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Friday 6th
Peter K__ phoned and asked if Toby was in today. I told him that he only works Wednesdays and Thursdays and he said he'd call in next week. I wonder what that was all about?
Just got the latest Strad magazine - yet another poster of an Italian violin!! I sometimes wonder if the staff at The Strad realise that there were actually some very competent makers working in countries other than Italy. You'd think a BRITISH magazine might be a little bit more patriotic and feature one or two of our own fine makers - Betts, Lott, Banks... even George Pyne.
Wednesday 11th
Toby has been going on about some fancy closing clamps that he used in another workshop. Made of this wonderful space-age material and designed to fit the curves of the violin. Probably hugely expensive. Apparently they are even colour-coded so that you always know exactly where the clamps should go. Wonderful... so now any idiot can be a violin repairer! I kept telling him that I wasn't interested. One of the first jobs Arthur Pemberton gave me in 1963 was to make my own set of closing clamps from wooden dowel and threaded rod and they have served me perfectly well ever since... and all the materials only cost me a few shillings.
Peter K__ came in. He and Toby spent half an hour nattering away about his setup and discussing the possible effects of tuning the bridge. They seem to be getting on very well together. Toby thinned the bridge slightly and opened out the heart and they were both very excited with the result. (...it sounded exactly the same to me!)
Thursday 12th
Had to glue on a couple of fingerboards today. I must admit it really is VERY useful having another pair of hands in the workshop for that particular job.
Toby borrowed some of those closing clamps he's been talking about - he left them here for me to try.
Friday 13th
I had an open seam to glue up on a violin today so thought I'd better try using Toby's clamps, just to keep him quiet. They seem to work quite well.
Our wedding anniversary tomorrow. I suppose I should take Rose out for dinner somewhere. Can't afford anything too posh though... finances have been very tight these last few months. Sometimes I think there must be an easier way to make a living! Perhaps I should write a book... that's where all the money is in violin making these days. It doesn't have to contain any useful information - as long as it's expensively bound and published in a hand-numbered, limited edition then everyone will want to buy it.
Saturday 14th
Had a few more gluing jobs so I used Toby's clamps again. They really are quite well designed. The pressure is in just the right place, and it's very easy to clean up the excess glue.
Herman Z__ phoned about his repair job... he's getting very impatient. He actually mentioned that if I didn't get on with it he might have to take it to Jenkins (ridiculous idea... Jenkins would make a complete hash of it!) Still, perhaps I'd better try and get started on it.
Monday 16th
Used Toby's clamps twice today.
Tuesday 17th
This afternoon a chap came in with a violin for appraisal (the usual 'valuable family heirloom' story). It's interesting... I've been in this business for more than 40 years but I still haven't lost that slight sense of anticipation and excitement that comes with opening the case of an unknown fiddle for the first time. Unfortunately, before I got to see it, he spent ten minutes telling me about his long career as a French polisher and how he'd 'done a bit of work' on this one. Now there's a phrase that's guaranteed to kill off any feelings of anticipation!
I suppose his French polishing skills might have been quite good. He'd certainly done a very thorough job of sanding it down first, but he left 3 or 4 ugly black cracks that were now buried under a thick layer of shellac. Looks like it might have been a nice fiddle once - hard to tell really. It's just a shiny blob now.
Ordered a full set of those coloured closing clamps for the workshop.