Violin Lesson

When complete, the Violin consists of fifty eight different parts, which may be enumerated as follows
2 pieces for the back
2 ditto belly or sound-board
4 ditto corner blocks
2 ditto end blocks
6 ditto ribs or sides
12 ditto linings
I ditto sound or bass bar
12 ditto purfling
I ditto ebony rest for the tail piece
1 ditto ebony or sometimes ivory nut
1 ditto ebony tail-piece
I ditto ebony finger-board*
4 ditto screws or pegs
I ditto the neck
1 ditto button for the tail-piece
4 ditto strings
1 wire or catgut connecting the tail-piece with the button
I sound post
1 bridge

* Inferior instruments the finger-board is usually made of stained wood, or simply veneered with ebony, but in instruments of value they are invariably of solid ebony.

It may however be observed that all these fifty-eight parts are not indispensably necessary, for, in many instruments of a cheap or inferior construction, the lining of the sides and even the blocks are omitted, and indeed even in some good instruments the back and the belly are formed of one single piece each, instead of two glued together. The precise standard number of pieces in an instrument, constructed upon the most perfect system, is, nevertheless, fifty-eight. This may be taken as a general rule.

The greatest care and judgment is necessary in selecting the wood for the belly. On this the tone of the instrument entirely depends, therefore it is hoped that the following remarks, however fastidious they may at first sight appear, will, on reflection, not be considered superfluous. The wood should be cut, only, in the month of December or January and only that part of the tree, which has been exposed to the sun, should be used. It should be split so as to have a full inch thickness towards the bark or outer side, and a quarter of inch towards the heart of the tree.

The sycamore, for the back, must be cut in the same manner except that selecting wood only from the sunny side of the tree is not necessary, as any part may be safely employed. It should however be split in pieces not less than 150mm wide and 50mm in thickness at the back edge. It ought to be fully seasoned by exposure to the air for at least four years, after which it will be fit for use, taking care to keep it out of the sun or rain.

It is then cut in half, breadthways, or, to convey my meaning in plainer terms, it must be (if I may be allowed the expression) sliced into two pieces. These two slices are then glued together with the edges nearest to the hark of the tree inwards; the under side is planed flat, and the upper or outside is, in the first instance, planed down at a pent angle, that is, highest in the centre, and sloping down gradually towards the edges. The form, or model, is then scooped or worked out according to the taste of the artists, in doing which care is taken, in order to preserve a due thickness in the respective parts of the instrument.

Three types of wood should be used in the manufacture of this instrument. The back, the neck, the sides, and the circles are made of sycamore; the belly, the bass bar, the sound post, and the six blocks, of deal; the finger- board and tail-piece of ebony.

The purfling is then inlaid, the f or sound holes marked and cut out, and the bass bar glued inside below the G or fourth string position. The back is prepared and fitted in a similar manner. The sides or ribs between the back and the belly are planed smooth, and bent to shape on a hot piece of iron, according to the taste of the craftsman.They are then glued to the corner-blocks, after which the D's, or circles, in the centre of the instrument, are glued together both in the upper and under part. These are the most crucial points in putting an instrument together; the fitting of the other subsidiary parts such as the nut, sound-post, finger-board, bridge, tail-piece, screws etc. require no advice. All other instruments played with the bow are constructed in precisely the same way.

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Ever since his very first violin lesson Sean Eliot has been enchanted by this most majestic of instruments.

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