Está en la página 1de 92

414,

I::

: ; .

>

w./fry

'
'

.-

(1

LECTURE I
THE SIMPLE PHYSICS OF THE VIOLIN STRING-

The violin string can be considered as a

devis~

which sup-

plies the force which in turn causes the violin box to move.

The

mechanical motion of the box is the origin of the radiated sound.


The string itself radiates only an insignificant amount of sound.
The explanation for the lack of direct radiated sound

fr~m

string is due to the smallness of its area compared to the


length of sound.

In general, the effieiency

E of

the
wav~

ra~iator

is

proportional to the ratio of its area to the wavelength squared.


e = area/:>. 2

(1)

For a strjng this ratio is


3
E ~ (30 X 0.1)/(100) 2 N=~10,000

(2)

a very small number indeed.


Now consider the forces "created" by a string.

Let us assume

that a string is under tension T and fastened at both ends as

sho~~

below.

g~---~

Fig. 1

Furthermore, assume that the tension T does not vary with small
deflections of the string (this is a good approximation for
elastic flexible strings under small amplitudes of motion).

Suppose

we consider the forces on the left support and replace the string
'

...

''
(2

(at some instant when it is deflected) by a force equal to its


tension T as in Fig. liB.

Fig. II

This force T can be considered to have two components; a


component along the direction of the undeflected string F11 and
shown in Fig. III.
one perpendicular to it

The component

F~

is determined by the tension T and the angle 8 that the string


makes with the support
~ T8
J.
This simple equation then relates the "sideways" force to the
F

angle that the string makes at the support.

(3)

In fact, it is this

component of the force which "drives" the mechanical motion of the


violin box causing it to radiate sound.
Clearly, the problem of.understanding the force that drives
the box is that of understanding the "angular" (8) motion of the
string which in turn is governed by the overall motion or deflection of the string.
For simplicity, we will now consider the motion of an ideal
string.

The term ideal implies the following properties:

---: ~--;- '---=-~

--

- - - ---.~ --~--

---

--~--=-_-_

- ---- -

-~

----

--

- - -- -

(3

1)

The string is of uniform density (the density of a


string is

2)

d~fined

as weight per segment of length).

The string is assumed to be infinitely flexible.


This statement implies that it requires no force
to bend the string into a curved shape under no
tension.

A rubber band s'tisfies this requirement

while a steel wire does not.


3)

The string d'oes not require energy to flex the


string (without tension) implying that there is
no internal friction in the string.

4)

The end supports do not move.

For the violin this

'is nearly true, but, of course, if it were strictly


true there would be no motion of the bridge and no
sound fromthe box.

For our discussions here, it is

approximately true.
Next, imagine that we have a string infinitely long--so
long that if we disturb the

st~ing

a reflection from the distur-

bance does not come back to us in the time we will consider.

If

we shake the end of the string up and-down this disturbance will


propagate down the string with some velocity v.

A snap shot of

the strinR 'might look like the following,

this edge or any point on the


wave propagates with velocity v
Figure IV
"

il

I
"

...

----~--

4)

The distance between successive points is called the wavelength and

t~e

symbol A will be used.

Under certain conditions

the reflection may reinforce the outgoing wave so that a pattern


is established where the resultant motion has a pattern which
remains stationary, a so called standing wave.

On the violin

string the shape that you observe is a

wave which

standing

r~

sults rom two waves going in opposite directions along the


string.

Now we will digress and discuss the more general pro-

perties of a string.
The type of motion of a string that is the most important
is a periodic motion:

motion where the same shape or displace-

ment is duplicated with each cycle of the string.

Furthermore a

periodic harmonic motion is one where the harmonic, (or overtones)


of the string are integers (numbers such as 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.) in
frequency of the lowest or fundamental frequency.

This type of

motion is called "harmonic motion" and is the simplest to understand and the most important for strings.
does occur.

Non-harmonic motion

The scratch sound of a rough attack or a squeak

are examples of non-harmonic motion.


From now on we will consider .only harmonic motion of an
ideal string.

.5)

The ideai ~~rlrtg maj b~ extit~d by so~d ~~Vice [stich as the


bow) which can nave many frequencies

pr~sent.

tHe

frequ~ftcies

which get reinforced by the stting.are those which satisfy a


boundary cortditioh that the wave can "fit' ':bt
~hysical

leftgth bf the Htring~

the wave iength dh d ~!tifif

defined as the ditance along the string


shap~;

wav~1ength 11 to

b~t~eerl

points

the

dt equai

for exafuple
pliy~ica1

sttihg at
in time.

shape of
Bne instant

Figtite V
The symbol A (lambda) will be used to denote
The condition fdr resbri~fice

of a

tHe

wa~~i~ngtH.

stfirt~ of i~hgth

t is that
some number of half waveierlgths (A/2) will fit irt this leftgth 1.

