Books › On the Function of the Sound-Post and on the Proportional Thickness of the Strings of the Violin, 1883 › scan 5
Scan 5
On the Function of the Sound-Post and on the Proportional Thickness of the Strings of the Violin, 1883
12 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1the bridge. In a contrary condition of things the sound-post should be farther from the bridge. The extreme range needed in different violins is about a quarter of an inch. At the same time any shift of the post must affect the relative mobility of the two sides of the belly.
3If the sound-post transmits vibrations, these will be in addition to those received from the sides of the violin. It may be, therefore, that one condition which determines the best position of the post, is the degree in which from their form and material these fulfil this duty. All the sides must share in this duty, but the touch-rod shows that a large part of this action is borne by the parts of the sides which curve inwards under where the strings are bowed. It is in harmony with this view that Mr. Hill states, that if the inside blocks at the corners, which are put to strengthen these parts, extend in a small degree into these curved portions, the tone is injured.
5The plane of the vibrations of the strings is that in which they are bowed, which is more or less oblique to the bridge. The vibrations may be considered divided into two sets at right angles to each other, a and b.
7
9The touch-rod shows that these vibrations exist strongly in the upper part of the bridge. I venture to suggest that the use of the peculiar cutting of the bridge, which was finally fixed from trials by Stradiuarius, is to sift the vibrations communicated by the strings and to allow those only, or mainly, to pass to the feet which would be efficient in setting the body of the instrument into vibration, the other vibrations which would be injurious in tending to give a transverse rocking motion to the bridge being for the most part absorbed by the greater elasticity given to the upper part of the bridge by the cutting. Below the two large lateral cuts the touch-rod shows a very great falling off of the vibrations b. In the case of a violoncello these vibrations were also very greatly reduced below the side openings of the bridge.
11The violin on which the experiments were made was without a bass bar, which is a piece of pine glued to the under side of the belly on
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.