FiddleFix by Burt Porter and Thurmond Knight with photos and illustrations by Thurmond Knight, published in 2007 by Shantivanam Publishing Company in Glover; $10 online at www.violinviolacello.com.

Reviewed by Jennifer Hersey Cleveland

Burt Porter plays a tune on his fiddle at his home in Glover. Photos by Jennifer Hersey Cleveland

When my maternal grandfather, Ronald Boutilier, died February 7, 2006, my family was at a loss about what to do with all of his musical instruments.  My family decided that, as the only musician in the family, I should have them.  Hence, I inherited three guitars, two mandolins, and two fiddles.

I haven't learned to play any one of them, but I love the look and feel of them.  Mostly, though, I love how they still smell like my grandparents' house in Oakfield, Maine, now occupied by strangers.

Often I've thought about having the fiddles, which are in ill repair, restored, but never really got around to doing anything about it.

That is, until I found out about FiddleFix, an online book just barely made available by Burt Porter and Thurmond Knight of Glover.

FiddleFix is the result of Mr. Knight's knowledge and Mr. Porter's ignorance, or at least that's what the preface to the book says.

"Someone like Thurmond who really knows about his subject needs an affable ignoramus to ask questions he wouldn't think needed answers, and also to look bewildered and say 'huh?' when the luthier gets technical too quickly," ends the preface.

Mr. Porter is a well-known musician and poet, and Mr. Knight is a highly trained luthier, a person who makes and restores violins, violas, and cellos.  The two men only live four miles from each other, and they met around the time Mr. Porter inherited a fiddle that was his great-grandfather's that needed repairing.

Thus began the two-year project that resulted in FiddleFix, which is dedicated to Arthur and Hermenegilde Chamberland, "The Poet Laureates of violin making in Vermont."

As Mr. Porter learned, there are some violin repairs that an unskilled person should not try himself.  Scott Odell, a friend of Mr. Porter's and former conservator of musical instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, told him that "far more instruments are damaged over the years by inept attempts at repair than by neglect," he writes in the introduction, and that finding a skilled luthier is the only way to go.

And Mr. Knight fit the bill completely.  He studied violin making, repair, and restoration at the University of New Hampshire and studied with  master violin maker Karl Roy for six summers.  He then became Mr. Roy's shop assistant, a position he held for nine years.  Upon moving to Vermont, he opened Vermont Violins in Montpelier, which he ran for five years before selling the business and moving to the Northeast Kingdom.  (He also plays these instruments, skillfully, I might add.)

From FiddleFix enthusiasts will learn to never use epoxy to repair a fine instrument.  Fine instruments must at times be pulled apart to make significant repairs, and after epoxy is used on them, they can never be repaired again.  Only hide glue should be used.  Hide glue is basically gelatin, just a coarser version of it.

The book describes multiple types of repairs, including approximate times that it should take to complete them.  It addresses finding a luthier,

Thurmond Knight applies varnish to a fiddle at his Glover shop.

taking care of the pegs, and purchasing bows.  (The bow should be worth about half the value of the violin.)

"You probably need a better bow than you might think.  A bow can greatly affect the tone and playability of the instrument," reads FiddleFix.

Even if you don't know how to navigate your instrument yet, FiddleFix will point you in the right direction.  These instruments need a lot of upkeep and care.

If you are an experienced violinist, you probably know quite a bit about the upkeep of your instruments, but FiddleFix is an invaluable tool when considering making more complex repairs yourself (or in finding a reliable luthier).

Mr. Porter said in an interview on Tuesday, May 1, that he approached Mr. Knight about writing FiddleFix because he had learned a lot from Mr. Knight and thought that other people could benefit from a handy source of this information.  He said his main job was keeping Mr. Knight from explaining things in such technical terms that average people would not understand.

Together they decided who would write what and then critiqued each other's work.

"He looked for accuracy, and I looked for understandability," Mr. Porter said.

He said one very valuable tip he got from Mr. Knight was how to straighten the bridge without it falling over.

Mr. Porter has been playing fiddle for about 50 years.

"That's not hard to do when you're almost 70," he said.

He has played mandolin since he was a child, and since the two instruments are tuned the same, the left hand falls into the same position on each.

Most fiddlers use steel core strings, but Mr. Porter prefers the nylon strings mostly used by violinists.  He said he originally used nylon out of sentimentality because it is closer to the gut strings that his fiddles came with originally.  He tried gut strings, but they are susceptible to climate changes.  Not the best idea for the Northeast Kingdom fiddler.

His advice to new fiddlers?  A medium quality fiddle that is properly set up is better than an expensive one that isn't, and make sure when learning to play to keep your bow at a right angle to the strings at all times.

In an interview Thursday, April 26, Mr. Knight spoke about making fine instruments, particularly about choosing the finest wood.  He uses only wood that has been dried six or seven years.  (Stradivarius would use no wood cured less than 19 years, whereas Mr. Roy would use wood cured only one year.)  And there are no shortcuts - kiln-drying wood kills the sound.

Mr. Knight prefers Bosnian maple, which can be very difficult to obtain, besides its expense.  (The two small planks required to make the face of a violin cost $200.)  He has wood cut in 1917 by the Chamberland brothers and spruce and maple culled from a covered bridge that was torn down.  That wood was cut in 1887.

Mr. Knight also runs a school for aspiring violin makers in which only two or three students work at a time, as opposed to the 12 to 15 students normally in a violin workshop.

Mona — the violin named after a student who began making it but failed to finish.

An interesting note - Mr. Knight names all of his instruments, which generally sell quickly once complete.  Florine is a violin named after his childhood nanny.  Ellen Frances is a cello named after his mother.  His most famous instrument, featured in "Covered Bridges of New England," a program produced by PBS, is named after the love of his life, his wife, Bethany.  The one he is working on now is named Mona, after the student who began the instrument but never finished.

I couldn't end this review without answering the number one question people like Mr. Knight are asked repeatedly.  What is the difference between a fiddle and a violin?  The real answer is there are only minor differences in how the musician prefers the instrument to be set up, such as the shape of the bridge or the type of strings used.

Mr. Knight's answer?  "If the player is wearing a tie, it's a violin.  If the player looks like he's having fun, it's a fiddle."