Using this fact atid the wave eqUation

= vi~

where frequency df th~ dsciilatidn if f, v is th~ velocity of


the wave down the strirtg afid

the

wav~length.

r--""

---6)

The

~owest

frequency on the string will be when a single half

wave~ength

fits into the length L as shown


~-

-----

---

-------->:

~-

mode 1
(mode means.a way
in which it moves)
Fu;.vll,~Z

- --

,. ,

y;

putting this condition into Eq. (1) that A/2

or A

21 gives

for the frequency f 1


(2)

This frequency f 1 i.s the lowest frequency and called the fundamental of the string.
&

The next resonant frequency occurs when one whole A. fits on


the string

mode 2

L = A
Figure VII
Using Eq. (1) again we find the
(3)

This frequency is exactly 2 f 1 because of the wavelength requirement.

,;

7)

Likewise the next highest frequen~y 3 requires 3 half wavelengths fit

_ _ _ __J
~.,-

Figure VIII
or L = 3/2 A. 3 or A. 3
f

giving

.,. -~/A. 3

.
v/(2/3 L)

= 2/3

= 3(tr) = 3f 1

(4) .

likewise for &11 1\ighermodes.


All of the modes (overtones) are relateq in
the fundamental
the string is

PY

freq~ency

exact numoers (1, 2, 3, 4 etc),

tG

This is why

h~rmonic!

Nextwe want to know what factor~ determine the velpci~y


the string v in equation (1).
v

The ve~ocity is given .bY

= .ff7P

(S)

where T is the tension (force) in the string and


of the string.

QQ

is the density

Now we have the complete equation relatin~ the

frequency of the string to its density, tension and length


(6)

It is important to notice that both the tension and density


appear under the square root sign:

If you increase the tension

-..-

--- -----8)

by a factor of 2 the frequency will increase only


Using this formula you can calculate

~y

12

'

= 1.414:

the ratio of densities for

the E, A, D and G strings (for equal tensions) etc.


Another consideration of a string that is important is the
energy of an oscillating string.

In general the energy of an

oscillatory motion is proportional to the amplitude A of motion


squared and to its mass density p
Energy =

~A 2

(7)

Now consider two strings of equal length, of equal frequency


but of different density.
string and

Pz

Let pl be the density of the lighter

that of the heavier string, then the energy in 1

compared to 2 will be (of the same ampli tud,e)

(8)

Since they have the same frequency the tensions will be different and in fact the ratio of tensions must be the same as the
ratio of densities
Tl

rz

pl

Pz

(9)

In.summary, a heavier string must have a higher tension and


for the same length and frequency it will also have a higher
energy than a light string.

Notice that the sideways force on the

bridge is yropottional to its tension T, the driving force on the


bridge will be greater and lienee the instrument "louder" . . Notice

9)

that we have assumed equal excursions for the two strings which
may not be met when comparing strings of different densities.
Our next consideration will be to look into the effects which
occur when the conditions of a string do not satisfy the conditions
of an ideal string.

PROBLEMS
1)

The effective area for radiation of a string is about 1/3 of


its true area.

A string is .30 em long and 0.1 em in diameter.


The area of the top of a violin is about 350 cm 2 . How much
less does the string radiate that the tope of the violin
if they both have the same amplitude of oscillation?

(What

is the ratio of the energy radiated? The energy radiated


is proportional to the effective areas.)
2)

3)

-A string is 30 em long and resonates at 300 cycles per sec.

A)

What is the wavelength on the string?

B)

What is the velocity of the wave on the string?

Draw the physical shape of the string for the 3rd mode of the

m'

rn

string (the 2nd overtone).

What frequency does this corres-

pond to?
4)

The E string and the G string on the violin have the same
tension.

Their frequencies for their fundamental modes are

660 and 196 c.p.s. respectively.

What is their ratio of

velocities of waves on the string, v?


same wavelength on the string?

Do they have the

Explain.

1(,

LectllH~

N~n-tlar~?ntp

Before

the meaning of

~everal

''m.s.illi''

me~ns

fundamenta~); made~

The overtones. of the

and

freque~tly

~armoniFsof

clarify

used interchange-

a s.tring.

it US.l..l<llly is

g:l.v~n ~ rmmb'et l:j.ke

being the next

~tring

h~gher mode~

Note that the

mode

etc.

are those modes (lbove tije fun?a-

menta+, cij~ling ~he first mod~ above the fundqmentat


overton~~ et~~

~hould

a partic4l~r :form P"-r ~ha-pe of mqtion

fQ: a striP~

of qn object:

1 (the

terms which qre

~o~es, py~rtanes

The term.

Strinas

go to npn-harmonic strinas perhaps we

~e

qbly pamely;

lJ

overton~ nxr~

nqt be

ine

fi~st

~q ~~~~~

integ~t: ~f th~ f\\nij%m~nt~l ~f the ~~ri.P~ ~;:t :p.onll~fmqnh;

qt

''f~l~~H.

The avertp~e lS. tha~ freqyetwY pf~ql-Jc~fl PY ~ giy:e!l mq4e Pf ~lt~


string.

