IMPROVEMENTS ON THE VIOLIN AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS PLAYED ON FINGER BOARDS
Year: 1776

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
CLAGGETT, of the City of Waterford, in the Kingdom of Ireland, but now
residing in the City of London, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, Musick
Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing_date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of December, in the seventeenth year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Charles Claggett, His especial
licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Charles
Claggett, my executors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might,
during the term of years therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and-vend,
within that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called England;
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS ON THE VIOLIN AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS PLAYED ON FINGER
BOARDS;" in which said recited Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Charles Claggett, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months after the date
of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation
being thereunto had, may more at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said

page_text: Charles Claggett, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in manner and form following, that is to say :-
"The finger boards for violins, tenors, and basses, as improved by me, are
divided into two distinct parts, subdivided into alternate spaces by transverse
sections. Those to be touched by the fingers remain at a proper distance
from the strings, while the parts on which the performer might touch, and by
that means play out of tune, sink down at the will of the player, and are
easily raised again at pleasure for such graces as require a level surface;
this is performed by means of a long wedge sliding under, or by means of
levers concealed in the finger board. I also effect the same thing by making
the reverse part to sink down, the other remaining fixed. This is still
performed by means of wedges or levers. A second assistance given to the
larger sort of these instruments is by means of barrs, standing up on the right
side of the neck, which occasionally are brought down on all the springs at
one time, and by this means the stop is shortened to whatever length the
performer requires. These stops may be instantly discharged by a spring,
and remain out of the way of the performer's hand.
My improvement upon the finger board of the guittar or other similar
instruments is, that, instead of using fretts, I have a finger board cut sloping
from the bottom of one stop to the top of the next, so that the edge or highest
part is where the performer is to stop. These edges have liberty to slide
backwards or forwards, so as to be put in the best places for stopping in time.
When thus made, the longitudinal section of the finger board appears
thus: (
1) and also in applying a transposer,
which slides up and down the finger board, and at pleasure changes from sharp
keys to flat ones, by means of a spring, which lifts up that part of the transposer
that gives the sharp thirds.
And as to tuning instruments, it is by means of having little barrs of brass
or steel out off at proper lengths, and set in a frame suspended over the strings
of the instrument to be tuned, and the vibration of all being stopt by being
touched with a little ridge of leather resting against them for that purpose
(nothing remaining free but the string to be tuned, and the bar of the proper
tone for that string. As soon as the string is strained to the proper pitch the
steel bar will vibrate with it, and a bit of paper being laid on it, will (as soon
as they meet in perfect union) fly off.
The above improvements render it almost impossible to stop or play out of
tune; that the violin, &c. will retain all former perfections. And these

page_text: mprovements, at the same time that they infinitely assist the very best
performers, will save learners above four fifths of their trouble and time.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and seventy-seven.