Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871 › scan 50

Scan 50

The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871

6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.

1direction parallel to the disc, the sound has little intensity, but it gains considerable power when the vibrations of the string are normal to the disc. We take a violin, of which the tables are pierced so as to allow the passage of a bow, and we remove the post. If we now excite the strings parallel to the surface of the tables the sound is very weak, but if, passing the bow through the violin, we cause the strings to vibrate perpendicularly to the tables, the sound is considerably strengthened, and as good as with a post. Let us now replace the post, and we shall find that there is no change in whatever way we cause the strings to vibrate. Again, let us take a violin having the form of a trapezoid, and instead of having the strings upon the top, let them be placed upon the side. The strings will now vibrate perpendicularly to the belly, and we find that a post makes no difference in such an instrument.
3It is evident that the rôle of the post is to render the vibrations normal to the belly, and that it does not produce an effect of beatings as is the case with the left foot of the trompette-marine bridge, nor an effect of communication between the two tables.
5We can prove by a decisive experiment that the rôle of the post is to render the vibrations of the tables normal. We have made a cylindrical violin, containing very nearly the same mass of air, as ordinary violins. Now we know that a cylindrical vase always divides itself into several vibrating parts, which vibrate normally, and in the case of the cylindrical violin we have the same conditions. If in such an instrument we place a post the sound is stifled, and has less intensity

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