by Oliver Jones (1853 – 1952)
FITTING UP
The Violin is now made and varnished, with everything ready for stringing up and playing; but there is a considerable amount of careful workmanship to be executed before the instrument is in a fit state to do its best . The adjusting of the violin is one of the most important processes connected with the instrument, and even a poorly built and defective violin may be made to sound tolerably well by careful adjustment . On the other hand, a beautifully constructed instrument will be quite spoiled by bad adjustment .
THE BRIDGE – A bridge is required, over which the strings pass from the tail-piece to the pegs . This bridge, although perhaps insignificant to look at, is the most important fitment (excepting only the sound-post) in the whole violin, and every care must be taken to secure the proper kind of bridge for the particular instrument under adjustment . Generally speaking, a heavy violin with plenty of wood in it, requires a moderately fine bridge, whilst a light instrument, meagre in material, will give the best result with a moderately heavy bridge.
Again, a violin shrill and hard in tone (generally found in company with a meagre allowance of wood) may be improved by the fitting of a bridge made of soft wood (sycamore cut on the quarter is the material), whilst a soft woolly tone may be brightened up and added brilliancy imparted by the fitting of a fairly thin hard-grained bridge. The height of this bridge is governed by the height of the fingerboard, and should be just sufficiently tall to allow the strings to vibrate clearly in playing without touching the fingerboard. If the bridge is too high, difficulty will be experienced in obtaining good tone, especially in playing rapid passages, owing to the force required in pressing the strings down in fingering the instrument .
SETTING-UP THE BRIDGE.
The position of the bridge-feet is exactly between the two nicks cut in the inner edges of the sound-holes, and a piece of thread drawn taut across the fiddle belly between these two points gives an imaginary line against which the back edges of the bridge-feet fit. Any deviation from this line will interfere with the tone. It will thus be seen how important it is to have the sound-holes in their correct positions and the nicks cut in the right places because on their correctness depend not only the position of the bridge but also of the bass-bar, as previously explained. The joint of the belly when the bridge is standing in its correct position passes exactly between the right and left foot of the bridge.
These instructions must be followed in setting up the bridge. The feet of the bridge must be fitted exactly to the curve of the belly, both sidewise and longitudinally. The correct way to obtain this fit, which must be absolutely perfect over all surfaces, is as follows: with a keen-edged penknife pare the feet of the bridge roughly down to the shape of the belly, leaving sufficient wood in them to stand firm without giving way to pressure on the strings, but not so much wood as to cause them to appear clumsy or to interfere with the maximum amount of vibration . Now place a strip of fine glasspaper across the belly, between the nicks of the sound-holes, and whilst holding the bridge firmly in an upright position between the finger and thumb of one hand, and the glasspaper with the finger and thumb of the other hand, rub the feet backwards and forwards between the nicks of the sound-holes until all roughness and inequality of wood are removed and the bridge stands in its proper position with every part of the bottom surfaces of its feet fitting the belly perfectly all over. No pains must be spared to make this fitting perfect, for imperfect fitting will affect the tone in no inconsiderable degree. Some makers scrape away the varnish under the bridge-feet to make junction exact with the belly wood itself, but it is doubtful if this is a wise procedure on every occasion. It will perhaps aid a dull-toned violin to increase its power, but the quality of tone seems to suffer by the process. A very valuable Strad. which came under the writer’s notice some years ago was not scraped away at all at this point, and several expensive Italian instruments are also intact, so far as varnish is concerned, at this spot. The method seems to have been adopted by a later generation of makers than the classical Italians, and it is better to follow them wherever possible, unless the violin demands a radical departure (such as this one) from their methods.
