Scan 313
Critical & Documentary Dictionary of Violin Makers Old and Modern, 1928
16 lines. Read by computer on 5 October 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Professor Felix Savart's own deductions are as follows:
3« The Sound-post, apart from its role of consolidation, is indispensable to sound production: if taken away, the latter loses strength. It has been thought that the object of the Sound-post is to transmit the vibrations from the upper to the lower table. This is a mistake, as should it be placed on the violin, instead of inside, its action remains the same. To arrive at a practical demonstration of this phenomenon, the following experiment can be effected. A kind of wooden arch is placed upon the violin, fixed and glued to the corner blocks, the Sound Post is placed against this arch and the Belly. The change makes no difference to the sound, which remains identically the same as if the Sound-post were placed inside. Should the Sound-post be taken away and a heavy body placed on the Belly, the instrument will sound as though it possessed that piece… »
5The regulating of an instrument consists in placing the sound post in its precise place, which varies with every one, in the thickness of the Bridge, its height in proportion to the arching, and in the thickness of the strings.
7This delicate operation is no easy matter and will always be more successfully achieved by someone who plays the instrument, if only a little.
9Upon the bridge, a detached piece of spotted maple, the Strings rest and are maintained at a certain height from the Finger-board.
11It communicates the vibrations of the strings to the body of the instrument acting as a sound box. Spotted maple is the best wood for this part of an instrument on account of its hardness.
13The varnish is to protect the wood against damp and dirt. From the point of view of acoustics it also plays a very important part. For instance, an unvarnished violin, which has just been made, temporarily gives its maximum of sound, but loses it, together with all its qualities, after a short time. In addition, the varnish, by its nature, composition and mode of application, contributes to the beauty of the instrument, being in fact its adornment.
15The best varnishes are those composed of tender resin and gum dissolved in spirit. To this may be added some linseed oil, but in an infinitesimal quantity only, as, after a time, oil hardens and gives results contrary to those at first achieved.
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