Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864 › scan 94
Scan 94
Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864
6 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1same dimensions, and if we cause them to vibrate longitudinally or transversely, so as to make them produce the same kind of vibratory division, the intonation of the sound rendered by the three rods will be precisely the same; which would not be the case with a rod of any other wood than deal. Thus, the rapidity of sound is as great in deal, as in glass or steel, where it is great in an eminent degree; and, besides, deal offers the important advantage of presenting a large resisting surface to the flexion [inevitable] in a thin belly like that of a violin, and of possessing the greatest elasticity possible.
3Maple is preferable to every other kind of wood, for the back of bow-instruments: the great masters of the ancient school of Italy never used any other. In maple, the propagation of sound is much less rapid than in deal; in the latter, it is from fifteen to sixteen and a half times quicker than in the air; while, in maple, it is only from ten to twelve times quicker than in the aerial waves. Hence it follows, that if we make two rods of precisely the same dimensions, one of deal and the other of maple, the sound of the deal rod will be perceptibly higher than that of the maple. Consequently, the belly and the back of a violin, being of the same size, do not possess an identical intonation. We shall see, presently, the importance of these data.
5Let us now examine in what relation the back and belly should stand [to each other] before they are united. This it was not possible to determine, until after repeated and carefully-conducted experiments. A violin was constructed with a back and belly of deal, perfectly in unison, and the tone proved to be weak and dull;
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