The right foot of the bridge should be in line with the sound- post (the fitting of which will be explained later), and the left foot must be directly over the centre of the bass-bar . By this arrangement both pairs of strings, the first and second, and the third and fourth, are directly in communication with the sound conductors of the instrument. This point is very important, and on no account must it be neglected. For this reason bridges made with more than two feet are unnecessary, and it will be found in practice that the ordinary one piece bridge with two feet only is sufficient for every purpose of tone. It is in the fitting and position and weight of the bridge where the importance of judgment lies, rather than in alteration of its form .
The sweep of the top of the bridge is also important, as on the correct arch depends ease of bowing. An outline diagram is given by Fig. 41 showing this arching, and also for the purpose of cutting home-made bridges, if these are required.
It is not always possible to obtain a suitable bridge, especially with the correct density of wood. Therefore the maker will probably be required to construct his own. It should be cut out with a fret-saw, and carefully bevelled with a sharp chisel, files and glasspaper to the correct thickness and weight required by the instrument. It must, of course, taper on each side without any suspicion of hollows or lumps, and must in every case be cut on the quarter. It is often desirable to make them from the same piece of materials as the back (when that is a sycamore one); also the pieces cut from the inner bouts often make capital bridges.
When a bridge is satisfactorily made and fitted, every care should be taken of it, as it adjusts itself to the instrument and grows in age with it. A new bridge is never so satisfactory as an old one, at any rate, for some time after it is fitted to the violin.
THE SOUND POST – The sound-post is the most important fitment in the violin, and the slightest alteration in its thickness, position or nature of material will radically alter the tone of the instrument. It is made from pine, preferably from the same piece as the belly, and is set up inside the violin in a perfectly upright position about 4 in. or less exactly behind the right foot of the bridge. An instrument made of iron, called a sound-post setter, is employed in the fitting and adjustment of the sound-post. The fitting of the top and bottom of the sound-post against the back and belly of the violin must be as conscientiously executed as the fitting of the bridge-feet.
First of all, with the callipers, obtain the rough outside measurement over the place where the sound-post will stand. Now split the pine until a stick is obtained 1/4 in. thick and the same length as the callipered depth of the fiddle. Then bevel the two ends roughly to fit the sweep of back and belly at the proper place. Round the post with plane, files and glasspaper, and inserting the sharp end of the setter into the lower portion of the side of the post in such a manner that the fibres of the post will be across the fibres of the belly, pass the post through the right sound-hole, and by manoeuvring the setter try the fit.
It will take some little time to obtain a good fit, and by looking through the tail-pin hole in the bottom block any discrepancy in the fitting against back and belly will he noticeable . Continue to file the ends and test in the fiddle until the post is exactly fitted and perfectly upright in the instrument and just behind the right foot of the bridge. It may have to be moved a little backwards or forwards, or a little to the right or left, according to the build of the instrument, but it cannot be too strongly enforced that it must fit perfectly. Its diameter when finished should be 3/16 in., but this will vary slightly in different instruments. Do not make it too thin; it must carry plenty of vibration.
It must not be jammed into its place, or the belly will be damaged and the tone spoiled. When correctly fitted it will slide into its place without any force, and indeed force must not be used in any circumstances when fitting the sound-post . If too tight, the tone will be tense and hard; if too far forward, the tone will be loud and shrill without quality; if too much to the right of the fiddle the E or first string will be loud and coarse, and the fourth or G string dull; if too much towards the centre of the fiddle, the E string will suffer and the G become loud and strong.
The object to be aimed at is evenness of tone and equal strength on all four strings. Do not be anxious to obtain power at first. If the violin is sweet and even in tone, power will come with use. No new violin (or at least very few) are both sweet and powerful, and if the former quality be present it is a subject for congratulation. There are many fiddles too loud, but not sweet, and there are not so many with the correct singing quality which should be the goal of every fiddle-maker. The tone of the violin may also be modified by the use of a hard or soft-grained post, as occasion demands. No circumstance must be neglected in order to obtain the maximum quality and quantity of tone from the violin. It will be found that careful adjustment of the sound-post plays a very considerable part in this matter.