ERIC MEYER/COURTESY HANS DENNIG

ERIC MEYER/COURTESY ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

MICHAEL JUDGE/COURTESY DAVID KERR VIOLIN SHOP

Boxwood peg
made at Hills

Hill pegs with concave sides and Carved Hill pegs Wally De Coombe,
who was

COURTESY BILL WATSON

thick shafts on a Girolamo on a bass viol by
GUY RABUT

Carved pegs and an end button Amati II viola: possibly early John Rose, responsible for
by W.E. Hill & Sons examples of William Retfords work London, 1600 heart-shaped peg
production at Hills

Peg- Ornamented Hill pegs on a cittern in

the Ashmoleans Hill collection
n he garden shed
behind William
Retfords house, lamplight
flickers late into the evening.
The legendary bow maker has
an idea he wants to attempt on his
and grace. The pictured boxwood
heart-shaped pegs have adorned an
Amati instrument for many years, and
I believe they are early Retford pegs.
The thumb grip is unusually concave;
the neck of the peg must be large
These relatively unsung engineers
were absolutely essential to the
success of the Hill organisation. Their
contribution was to discover ways of
doing things efficiently enough to make
a profit without sacrificing the quality

turning
treadle lathe, so hes made a tool out of to blend into the thick shaft for the demanded from Hills. During World
an old file for the purpose. It looks like unbushed pegbox, and the concave grip War II some were drafted away to make
a bird talon ground flat on the top edge, allows for this transition. Separate black aluminium parts for British war planes,
and he is trying to snake it into the or ivory collars were not added until the returning after the war to their Lorch-
turning boxwood without breaking the 1930s, a fact that helps to date it. Schmidts. De Coombe was responsible
tool or shattering the piece of work. Its all about the men who did the for heart-shaped peg production, and
This story was related to me by work, isnt it? says Watson. Engineers Mason specialised in French-style pegs.

tales
Bill Watson, another famous bow maker at Hills were the men who made the Richard Sadlers tribute to Bultitude
and Retfords apprentice at W.E. Hill templates, jigs and systems that created quotes Bultitude saying that he finished
& Sons. It took place around 1912 these fittings. During the 1930s, the grosses of pegs as a young employee.
and concerns the birth of the heart- Hanwell workshop contained several He also mentions that Golper, who later
shaped peg, a familiar sight on the Lorch-Schmidt lathes connected to a emigrated to Australia, made many jigs,
great violins of the past. maze of leather belts and pulleys. Bow and peg cutters that were copied later.
JOHN MILNES/COURTESY ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

I have seen earlier and much cruder makers, violin craftsmen, case makers Unfortunately, some of their
examples of this idea, notably in a box and the peg and tailpiece operation methodology may be lost to the annals
of old fittings at the Museum of Music were located here, and communication of history. Watson remembers that
The company of W.E. Hill & Sons was
in Paris. Perhaps so had Retford, but between the groups of workers was turning tools were made from recycled
renowned for its pegs and other fittings he deserves credit in any case. His discouraged. Their work was sent to files and probably done freehand. I
for more than 100 years. Eric Meyer pays visionary execution of this design set a the posh shop in London to be sold. wonder about this, given the refinement
tribute to the men who created them standard that became as successful and At Hanwell you would find craftsmen of the jig and template art at Hanwell,
renowned as any work from the Hill Retford, Watson and Arthur Bultitude and the difficulty of this type of turning.
and takes a look behind the scenes at
shop. The statement it has Hill fittings working at their benches. You would Since the heart-shaped pegs cut is
the workshop where they were made sets an instrument apart as special. also find the likes of Frank Napier, effectively hidden inside the spinning
Many peg makers have used these James Golper, Wally De Coombe wood, identical shapes are extremely
fittings as a bell-wether of style, function and Stan Mason. difficult to accomplish freehand.

6 ACCESSORIES 2007 ACCESSORIES 2007 7

 Hill pegs on a viol
Hill tailpiece on a viola made by Giovanni
Maria da Brescia,
part of the
Ashmoleans

ERIC MEYER/COURTESY ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

Hill collection
GUY RABUT

Watson recalls the staining process.
Many lovers of boxwood pegs are not
aware that the wood is pale yellow in
colour and must be darkened with nitric
acid and ammonia. Acid was applied
with cotton swabs straight out of the
bottle. Did you wear gloves? Did you
wear masks? I asked. Watson chuckled.
No, we just worked next to an open
window. We didnt have much left in
the way of fingerprints after a while.
Pegs and tailpieces were placed in a
glass box and fumed with ammonia
after the nitric acid treatment. Tailpieces
were roughed out on a duplicating
machine, a bizarre Heath-Robinson
affair, according to Watson. It was
probably designed by Frank Napier and
rough-carved several at a time. The way
in which tailpieces were finished says
a lot about the Hill organisation.
COURTESY BILL WATSON
Men who wore the apron were not
esteemed, says Retford. A daughters
declaration, Daddy, Ive met the most
wonderful man hes a violin maker!
would not have been greeted with
much enthusiasm. Much work was
done on a piecework basis at home and
at night. Watson was paid 25 pence, one
quarter of his weekly salary, to finish a
tailpiece at his kitchen table. Work was
inspected the next day by a foreman
such as Bultitude or De Coombe. Small
bumps and dips were highlighted with
a pencil to be reworked at home. There
was no such thing as paid vacation
for Watson. The extra money from
piecework was used by apprentices to
pay for a week at summer church camp
with the Boys Brigade. Bultitude was a
counsellor, and it was at summer camp
that he met and recruited Watson.
was figured on a set percentage of
production cost. The cost of fittings
was kept low, and when these wore
out, players returned their instruments
to the showroom in London. According to
Watson, during his time at Hills highly
ornamented carved fittings were sent
to a professional carver somewhere in
London, who was used to cutting
Napoleonic designs.
Piecework certainly worked well as
a training ground for the remarkably
talented craftsmen who worked at
W.E. Hill & Sons over the years. As
a peg-turner myself, I was particularly
impressed by the workmanship of
fittings when I toured the Hill
collection at the Ashmolean Museum
in Oxford. Some of these pegs were
designed and crafted by a different set
of Hills trained workers during the

These talented men were not Homework had many ramifications
particularly well paid. This was for workers and the organisation. Finish
aggravated by the post-Victorian work didnt consume paid shop time,
attitude that craftsmen, even talented the young workers were honing their
ones, were not high on the social scale. skills for hourly work, and piecework
Bill Watson was paid 25 pence,
a quarter of his weekly salary,
to finish a tailpiece at his
kitchen table
Bill Watson, engineer at Hills, as a young man
1950s. I would love to know more
about the story of the design and
execution of these replacement pegs,
which are fanciful and beautiful.
This aspect of world violin history
hasnt received the attention it
deserves, but perhaps this small and
incomplete overview of the men who
made the Hill fittings will bring other
remembrances out of the cellar. After
all, in the upstairsdownstairs hierarchy
of the Hanwell shop, thats probably
where the pegs were made. We should
bring these workers and craftspeople
out into the light of day and salute
them. They brought us beauty and
function, and set the high standards
that have become legendary.

8 ACCESSORIES 2007