near equal
in diameter as possible along the whole of its length. The preparation
of the fresh peg to fit the new hole will be already evident as to its
requirements. There is one detail to be noticed, however, that of
boring the hole for the reception of the string. Of course the E will
not require so large an aperture as the D. The latter will require the
largest aperture of the four. If this operation is not conducted in
a methodical manner, with a proper knowledge of the best treatment
according to the material used for the peg, splitting will ensue, which
is trying to the temper. When a peg is once split it had better be thrown
aside as useless, the strain on it being unsupported by the solidity
of the material. No wooden peg that has been split in the operation
of boring for the string should be retained. It being necessary to use
wood of the hardest or toughest consistency, the splitting tendency
is increased as the grain is closer. There is discussion as to the best
material for pegs, and here in my opinion the old Italian makers were
wise in choosing the cherry wood seemingly abundant enough at their
command. It is not so hard and brittle as ebony. Another wood was used
by them, a kind of dark walnut, straight in the grain, but a little
firmer than the rose wood so fashionable at the present day, which has
a waxy consistency but accommodates itself to the jamming by the
impetuous amateur who will have his way.

CHAPTER VI.

LOOSENING OF JUNCTION OF GRAFT WITH PEG-BOX, AND REFIXING
SAME--GRAFTING, DIFFERENT METHODS OF PERFORMING THIS--LENGTHENING THE
NECK--OLD AND MODERN METHOD--RENEWAL OF SAME--INCLINATION OF NECK AND
FINGERBOARD WITH REGARD TO THE BRIDGE--HEIGHT OF LATTER, AND REASON
FOR IT.

In our progress downwards from the scroll and its adjoining parts,
before quite leaving it we may refer to a disorder sometimes occurring
when the neck is modern and grafted on to the old scroll. There are
several ways, or fashions it may be termed, in which this is effected.
The most usual method pursued in England and Germany is that of sawing
the head off at a part below the end of the shell and then chiselling
a level passage so far as a straight surface makes it necessary along
the floor of the peg-box. The sides are treated in the same way but
the width across diminishes as they proceed upward. The solid graft
is shaped, inserted, and afterward hollowed, but of this more presently.
Like all other parts o