Scan 111
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
14 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 95. See the scan on archive.org.
1Savart measured the elasticity of various woods by the rapidity with which they communicated sound. He found that in pine wood this rapidity in the direction of the grain, was just as great as was the case with hard and solid materials like glass and steel, viz., from fifteen to sixteen and a half times greater than in air, the latter being counted as unity. Transversely to the direction of the grain, he found the rapidity of conveying sound was not nearly so great, being only from two to four times greater than in air, according to whether the grain was broad or narrow, but in no case over five times greater.
3Leaving aside the further results which followed Savart's experiments, we pass on to the practical suggestions made by Dr. Schafhäutl as to the selection of wood.
5The wood for the belly is obtained from the pine and the fir.
7As the scientific names of these forest trees are not by any means definitely settled, it is necessary, if one wishes to quote the names of these trees with needle-shaped leaves, to give at the same time the name of the authors who use those names, so as to avoid the danger of recommending a wood which is something quite different from what is intended.
9"By fir," says Dr. Schafhäutl, "we mean the abies pectinata, so named by Decandolle, and known as silver fir, pitch pine, etc., etc.
11By pine, we refer to abies excelsa poir.
13"The wood of the silver fir is usually regarded as in every way the most suitable for instruments. That, however, is not always the case, and I am convinced that for the most and the best instruments pine, and not fir, is used. With respect to the qualities of pine as a sounding wood, it must be observed that not only are its rings at a suitable distance from each other, and most distinctly marked, but these rings are also transversely joined together, as it were, horizontally by those beautiful streaks which extend from the centre of the back, and
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