Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 48
Scan 48
The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER III.
3THE TONE OF VIOLINS.
5THE question whether the quality of the varnish applied to the wood of which violins (generic) are constructed has any decided influence on their tone, must be, without any hesitation, answered in the affirmative.
7The wood of which these instruments are made is of a light and absorbent character: it consists largely of sclerogen, without much encrusting or agglutinating matter. The wood of the belly, or table, which receives the primary impulse of vibration, through the medium of the bridge, is of the very lightest description that can be procured; at the same time, it is selected of regular and even grain.
9Apart from the question of appearance and protection, to some extent, from climatic and other deteriorating influences, it is generally admitted that an unvarnished violin will not permanently possess the necessary qualities for the production of good tone.
11M. Antoine Vidal (whose opinion, it may be surmised, was based, to a great extent, on the experience of his friend, M. Vuillaume) writes thus (the translation is mine):—"Experience replies clearly to these "questions: the violin finished and not varnished "has more power and mellowness in its tone; but if
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.