eccentric.
Nevertheless at one time it was universal. Probably the increased
number of movements of the hand, and especially the thumb, to meet the
requirements of more florid execution and in connection with the growth
of the ability among players for performing much music on the higher
positions or shifts, showed very soon how the coloured varnish looked
patchy under wear. This fashion of covering over the most handled part
of the instrument with the coloured varnish then became discarded.

"Appearances must be preserved" was found to be an axiom almost forced
upon the makers and repairers, and, as time went on, the substitution
of strongly curled wood for necks or grafts, in place of the plainer
material hitherto used, gradually settled down into the present
fashion. Now-a-days the skill of the repairer is exercised in the
various treatment of this part. Players vary in their tastes or whims,
some liking a perfectly smooth or polished surface as more suitable
to their handling than what they understand as an unvarnished neck,
others like it the other way as not so likely to slip, there being a
little more hold or resistance. Anyhow, the raw wood cannot be left
simply glass-papered, this would be speedily followed in use by an
accumulation of dirt and grease unpleasant to the eye, and to the touch,
clammy and unwholesome. It will therefore be as well to consider the
two modes of treatment. In either case the parts of the graft near the
insertion in the socket and at the other end where the peg-box is fitted
will require varnishing down.

Before active operations commence a fair examination should be made
of the colour or complexion of the body of the violin. Very often this
has no attention paid to it, with the result of a hideous contrast
between the neck and the ribs adjoining, a sign of bad workmanship and
carelessness. The materials at hand for making a good match must then
be thought over, the most appropriate selected and the number of coats,
if possible, determined upon. This latter will be taken in a general
sense, as an exact number will not be possible; appearances are in this
process deceptive and must be regulated by the exigencies of the moment,
but what can be calculated is the question of one or two applications
only (which would result in a cheap and common appearance) or a number
with the same materials carefully laid to the satisfaction of the
repairer.

Without plunging into the whirlpool of the