Violin Forum/Message Board

[jethro]

I am wondering..... read that higher arch gives less sound vollume but
better quality sound. So far I have had PLENTY of vollume - maybe too much. If I raise the arching a little (2-3 mm ?) is there a way to NOT
raise the string tension along with it ? (other than the obvious solutions
of making the bridge shorter or using smaller gague strings )
I assume I would also want to make the ribs a tiny bit shorter to offset
the vollume increase due to higher arching. I'm just thinking out loud here... Has anyone tried this approach ?
Has anyone measured the maximum thickness of their bodys from the
widest point (maybe at the bridge? )to get a comparative idea of the arching height ? I would like
to know if I am running too thin or too thick ? If I am on the thin side
that might be why I have heavy vollume output.

T

[Michael Darnton]

I think you're running overboard with speculations that I don't necessarily agree with about why the violin is the way it is, but for a number, violins usually run 62-63mm at their maximum thickness.

[jethro]

It is a fact I I do speculate ! i am just kind of troubleshooting my building
style to figure out how I might be dimentioning somehow a little nonstandard. I was thinking it might be arching or how I am graduating.
I could immagine there is so much room for unnoticed variations.
I will cook up a set of plywood calipers and measure across the body and
see how I am running compared to your "typical" thickness numbers.

Thanks again !

Tim

[Dave Chandler]

I'm just thinking out loud here -- It would seem to me, that as you increase the arch it (the top) actually becomes more stable (in the extreme you get something like a dome), so a resulting increase in tension won't necessarily follow.

I think what is important is keeping to the optimum volume of the instrument (I don't recall the preferred cubic inches off hand, maybe someone else has it handy), so, like Guarnari, as you increase the arch to something like 19mm on his tops, he reduced the height of the ribs to somewhere between 28-30 mm.

Makes me think, what's a good way to measure the volume of a violin in progress? Fill it with sand and then put it in some sort of measuring cup? Does anyone out there do this?
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Andres Sender]

Rice.