Books › The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871 › scan 78
Scan 78
The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1when the air contained by the case has a certain volume, which volume depends upon the other elements of the instrument, that the sound of this mass of air in the violins of Stradivarius was always found to be the do of 512 vibrations, and that the sounds of the bellies and backs of the good violins were found to give about the sounds do♯3* and re♯3 respectively, when caused to vibrate independently, and in such a manner as to form one nodal line in the direction of their length cut by two other lines at right angles to the first. In other words, the sound of the belly vibrating under such conditions, gave a tone equal to the mass of air in the completed instrument, and the back a note higher.
3But to these data he adds that the dimensions of the instrument should be the same as in Stradivarius instruments, and this is the weak point in the theory, for without knowing the exact dimensions in question, it is obvious that we could satisfy all the conditions of Savart in a multitude of different ways by varying these dimensions.
5For instance, suppose we had an instrument satisfying all the conditions required by Savart—that is to say, the belly giving the sound do, the back re vibrating independently, and the mass of air in the complete instrument do = 512 vibrations. Now, by increasing the area of the tables, and at the same time their thick-
7* This small index number 3, printed over the notes in this and the preceding chapter, is meant to indicate the position of the sound above the lowest, or "32 feet" C of the organists,—thus do♯3 represents 4 feet or middle C.
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