A study of the cavity resonances of a violin and their effects on its tone and playing qualities
Carleen Maley Hutchins · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1990
This work provides experimental evidence showing that the motions of the air inside the violin cavity and through the f holes have important effects on the tone and playing qualities of the instrument. Experiments are described in which the cavity resonances of a violin with 65 holes in its ribs are explored and altered, and their effects charted without markedly distorting its corpus resonances. Response curves show the changes in the resonance structure when all holes are open, all plugged with corks, and all plugged with foam. Performance tests indicate the changes in tone and playing qualities under the same three conditions. Findings are reported using internal gas to lower the cavity modes and ‘‘buried in sand’’ to inhibit the corpus modes. Results compare favorably with theoretical modeling of the effects of these changes on the two lowest cavity modes [E. A. G. Shaw, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, XXX–XXX (1990)].