warrant the removal
of the cramp, this can be done. If all the measurements, fitting and
precautions have been duly attended to, the neck or graft, with its
line in the centre--supposing the present method is that adopted before
the fingerboard is placed in position--will form an exact continuation
of a line down the centre of the violin. A look down from end to end,
or placing a long straight edged rule against the line, will be a way
of testing this: if all is correct, the line will be perfectly straight
and not bent. Should the latter be the case, the measurements, or
fitting, in some respects, will have been inaccurate. It would be very
provoking to find it so after all the trouble undertaken, and many
instances are to be seen where the work has been left in this condition,
and the stringing up and regulation has been, not only under great
disadvantages, but absence of comfort in playing, and indeed the proper
emission of the tone has been sacrificed. If the violin is one that
is worthy of being performed upon with skill, there is only one
alternative to putting it aside as useless, that of having the neck
sawn off and the whole process of renewal gone through, with the aim
of next time being more careful and true.

Supposing, however, the neck is truly set and all is satisfactory, the
next stage will be the laying of the fingerboard. This should be of
good, close and straight grained ebony, free from knots. Fingerboards
are usually sold in the rough; that is, with the upper surface, or
rounded part trimmed down to an approximate curve. They are cut to
lengths of about ten inches and a half to three quarters. Should the
violin require a fingerboard less in length than this, a small portion
must be sawn off, preferably from the small end. Great care must be
exercised that it is done in right angles with a central line drawn
from end to end. As the drawing of this line would entail some trouble,
the under, or flat surface can be placed face to face with one that
is known to be quite true, and a line with a fine pointed pencil made,
or better, a scratch with the point of a small knife, guided by the
true end of the perfect one. A fine toothed and sharp saw will remove
the unnecessary wood. In doing so, precautions must be taken against
splintering and spoiling the wood. To prevent this, a piece of waste
wood, cut slightly out of the square, should be placed against the stop
of the bench, so that when the ebony is place