Scan 86
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
22 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 70. See the scan on archive.org.
1with a back movable up and down like the piston of an air-pump. By moving the back to various positions he found which of those positions, and consequently what air-volume, gave the greatest strength and purity of tone.
3The conclusions arrived at by Savart as the results of all these experiments may be thus stated:—
5(1) The tone of the belly and back, in good violins, must vary by a whole or half tone, the note being between
7and for the belly, and between
9and for the back.
11(2) The belly and back, which separately give different notes, must when joined together vibrate in unison.
13(3) The enclosed air volume must vibrate in unison with the belly and back,* and as a complete system the separate parts of which stands in mutual relationship to each other.
15(4) The strength of the tone depends on the air volume enclosed by the violin, which air volume must always stand in a fixed relationship to the other elements (the note indicates this), which is easily determined.
17And yet, so far as concerns the art of violin-making, Savart's results were as good as nothing at all.
19If the back and belly of a violin are of the same thickness, and equal care is bestowed upon them, they will
21* This no doubt means "in unison with the belly and back when joined together" as in (2).—Translator.
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