Books › A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860 › scan 53
Scan 53
A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 31. See the scan on archive.org.
1obstructs the vibration of the belly. The same difficulty in bringing out the tone arises if the bass-bar is placed too far inwards, instead of being more under the foot of the bridge; as it does not then receive the concussion direct from the bridge, but first from the wood adjoining, which cannot act so powerfully upon it. Sometimes, notwithstanding the seeming regularity of all the parts, the entire structure is too weak. Every different model, whether higher or flatter, requires different proportions; and it is in this respect that faults are often observable, as makers in general pay no attention to such difference. But the Italian makers and Jacob Steiner thoroughly understood this matter; on which account their instruments, although massively and strongly made, still possess an extremely powerful tone, which arises from their accurate vibration. Instruments which have been finished off too weak, and in which the thickness of the back and belly is not in due proportion with the model, cannot be brought into a good state.
3The bass-bar must be placed under the left foot of the bridge, with its upper end a quarter of an inch nearer the middle joint [of the belly] than the opposite end which turns towards the cheeks, so as immediately to throw into vibration the fibres of the wood in the belly for the breadth of half an inch. This is the position of it in all good instruments. A violin constructed on the Cremonese model, and having the same thickness of wood as those instruments, will admit of being tuned up to pitch without sinking in, even in the absence of the bass-bar and sound-post: consequently these pieces are not inserted for the purpose of strengthening the
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