faculties, skill and experience directed on the
restoration of a violin "on the sick list," differs from those
exercised by the first constructor whose mechanical dexterity is an
aid or secondary to other qualifications: whereas it is paramount in
importance in the constitution of a first class repairer.

The construction of a violin from beginning to end may be said to be
an art based on certain fixed principles, not all of them known, however.
When these are, as far as possible, acted upon by a workman of
sufficient intelligence and training, the progress of the work may be
considered as being in a fairly straight and open course. Not so with
the restoration of it after fracture or loss of parts great or small,
several different courses may be open as to treatment and this will
be as the temperament of the restorer will suggest or the exigencies
of the moment may demand. Temporary alleviation of symptoms--how to
make the thing go somehow--when there is no fiddle physician within
beck or call, is a problem frequently arising and very annoying,
necessity then being the mother of invention, often of a most curious
sort, as most professional repairers who have had the re-consideration
of the matter will have impressed on their memories. Among the most
frequent of simple ailments the fiddle tribe is subject to, is that
known as "chattering" or jarring, caused mostly by some parts having
become dis-united, perhaps through damp or accident sometimes of a most
trifling nature, and which henceforth, unless remedies are at once
applied, make themselves evident in this way, accompanying every note
that happens to be in unison with themselves, and lending discord
instead of harmony, expressing urgently their thirst and desire for
a small drink from the glue pot. Not unfrequently the exact spot where
the jarring or chattering takes place is not easy to find by mere
examination of the exterior, especially if the separation is fresh and
at a part where very little adhesion has taken place at any time, or
possibly the very slight portion of glue originally placed at the time
of construction, has, with the progress of time, gradually dried away.
Should this have occurred at the junction of the upper or lower tables
(most frequently the first), the sides, or ribs, the exact spot must
be found by gently tapping all round carefully, holding the instrument
meanwhile firmly at parts that are least likely to have become
disconnected or tha