ectably as a biped: _I_ shall have nothing
whatever to do with turning him into a quadruped, be assured.

The importance of the quality and of the correct height, thickness,
etc., etc., of this most essential adjunct, cannot be too seriously
impressed upon all who seek to get from the violin they are fitting
up the strongest and the best quality of tone possible; and, unless
the clever amateur be sufficiently so to do it as it should be and
can be done by an expert, my advice to him is, do not attempt it as
a work of finality--_try_ to do it properly and persevere, and I
will help you. But do not show me with pride work to which attaches
nothing but condemnation; too thick at top and bottom--feet clumsy
to a degree--too high or too low--badly arranged for clean bowing on
separate strings, and too deep or too shallow in the cuts for them.
What does it matter to me if only a few or but one of these faults
be apparent? the bridge is not perfect, and perfect it must be made,
so I proceed to the consideration of the work to be done to make it
so.

Select a fine, strong, light bridge by either Aubert or Panpi--the
former by preference. In using the names of these deservedly popular
makers, I mean, of course, either _Aubert_ or _Panpi_, and the
bridges wrought in their workshops, not the nasty imitations we are
compelled to see sometimes, but which, rather than use, we would go
a day's journey to avoid.

Pare the feet down to about one thirty-second of an inch (this when
fitted finally) and proceed to make as accurate a union of these
feet with the belly as you can, as it is most important that such
should be the case. Then measure the height of this bridge, from
belly to its top at centre, as one and five-sixteenths of an inch,
nicely curving it so that ease of bowing is obtained, as spoken of
before. This curvature should be unequal in height--or, rather, to
express it better, the height on the G side should be so that, at
the broad end of the fingerboard, the space _between_ the ebony and
the string will be a quarter of an inch, reducing as we get to the
E, which registers about one-sixteenth of an inch less, or
three-sixteenths of an inch. This is a guide, and a good mean to
work on, but not a rule, as some people cannot play except the
strings are near to the board, others just the reverse.

As to the distance between the strings, where they pass over the
bridge, this is also a point somewhat of controversy, and appl