Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 80
Scan 80
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 76. See the scan on archive.org.
1me one like those of Stradivarius or you don't get my money." From Guarnerius to Vuillaume is a long jump, but there is really nothing worth noting between them. Vuillaume depended more upon his wood than his notes—that is, he only knew to take the notes from the lower ends of the plates. He and Savart knew some of the notes but not all, for had Savart known that the front of the plates give a fifth higher in tone than the lower, he never would have gone to the trapezoid, a form of viol which is perfect only for two strings. If a plate of any standard model be taken, and the button cut off the upper end, you soon get at the octave of the lower end; take off a little more and all sound from the upper end is lost. In the face of that will any one assert that Savart knew all about it?
3Take a violin and sing at the f holes, and it will echo about D (first space below the treble stave) or C sharp. Men will say, That is the mass of air. It is not—it is simply the upper end of the breast putting the third string into vibration. The mass of air will be found nearly two notes lower, and may be felt in a silent vibration, or heard by closing the f holes, and blowing in at the tail pin hole as in sounding a flute, and it will be found to be more in sympathy with the back than the breast. What I think Savart did, was to compare the sound of No. 3 and No. 7, but omitted to say that one was a seventh lower than the other.
5The Stainer model, with its high rise in the centre of the plates and scoop towards the edges, gives these wonderfully low notes—
7How to Lower a Note on the Plates.
9When the note given out by a plate tested at positions 1 and 2 is too high, it may be lowered by reducing the thickness at the centre; and at positions 3 and 4 by reducing at the end opposite to that on which the bow is working. Suppose at position No. 3 we find that the note given out is C, and we wish to flatten a semitone, scrape carefully
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