Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
sides these two direct functions, the sound-
post, which the French call Came du vio/on,
effects the nodal arrangement of the belly
ANDREW T. S1UI5ALD.
and also of the back, by the pressure of the
ends of the rod against these two plates.
(Continued.)
[WRITTEN FOR THKjMUSIC TRADE REVIEW.]
The usual way of investigating vibrations
THK Stodard Piano Co., incorporated a
N uninterrupted and pure musical by the scattering of sand over the agitated Chicago, 111., by De Witt C. Roberts, J. H.
quality of sound continues only so body is difficult of application to the violin Tymeson and Samuel Oppenhcimer, to
long, as Helmholtz has observed, as the on account of the curved forms of the upper manufacture pianos.
Capital stock, $25,-
same vibrational form is strictly maintained; and lower plates. The writer has found a 000.
any want of uniformity of bowing or irregu- convenient method to be furnished by the
H U H B A R I ) & H u rciiiNiis, m u s i c
trade
larity of vibration set up by imperfections use of what may be termed a touch-rod. It
dealers, Gloucester, Mass., dissolution of
in the body of the violin show themselves consists of a small, round stick of straight-
partnership reported.
The business will
by sudden breaks or discontinuous displace- grained deal a few inches long; the fore-
be continued by Mr. Hutchings.
ments and changes in the form of vibration. finger is placed on one end, and the other
The result is irregular motions of the air, is put lightly in contact with the vibrating
THK Wellington Piano Case Co. has been
or noise of some kind; it may be the scratch, surface. The ringer becomes very sensi- incorporated at Leominster, Mass., with F.
ing noise always present in inferior violins, tive to small differences of agitation trans- E. Wellington, president, C. A. Jacob,
mingled with the true musical sound.
mitted by the rod.
treasurer, and Charles Jacob, with all of
It is only when the instrument is of per-
The bridge transmits the vibrations of the foregoing as directors, to manufacture
Capital
fect appropriateness in form, and is made of
the strings to the belly, but differently piano cases and other articles.
wood of the most perfect elasticity which through the two feet on which it stands. stock, $30,000; 300 shares at $100 each.
can be procured, that we have the indis- The foot under the thinnest string stands
ADAMS & LOKFMARK, pianos, organs and
pensable conditions for the production of
nearly over the top of the little sound-post. musical merchandise, have opened a new
constant regularity in the vibrations of the If the foot of the bridge were placed exactly store at Dwight, 111.
strings stretched over it.
over the top of the post, then the tone would
LKN NICHOLSON, musical merchandise,
There is also another point of equally be greatly impaired, for it is obvious that
pianos,
etc., opening new business in the
great importance, namely, that we have not the energy of vibration would pass almost
Boycr
Building,
at Tipton, Ind.
to do merely with the production of an un- wholly through the post to the back, and
JAMES LOVELL, pianos, organs, and musi-
not set this side of the belly into the neces-
broken continuity of suitable groups of
upper partial tones in the strings them- sary degree of vibration. When, however, cal merchandise, has opened a new store
selves, but also with the communication to the foot rests a little in front of the top of on Dousman street, Green Bay, Wis.
the air of the motions of the strings by the post, then a portion of the energy of the
C. C. WILLIAMS, manager of the house of
means of the sonorous body of the violin. vibration is directly communicated to this John C. Haynes & Co., Boston, is fully re-
Let the strings be stretched in air and the part of the belly. Practically very small dif- covered from his serious illness, and is once
sound is extremely feeble, because they ferences of position of the foot of the bridge more at his desk to the delight of his many
are too small to communicate any consider- are found to alter largely the character of
friends.
able part of their motions to the air. When the tone of the fiddle, so that in fine instru-
SHERMAN, CLAY & Co., San Francisco,
the strings are stretched upon a violin, they ments the setting of the post is an operation
are now handling the Wilcox & White
agitate the wooden plates of the back and which demands much care and judgment.
"Symphony" organ, and report a good
belly, and also the mass of air included The other foot of the bridge, under the
trade with this popular instrument.
within the violin, and when the conditions string covered with wire, is in a more favor-
FRANK W. TEEIM.E, with the Chicago Cot-
are favorable nearly the whole of the energy able position for transmitting its motion di-
tage
Organ Co., who recently returned from
communicated by the bow to the strings is rectly to the belly, because it rests on the
a
business
trip in Europe, told the Chicago
transmuted into pure musical sound of the belly midway between the supports at the
Tribune
reporter
that "business in Europe
tail and at the neck end of the violin. The
most exquisite quality.
is
good
and
the
demand for American-
The violin consists essentially of two belly on this side is strengthened by a
made
articles,
such
as pianos and organs,
arched wooden plates of the well-known girder of wood, which at the present day
especially
in
countries
not before visited
form, united by side pieces into a shallow has to be longer and deeper in the central
by
salesmen
from
the
United
States, being-
box with two openings in the upper plate parts, to bear up against the greater pres-
large.
in the form of an "f." The back is made sure of the high pitch now.in use.
Violins.
A
of a hard, sonorous wood, and for this pur-
pose sycamore or maple was found by the
old makers to surpass all other woods. The
upper plate is made of a soft, elastic wood,
and for this part of the violin Swiss pine
was chosen.
The strings are not merely
stretched above the box, as in the case
of the guitar, but they are raised out
of the straight direction by passing over a
bridge, upon which they press with great
force. To bear up against this strain, and
for other reasons, the belly has an arched
form, but if the whole downward pressure
of the strings were borne by the belly it
would be too great a strain to vibrate with
freedom.
Under one foot of the bridge,
therefore, but a little behind it, is placed a
small post of wood, which fits without pres-
sure between the belly and the back. This
little pillar of wood not only props up the
belly, but really deserves its name, the
sound-post, because it assists in producing
the tone of the violin by conveying the vi-
brations to the back of the instrument. Be-
The peculiar cuttings which give the
bridge its well-known form, were finally
fixed from trials by Stradivari. These are
not merely ornamental, but serve an im-
portant purpose. The plane of the vibra-
tions of the strings, which is that in which
they are bowed, is more or less oblique to
the bridge. For convenience we may re-
gard these oblique vibrations as divided in-
to two sets at right angles to each other.
The writer, from his experiments with the
touch-rod, has suggested,that the use of
the cuttings of the bridge is to sift the vi-
brations communicated by the strings so as
to allow those only, or mainly, to pass to
the feet which would be efficient in setting
the body of the instrument into vibration,
the other vibrations which would be injuri-
ous by tending to give a transverse rocking
motion to the bridge, being for the most
part absorbed by the greater elasticity
given to the upper part of the bridge by
the cutting.
. • •.
„
(To be Continued.)
• ,.-.-„, ' „
JOSEPH GROSS, with
Behr
Bros. & Co.,
was married Thursday of last week to Miss
Josephine Seebach.
CARL BARCKHOFF is no longer
connected
with the Barckhoff Church Organ Co., of
Salem, O. He intends establishing a busi-
ness in his own name in that city.
ACENCIES for
have been
Russia.
THE
the sale ot the Autoharp
established in Germany and
, y
-
MARTIN PIANO CO. has been incor-
porated with a capital stock of $20,000 to
manufacture pianos in Rochester, N. Y.
The directors are Geo. C. Foster, Wm. B.
Armstrong and Edward S. Clark.
BORDMAN & GRAY'S new style " B " piano
is a great success.
highly of it.
Dealers think
,,.., .
very
THE Sohmer grand piano is getting quite
a "booming" on the Pacific slope through
the testimonial given it by Chevalier De
- .
, Kontski.