Scan 584
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
7 lines. Read by computer on 9 September 2026. Printed page 563. See the scan on archive.org.
1violin
2Heron-Allen described the instrument as follows: "A hollow box from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, at the widest part eight and a half inches, at the narrowest four and one-half inches broad. It is about two and a half inches deep at the deepest part and weighs about eight and one-half ounces. Beyond this we have a neck terminating in a scroll, which with pegs, finger-board and tailpiece of ebony bring the weight up to about twenty ounces . . . It supports a tension on the strings of sixty-eight pounds, and a vertical pressure on the bridge of twenty-six pounds."
3The violin is entirely hand made, the sides being bent into shape and every other piece carved. The back is usually of maple and the belly of pine or other soft wood and both are in two parts joined in the center. The wood used is most carefully selected, smooth grained and having just enough moisture to make it elastic and capable of resisting the strain put upon it. It is especially important that a back and belly be found that will vibrate together. The sides or ribs are of maple and must be carefully planned so as to be neither too thick nor too high; if not of correct thickness they will not properly transmit the vibrations from belly to neck, and if too high they will allow too large an air space in the sound-box; they consist of six pieces of wood dipped in water, then shaped by a hot bending iron. When the sides have been glued to the back six small blocks of pine or willow are carved to fit exactly into the corners formed by the center curves, and the top and bottom curves are carefully glued into place. Thin strips of wood serve as lining between the ribs and the blocks of wood. A purfling consisting of three parallel strips of planetree wood, about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter is placed about three-sixteenths of an inch from the outer edge of the belly to prevent the wood from splitting. The bridge of the violin is made of bird's-eye maple of horizontal grain and neither too hard nor too soft. At the top it is just one-half as thick as at the base, and has four hollow notches for the strings. The feet must be exactly arched to fit the arch of the belly else the ton will be hollow and dull. The height is proportioned to that of the finger-board so that the strings may be correctly slanted. Its top is so arched that no two strings are on the same level, and the bow is not in danger of rubbing more than one string at a time. The bridge stands between the two necks of the ff holes, with its right foot over the bass bar and its left near the sound-post.
4Very important in the manufacturing of violins is the construction of the sound-post. It is a round stick carved from even grained pine, and is about a quarter of an inch in diameter. It extends from the back to the belly and transmits the vibrations from one to the other. Since it is not glued in place, but exactly fitted, it can not be put in place until the case is all put together. It has to be adjusted through the right f hole and is an exceedingly delicate task; it is usually placed one-fourth of an inch behind the right foot of the bridge. The bass or sound bar is a strip of soft, even-grained pine about ten and one-half inches long and it lies at a slight angle under the left foot of the bridge. It strengthens the belly and counteracts the difference of pitch caused by the severing of the wood fibers by the ff holes. The edge that is glued to the belly is curved to follow its curve, and the other edge is rounding and undulating.
5The sound-holes vary in outline with various makers and serve to divide the fibers of the wood into long and short lengths; short to sound the high notes, long to sound the low. There are four strings tuned at intervals of a fifth apart, and when open sounding G below middle C, D, A and E. The neck with the scroll at its head is carved from a block of maple ten inches long, two inches deep and one and five-eighths inches wide. Just below the scroll is the part of the neck called the peg-box, through which the pegs pass. The pegs are made of boxwood, ebony or rosewood and fit snugly into the hole.
6The finger-board is made of a strip of ebony the width of the neck, three-sixteenths of an inch thick and a little over ten inches long. It is glued to the upper surface of the neck and extends along the belly to a point about two and one-half inches from the bridge, and it has a very smooth surface. The nut is a small piece of
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