Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 56
Scan 56
The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1violin (i.e., one without finger-board, tail-piece, bridge, sound-post, pegs, &c.), which has been hanging for many months in an even temperature of about 60° F., and in an atmosphere which is comparatively dry, is accurately weighed; its weight is 5,038 grains. It is removed to another apartment (in the same house) on an upper floor, where the temperature is about 10° F. less, the air more humid.
3After 24 hours its weight is 5,056 grains;
4After 48 hours its weight is 5,068 grains.
5Returned to the warmer apartment it loses weight again until it reaches its normal of about 5,038 grains. Its weight will always depend upon the state of the external atmosphere. When frost sets in, its weight falls, in a few hours, below 5,000 grains; on account of the dryness of the air of the room consequent on the raising of the temperature of the cold, dry, external air which is gradually introduced, to 60° F.
7I have made great numbers of careful and exact experiments on the question of the absorption of moisture by wood (new and old, seasoned and unseasoned) from the atmosphere; the weight of wood is never constant, it follows the atmospheric conditions. Even doors which are French-polished on both sides and on their edges modify their weight and dimensions with the changes of the weather and of the seasons.
9It must be evident, therefore, that M. Savart was labouring under some misapprehension when he ascribed the differences in the deterioration of the tables of violins, guitars, and pianofortes to climatic influences. Manifestly, the explanation must be sought in some other direction.
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