Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 274
Scan 274
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 260. See the scan on archive.org.
1bécarre), and in 1856 or thereabout, the pitch had so risen that they became almost in unison with B flat (si, bémol).
3Savart had stated that the office of the sound-post was to transmit the vibrations from the upper to the lower table. In subsequent investigations he says that was an error, and that its function is to render the vibration of the upper table normal. General readers will understand this if it is explained that the vibrations of the strings are what are called rotary, and when these are communicated to the bridge, it carries them longitudinally. The bridge then transmits them to the upper table, which receives them, not in the direction of the fibres, but across. Transversal vibration is that which takes place at right angles to the line of progress of the disturbance, and the fibres of the sound-post being in the direction of its length, it vibrates longitudinally, and I presume is supposed thus, by a sort of reaction, to strengthen the transversal movement in the belly, and convert it, so to speak, into a longitudinal vibration, whose velocity is much in excess of that of transversal vibration. This definition of the function of the sound-post is now accepted as accurate, and the demonstration given in proof that it is the only one that it performs is considered to be satisfactory. The proof advanced is as follows: There is placed on the outside of the violin a kind of arch of wood, fixed and glued at its extremities over the blocks at the corners. The sound-post is set between such arch and the outside of the belly, and this change causes no difference, the tone remaining exactly the same. Again, if the sound-post be removed from the
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.