Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 36
Scan 36
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 32. See the scan on archive.org.
1detect the tubby tone, and, as a rule, it is best for the chooser of a violin to cling fast to his first impression of a violin tone, so quickly does the ear get accustomed to the tone and forget its faults. The tubby tone, however, may frequently be remedied by lining the back with a thin layer of sycamore, or by removing the breast and fitting it with a deeper bass bar, when, lo! the violin, instead of a viola-like tone, gives forth pure treble. Tubbiness is seldom found in modern violins, which are usually copies of good models, but when it is, the cause is invariably the back being too thin, or the ribs being too thin or too deep. It is a defect which only a practised ear can detect, and in any case where there is the faintest suspicion of its existence, the buyer should either consult another player or avoid the violin altogether. Very often the old violin is too straight for our modern concert pitch, in which case it can be re-necked and set back to the proper line by a skilful repairer. The test for this may be roughly set down thus:—Place a straight-edge along the inside of the projecting edges of the back, when it should run in a line with the upper edge of the ear of the scroll, or perhaps a quarter of an inch above that. Scrolls vary so much in straightness or curl, however, that this is not a sure test. The set of the neck should always allow of a reasonably high bridge, and in any case of doubt it is best to refer to a skilled violin repairer. The idea that the bridge should be fitted to the finger-board is utterly erroneous—it is the neck and finger-board which should be fitted to the bridge—that is, to the proper height of bridge which the violin demands.
3Wolf Notes.
5A wolf note in a violin is a horror which cannot be easily described, but which always startles one the moment it is discovered. Some players have never heard one; some could not detect one though it were sounded full in their ears. Sometimes the defect called a wolf note is slight, sometimes it is so utterly unbearable that the violin has to be set aside, if the owner be too conscientious to sell it to another. In its mild form a wolf note is a sound suggestive of two notes an eighth or a quarter tone distant from each other sounding alternately but not jarring painfully. A light pressure of
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