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Part I. Historical. The ancestry of the violin. Difficulties in the way of research ; Destruction ; Errors of description and representation ; Mention of viols in the Bible ; Bow instruments among the ancient Greeks and Romans ; The ravanastron ; The omerti ; The kemangeh a'gouz ; The rebab esh sha'er ; The goudok ; The rebab ; The nofre ; The Assyrian trigonon ; Pear-shaped viols ; The rebec and the viol ; The gigue and kit ; The viol-makers and their instruments ; French claims to invention ; The viol da gamba ; Playford ; The barytone ; Praetorius ; Chests of viols -- The Welsh crwth. Ancient Hebrew lyre ; Modern African lyre ; Greek and Roman lyres ; The rotta ; The crwth trithant ; The chrotta, or crwth proper ; Gruffydd ap howel ; Daines Barrington ; Wynne Finch ; Genealogies of the violin and crwth -- Biographical. Early makers. Gasparo da Salo ; Gio Paolo Maggini ; Andreas Amati ; Antonius and Hieronymus Amati ; Nicolaus Amati ; Andreas Guarnerius ; Jacobus Steiner ; Francisco Ruggieri ; Antonius Stradivarius ; Joseph Guarnerius ; Peter Guarnerius ; Laurentius Guadagnini ; Johannes Baptista Guadagnini ; Domenicus Montagnana ; Sanctus Seraphino ; Carlo Bergonzi ; Franciscus and Omobono Stradivarius ; Joseph Anthony Guarnerius (del Jesu) ; Vincenzo Panormo ; Carolus Ferdinandus Landolphi ; Laurentius Storioni ; Nicholas Lupot ; Jean Baptiste Vuillaume ; Barak Norman ; Benjamin Banks ; Thomas Dodd ; William Forster ; Richard Duke ; Peter Wamsley ; John Lott ; William Ebsworth Hill ; Georges Chanot ; Jacobs (Amsterdam) ; The Mirecourt violin trade -- The bow. Progressive history of the bow ; The Corelli bow ; The Cremaillere ; Tourte ; The modern bow ; Dimensions ; Hairing and rehairing ; Rosin and its action ; Folding bow ; Vuillaume's bow ; Withers ; Other patents ; The great bow-makers -- The violin, its vagaries and its variegators. Perfection of the existing form ; Earthenware, metal, leather, papier mache and eccentric violins ; Trumpet violin ; Pear-shaped violin ; Hulskamp's violin ; Polychord violins ; Isoard's ; Dubois ; Vuillaume ; Hoensel ; Hawkins ; Sinclair ; Wylde's Nagelgeige, or nail-violin ; Boxwood violin ; Howell's ; Jacque's ; Bell ; Robertson ; Collins ; Howell ; Mollenhauer ; Guitar-shaped fiddles ; Galbusera ; F. Chanot ; Savart's trapezoid violin ; Patent repairs -- Part II. Theoretical. The wood, the model. The violin ; The woods used ; Chemically prepared woods ; The qualities of the woods ; "Whole," "half," and "slab" backs ; The model ; Method of copying an old model ; Method of drawing a mathematical outline -- The back, belly, and sides. The thicknesses of the back and belly ; Copyists ; The sides ; Mass of air contained in a fiddle ; Height of the sides -- The interior of the violin. The blocks ; The side linings ; The sound post ; Its measurement ; Position in the fiddle ; Functions of the sound post ; Petizeau's sound post ; Hansel's ; Davidson's ; The bass bar ; Its measurements ; Position in the fiddle ; The old bars ; Vagaries attempted with the bass bar -- The exterior of the violin. The ff holes ; Method of tracing ; Their object ; Position in the belly ; Their capacity ; The neck and scroll ; Its functions ; Its setting on the fiddle ; Its measurements ; Method of tracing ; The Chanot scroll ; Old necks ; The bridge ; Ancient bridges ; The design and material ; Its functions ; Setting to the instrument ; Otto's bridge regulator ; Position on the belly ; Purfling ; Its composition ; Fitting ; The pegs ; Their raison d'etre ; Ornamentation ; Ornamental purfling ; Inlaying ; Carved heads ; Painting ; Branding ; Inlaid fittings -- The varnish. Charles Reade on the old varnishes ; Old recipes ; Alexis the Piedmontese, 1550 ; Fioravanti of Bologna, 1564 ; Anda, 1663 ; Zahn, 1685 ; C. Morley, 1692 ; Bonnani of Rome, 1713 ; Qualities required by violin varnish ; Amber varnishes ; Spirit varnishes ; Application ; Sizing ; Tests for purity of ingredients ; Coloration of varnish ; Composition ; Time for making varnishes ; Recipes -- Fittings and appliances. The pegs ; Material ; Fitting ; Machine heads ; Patent pegs ; The nut ; The finger-board ; Cutting ; Material ; Spohr's finger-board ; Other vagaries ; The tail-piece ; Material ; Spohr's tail-piece ; Vuillaume's sourdine pedale ; Zebrowski's ; The tail-pin ; The rest ; Chin-rests ; Hill's ; Chanot's ; The mute ; Hill's ; Rosin ; Its preparation ; Gauges ; Tuning forks ; String boxes ; Minor accessories ; Fiddle cases -- The strings. Choice of strings ; Theory of vibration ; Relations to one another ; "True" and "false" strings ; True and harmonic octave and fifth tests ; Appearance of a good string ; Preservation of strings ; Different sorts of strings ; Their composition ; Method of preparation and manufacture ; Covered strings ; Silk and acribelle -- |
