual names as the
| RloOd red KNIGHT Guarnerius the RAGS IF