Scan 87
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 71. See the scan on archive.org.
1always give notes one tone apart, because the maple of the back is denser and more rigid than the pine of the belly. Moreover, Savart's remark that the air volume enclosed in the violin must always give the note
3would have manifested some ingenuity if the violin had only to produce this note C and its aliquot parts. But the violin should give D, D sharp, and all the semitones of the chromatic scale, with equal and equally good tone quality, and thus the notes given by the back and belly, separate or united, as well as by the enclosed air volume, are of no importance, but would seem to be rather a hindrance than a help. Further, in large violins, violas, and 'cellos, these conditions and proportion of the parts are not possible, and yet there are as good violas and 'cellos as there are violins. And yet further:—Zamminer has demonstrated that these very vibrational relationships of the bellies and backs of Stradivarius and Guarnerius, as well as the note of the enclosed air volume, are found in equal exactness in instruments which are not in any sense worthy to be classed with those masterpieces.
5The nature and extent of the arching, and the manner in which the thicknesses of the wood are varied in various positions of that arching, exert a very real influence upon the tone of the instrument; and yet these details make not the slightest difference in the numerical and vibrational relationships above referred to.
7Although Savart's new violin, which he caused to be played alongside a Stainer, may have had as good a tone as the latter, yet he confessed in his latest work that a violin without an arched belly and back had no penetrating power, and that the tone was entirely wanting in the peculiar and characteristic violin quality.
9In the hope of throwing further light on the art of building the violin, makers have used numerous varieties of wood, as for example, cedar for the belly, and ebony and sandal wood for the backs and sides. A violin has
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