Acoustic Parameters of Violin Design Applied to the Development of a Graduated Series of Violin-Type Instruments
Carleen M. Htchins · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1963
The static situation among the strings since Bach's time has fostered a great musical literature. Information is now available for a reconsideration of the possibilities of string instruments, both in relation to a practically unheard body of early music and to music of the future. Findings in present violin research are discussed in relation to the development of a self-consistent choir of eight violin-type instruments covering approximately piano range; placement and relationship of main wood and air resonances in the violin itself; “tap tone” relationships in free top and backplates to produce desired tone quality in a finished instrument; methods of putting resonances at desired frequencies for a given instrmnent; dimensional scaling based on the violin; clues to characteristic tone production as found in German and Italian methods of violin making.