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Part III. Practical. The tools. Ordinary tools ; Special tools ; Toothed plane ; Scrapers ; Knives ; Marking point ; Bending irons ; Oval planes ; Spring compasses ; ff hole piercers ; Gauging callipers ; Screws ; Clips ; Cramps ; Compasses ; Purfling tools -- The outside-mould. Copying the outline ; Making the mould ; Its diameters ; The outline models ; The arching-guides ; The cramping blocks -- The sides, or ribs, blocks and side-linings. Selection of the wood ; The sides ; Bending the sides ; Fitting the sides ; The top and bottom and blocks ; The corner blocks ; The side-linings ; Bending the side-linings ; Fitting ; Fixing the linings ; Levelling ; Finishing the sides, linings, and blocks, inside and outside -- The tables: back and belly. Joining the tables ; Planing the flat surface ; Marking the outline ; Cutting-out ; First gouging ; Correcting the outline ; Second gouging ; First planing ; The sunk edge ; Second planing ; Scraping ; Marking the plane surfaces for gouging out back and belly -- The back. Gouging-out ; Planing ; Scraping ; Bevelling the edge ; Fitting on the ribs ; Sizing the blocks ; Peg-holes ; Fixing the ribs ; Finishing ; The label ; Correcting the bottom join ; The tail-pin hole -- The belly. Marking the ff holes ; Cutting out the ff holes ; Gouging out the belly ; Planing ; Scraping and finishing ; Fitting the bar ; Fixing the bar ; Fitting on the sides ; Fixing ; Correcting ; Finishing -- Purfling and finishing the body. Marking the purfling ; The pegs ; The purfling ; Fitting ; Fixing ; Raising the edges and corners ; Final scraping ; Sand-papering ; The rest ; Fitting ; Fixing ; Finishing ; Rounding the edges ; Finishing the body "in the white" -- The neck and scroll. The wood ; Preparation ; Marking outline ; Cutting-out ; Marking and shaping out the neck and scroll ; Roughing out the volute ; Finishing the volute ; Hollowing the back of the head ; The peg-box ; Finishing the head ; The neck ; Fitting the neck to the body of the fiddle ; Cutting out the chamber ; Shaping the shoulder ; Testing the fit ; Fixing ; The false finger-board ; The button ; The shoulder ; Finishing the neck and shoulder ; Final operations -- The Guarnerius model, with whole tables on an inside mould. The inside mould and its accessories ; The half-outline ; The rib-outline ; The whole back ; The whole belly ; The blocks ; Fitting the blocks ; Marking the blocks ; Shaping ; Fitting the C's ; Fixing ; Finishing the blocks ; Fitting the upper and lower bouts ; Fixing ; Regulating the depth ; The lower linings ; The insides of the blocks ; The back ; Gouging-out and proceedings to completion ; The belly ; Gouging-out ; Marking ff holes ; Fixing bar ; Proceedings to completion ; Fixing back to ribs ; Taking out mould ; The upper linings ; Finishing the linings and blocks ; Fitting and fixing the belly ; The head and neck ; Finishing the fiddle in the "white" -- Varnishing and fitting up. Staining ; Varnishing ; Polishing ; Fitting the finger-board ; Fixing the nut ; Finishing the nut and finger-board with the neck ; Fitting the pegs ; Finishing the pegs ; Fitting and fixing the tail-pin ; Fitting the tail-piece and loop ; Setting up the sound-post ; The strings ; Cutting and fitting the bridge ; Finis! -- Repairs. Removing the belly of the fiddle ; Cracks in the back or belly ; Cracks in wings of ff holes ; Cracked corners ; Crack at the joint, or ungluing of the tables ; Cracked edges and bits split off the outline ; Crack from the pressure of the sound-post ; Veneering new wood into a fiddle ; Loosening of the belly from the heat of the chin or hand ; Split block ; Splicing the head on to a neck, and fitting it on a fiddle ; Varnishing repairs ; Conclusion -- Appendices. A. Materials used in varnishing the violin ; B. The preservation of the instrument ; C. The bibliography of the violin ; D. A catalogue of violin schools and instruction books ; E. An historic violin school. |
