Books › The violin and the art of its construction. A treatise on the Stradivarius violin, 1895 › scan 23
Scan 23
The violin and the art of its construction. A treatise on the Stradivarius violin, 1895
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1cut off the necks of hundreds of violins, and by correcting the proportions have made the possessors of them entirely contented. How many a student has drudged on through life with a badly proportioned instrument, and in consequence has never succeeded in obtaining that certainty on his instrument after which he has diligently striven. We must now, however, enter rather more into particulars.
3I hope that what is to follow, may enable everyone to judge and prove for himself, whether his violin has the correct dimensions or not. We will adhere to the measurement accepted by Stradivarius (see Fig. 1 a a a), which is exactly 195 m/m. from the upper edge to the incision of the F-hole, and call it the normal measurement. From this we learn that the length of the neck, that is to say, the distance from the lower edge of the nut (the point where the finger-board begins) to the upper edge of the belly (b b) should be exactly 130 m/m., and the whole length of the body should bear the same proportion to the length of the neck, as 195 m/m. bears to 130 m/m., or to put it still more plainly, if we take the total of the two lengths, namely 325 m/m., and divide it by five, the length of the body should be equal to three of these parts and that of the neck to two of them. Should a violin have a longer or shorter body measure than that given above, the neck must still be in proportion with it of two to three, that is to say, if the whole measure be divided into five parts, two of such parts will give the length of the neck. By these means, correct dimensions will be obtained, and a performer will easily accustom himself to the proportionate position of the neck, and forthwith obtain certainty of execution. If only the proportion of the neck to the body be correct, a performer will scarcely notice, whether the whole measure from the bridge to the upper nut is 5 to 10 m/m. longer or shorter.
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