Books › The violin, how to make it, 1880 › scan 33
Scan 33
The violin, how to make it, 1880
13 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.
1mencement of forming a back or breast, a rod ought always to be cut from them of standard size, as a sample, and its tone found, when the woods giving the highest tone are always the finest for Violin-making.
3This method may be adopted: — Cut an elongated, rectangular piece of the wood, having two sides parallel to the fibres, with the edges cut perpendicular to them, and find its centre; after which obtain a small piece of cork, and place it near to the edge of a bench or table, to allow the Violin-bow to freely pass the cork; then place the wooden plate exactly at its centre, upon the cork, and press with the finger to keep it firm, and draw the Violin-bow across the edge of the wood at any of the angles, when the sound thus obtained is the lowest that the plate can produce, and is consequently its normal tone; — or we may obtain the same result by a simpler method, viz.: — Merely hold the centre of the plate between the finger and thumb, and draw the bow across one of the corners of the plate edgewise, when it will give the same sound. We may obtain various sounds from the same plate, by changing the position of the damping, and place of bow, but the foregoing is quite sufficient for our purpose. If the reader wishes for information upon the sounds of plates, I refer him to either Chladni or Professor Tyndall's works upon sound, the latter being a recent work of much interest.
5We can easily observe for ourselves that the old makers made a difference in the sound of back and breast. If I hold with my fingers the back of the Violin at the part where the sound-post would be, and strike it as a bell, it will give forth a tone; if I do the same with the belly, it will also give forth a tone — but a tone different. Now, this is as it should be; the portion first conveying the vibration has the initiatory advantage, and rules the next portion, compelling it to accept its vibrations, and deliver faithfully the message, merely modifying the quality of tone in which it is uttered — husband and wife; —
7For woman is not undeveloped man,
8But diverse; could we make her as the man
9Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this;
10Not like to like, but like in difference.
12If we make both parts of the Violin of same wood and same normal tone, we get the dull quality; but by making
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