ary process to be gone
through, nothing but cramping down, varnishing and finishing off.

Another instance comes to my mind of what can be done in the way of
alteration of the interior without removing the upper table. It came
within my own experience many years back, and the violin was one owned
by myself at the time. It had got into a condition not unfrequently
seen after bad repairing, that of the fingerboard sinking down too near
the table through absence of proper support or sufficient grip of the
end of the table where the neck is inserted. Being unable to attend
to the matter myself at the time, I sought the aid of a friend living
close by, a clever amateur violin maker and mechanical constructor of
other things beside. He was not very long setting matters right, and
my violin seemed in no danger of further getting into disorder from
the same cause. I asked him how he had managed the rectification of
the matter; did he take the upper table off? "Oh no, without that. I
simply opened or loosened the left side of the table about and above
the upper corner, then, having cut and glued a slight thin wedge-shaped
piece of wood, through the narrow opening caused by the loosening of
the table, I passed it on a thin knife long enough to reach to the upper
block, between which and the part of the upper table which was not
holding I carefully thrust it and tucked it in, finally glueing and
cramping again the part of the table that I had purposely loosened."

This was a clever operation, successful but very risky, and not to be
lightly undertaken by anyone without much experience and even natural
ability for mechanical adaptation of means to an end. There was much
danger, from the narrowness of the approach to the work from the side
opening, of missing the mark and dropping the piece of wood with great
difficulty of recovery, and, further, the chance of cracking the upper
table by straining the opening for the admission of knife and wedge
of wood. I heard of the violin but a few days since, and have no reason
to suppose there has been occasion to have any further repairs done.

Among other mishaps occurring at times, and which from their position
seem difficult to remedy, is that of the lower rib becoming detached,
or losing its hold on the block; this is more liable to take place when
there is a join running up and past the tail pin hole. Both sides may
be loose or one only. When, as in a great many of the old Italian violi