Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-08-22
FIDDLE STRINGS AND RIDDLES
''Made in America" Now

to hustle for a living, thereby de-
veloping strong fibrous muscles in
the intestines.
mediately after the animals are
slaughtered, and not allowed to be-
come cold or dry. While still warm
they are carefully cleaned, by being
stretched on an inclined plane and
/ scraped with knife and thoroughly
washed. Any carelessness at this
stage results in gut that is discolor-
ed and of low quality.
The CUTS are next soaked for about
10 hours in cold water, with a little
soda added. Then they. are immersed
about five hours in tepid, running
water. These soakings produce
slight fermentation, which asserts in
the process of separating the outside
layers from the inner membrance.
Women and boys are usually en-
ployed on this part of the work, and
they become very expert.
The inside layer is scraped off by
means of a blunt wooden spatula, and
this refuse is made into fertilizer.
The outside layer is then peeled off,
and this is made into coarse gy-f for
use in stringing tennis racket max
ing whips, etc. The inner mem
branes are then placed in stone jars
and allowed 70 pickle for several
hours In sotption of I've, or prefer
AMY aminoD...a The strength of the
liquor Must becarefully gagged, as it
wii wSaken and injure the membrane
is too strong.
! Next the CUTS are carefully rub
fbed between the first finger and
thumb-which are protected by
thimbles-and so as to remove any
small pieces of outside membrane
that may cling to them. This opera
cording to the quality of the strings,
and meantime the quits are soaked in
a solution of permanganate Of potash.
Next they are placed in weak solu-
ton of sulphuric acid, and are further
manipulated for several days.
The CUTS are now ready to be sort
ed, and if necessary split. These
processes call for much skill and ex-
/ perience. The workman divide the
CUTS into various classes, according
i to length, thickness, strength and
general quality.
Usually a string is not made from
as single gut but is made up Of sew
eral strands twisted together. For
this purpose the gut has to be split
into long threads by means of
special knife. The next operation is
the spinning. This is done in a
frame three or four times as long as
a fiddle and arranged to carry doz-
en- or 20 strings.
In making a violin K string, for
example, three or four fine threads
of gut are used. The threads are us
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thicker at one end than the other.
The operation uses judgment and sees
that the thick end of one is opposite
the thin end of another, so that the
string will be even in size through
out.
For violin A string, three or four
stronger fibers are used; for ID, six
or seven such fibers are used. The
G string is made of a gut center
about the size of the f, and is then
covered by being wound with copper
or silver wire, to give it the peculiar
tone desired.
For violas, cellos, and double-basses
the strings are made of more and
coarser fibers. A big double-bass
string for example may be composed
of as many as so to 100 of the fibers,
all twisted together into a young
rope. These large strings require a
great deal of work to make them, and
it is not surprising that they cost
from 20 cents to So apiece.
The frame on which the weaving
or twisting is done is arranged with
system of cogwheels and crank,
so that after the fibers are properly
stretched between the .end-pieces,
they can be rapidly twisted by means
| 81 kA knAnc
passing his fingers over the twisting
gut, to see that there are no humps
or other inequalities in it.
The various frames, when filled
with strings, are placed In tight
chamber and left over night in the
fumes of burning sulphur, which
bleaches the gut. Next morning the
strings are moistened little, and
twisted some more, and then bleach
ed again. These operations last
from two to eight days, according
to the size and character OF the
strings.
Finally the strings are allowed to
dry, and they are then polished. This
polishing is done by rubbing them
vigorously, on a cushion, with pad
moistened with olive oil and having
a little fine polishing powder on 1t,
such as whiting. Often strings are
marketed which are a little rough;
this is because they are left without
the polishing. Both the bleaching
and the polishing must be done with
care or they will detract from the
high quality of the finished string.
The final operation consists OF cut
ting the strings from the frames
that have held them, moistening them
with olive oil, rolling each string into
a coil and tying it with tiny threads
of gut or silk and usually in wrap