Scan 97
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 81. See the scan on archive.org.
1the violin,* but the strings become longer and heavier at each increase in the size of these instruments, because deeper tones are required to be produced.
3If even deeper tones than those of the double bass were necessary, they could be produced by adding more weight. But this increase of weight in any string of a given length has its limits, because too much weight would entirely rob the string of its flexibility, which is one of its indispensable qualities. The covering of strings with silver wire, as with the G string of the violin, and the G and C strings of the viola and 'cello, gives the necessary weight to the strings without impairing their flexibility to a too great extent.
5If the violin player wants to raise the pitch of one of his strings, he stretches it by turning the peg round which it is wound; and if the tone is already too high, he relaxes the stretch on the string by turning the peg the other way. But this method of altering the tone of a string is only available within very narrow limits. If, for instance, a violin, the four strings of which give these four notes:—
7respectively, is fitted with four E strings, and the said four notes have to be produced by no other means than altering the stretch of the strings by turning the pegs, the stretch of the G string would have to be nearly twenty-five times less than that of the E string. An E string must not be stretched with greater force than is equal to a weight of 25 lbs. hung on the string; a weight of 29 lbs. would break it. The amount of stretch for the G string on this basis would be 1 lb. only; and,
9* This of course refers to the four-stringed double bass used in Germany, and not to the English three-stringed instrument.—Translator.
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