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 67

Scan 67

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

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

1the ordinary form. It is an astonishing thing that by trial we gradually arrive at the form of bridge usually adopted, and which appears to be better than any other. A multitude of trials have been made before this important piece arrived at perfection. Everything has led to this result, that we cannot depart from the established form without detracting greatly from the quality of the instrument. Bridges have been made of deal with their fibres perpendicular and parallel to the belly, but the sound was found to be altered. The size and shape of the openings have been altered, but the beauty of the instrument has always been impaired. Let us examine the movement of the molecules of the bridge. If we take a plain bridge with two feet and a single string, the movement is tangential, parallel to the face of the bridge. If we make two incisions in it, the nature of the movement changes, and the sand is seen to move in several directions at once, while the bridge itself experiences movements of oscillation, and its molecules appear to execute vibrations in a direction normal to the belly. The effect appears to be to confirm the normal movements of the tables. The bar to which these oscillations are imparted, produces in the belly a similar movement over its entire surface, and prevents it from dividing into ventral segments by transversal nodal lines. All the parts of the instrument enter at once into vibration. Let us see how we can modify the effects of the bridge, by interfering a little with its oscillations. By placing a mute on the bridge the sound is almost null, and the bridge seems no longer to vibrate. It even appears to arrest

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.