O:p.ly a

\t~9p~H S.tfi~3 n~s ~ryel;tpnes f~lqted 1:~ ~h~ f~:p.ga

mental by in~es~JS.
The ~a:rm9:~rics.
integral
harmonic~

Cl,Z,l,

.
of t-l\e

relat~Qnsnips.

qre

th~ ~aw~

~lfl
.

~lri:q~ ijfe 'tnos~ :frect\.le:tw:les 'Whi~h h~ve

to the
as

f\.lnda~antal~

FPr

~n !qe~! st~!ug ~he

t~~ p~ertq~es.

A su~~~rY ~ these t~r~s. ~s shown ~n the f~gure below' ~PT an


ideal

stripg~

iii

I!
~
Ill
,,

u'
Ill'
I~:

:11

""

.~

tl.'

-2-

String
Shape

fregucncl

Mode
Number

Overtone or
Ilarmonic

Name

No. of
Nodes

Fundamental

fl

f =2f
2
1

1st overtone

1st overtone

2nd overtone

octaMe plus
a fifth

3rd overtone

2nd overtone

NOTE':

The mode number is equal to integer relating its."frequency


to the fundamental; viz f 4=4f, for mode 4
Before we start the discussion of non-ideal strings and the

reasons for their departure from harrnonisity we will do well to


look at the forces on an ideal string and study the reasons for
its motion.
Suppose we take a little "slice" out of a string of le!lgth

and enlarge this slice as in the Figure IB below:

~,

Figure IA

F.igure IB

..

~-----------------~------lllllfj---------
-3dr~ t~d fdtc~s

There

puiling oh fhis little

seg~ent 1~

fbt~e
!'

to the ieft

equ~l

ta

~he

magnitude

tR..

cutvatur~

of the stfifig.

Thee

tetlsidrt ~L ~fid als~ ofte to the right of

tortes

if they oceurted at the

nat q:lt.,:i,.t,e tippdsite becrtlise of the


Ptittin~ these two !ote~ togethef ta
at'~

~erttsf

a this 1ittie segment,

"'J.,aU f.
F
-:r~- .t:t..

.:tant

'"~1'

this

l8~ti1t~fit Part~

(PR)

Becatis@ they at@ ft~t qUit~ tl~pijft@; tft@t@ wfii b~ g r@si~


fafee wlueh has it diNHstioH tHrtp~tttHeuiat t8 t:li~ ntifig:
.

i' tfi~

:fofse whieh

11

ptd1~a

its normai undefi@tt~d p6iti6H,

the 'tfi11g

~gffleht

t~ward

1:HU:k

The stteftgth of thi

fofc~

upmi th(:! terls idft, li:tld t:fi~ ~ul'tratut o:t tHe s tfiti~ ~ Tit@
curvature depehds upefi tlie afflpiittide 6f th~ tfiffg~ Thi pfoPoftionality ~~~ be tttie if tfi~ st~ina is to bs hurffioffic.
Now ~@ ate t~df ~a i&&k at a tffng wnich has sd~e stiff~

depends

I'

~ l'.
I

ir
J

ness.

By this is Meafit tnat a fetrie is requited td

h~nd

it;

T6

_,help us think about t1ie pt~biem suppose we s~bsti tude iin :i.ttJti tHtf

for the strifig (a vety

rl6ti~flexih1e

strittg),

Now

~sstime

that tHe

bar is not
undbt teftiod ~tit 6Hiy tl~pdtt~d ~t h6tB
.
. ffd~ il bti~
were to pusH ofi the bat irt the midaie it wouid bend ~nd fofees wauid
be set up itt t&a bAfl

'

''

:.4-

Figure III

'

The upper surface of the bar would be stretched while the


underside would be compressed.
stress forces.

Such a set of forces are called

If one would remove a little section of the bar

and enlarge it one would find that the forces at the ends would
be something like that shown below:
Figu:e IV
j

This looks very complicated but the 'important thing is that


the forces F

are those which pull that segment of the string towards

the center position.

The net result of these considerations is that


-

these forces depend not only on the curvature but also increases
with frequency, making these forces greater for each successive
overtone.

Now if we have a st"Fing whicl} h'as some degree qf stiffness


then the I:estoring force pn a

smal~

segment iil FR (Figure II) +


u

2F' (Figure IV) . Th~ net resplt pf the stJffnps$ is tg mke


sugcessive m~de h~~e
frequepcr) _}h'n
4iagram

lP

t~p

Figur~

a tr~quency

ttf __,

ment..

t=

1st !)vertpne

Fundamental

in

of

Af,

f'

(is

~r4

2Jl4 Overtone

ln~reQses

~o4er

is very important fqr near+y every stringe4


t"4rting of a

Th~s ef~p~ mal}~s th~

we will now q.ttempt to

sll$'H<~ 1

G~neral:}.y

v:j.o~in

Pv.ertone

q.lmost

a yip:J,i,n. is

lflS~ru.7

overtone of the A strin.g.

~f

~as

the

'

'

'I'
~

as

'lfie.q.RJI.

This means, or elCEf.mPle, ~h~tt the A string is tuJ}.ed s0 that the


first overtone qf the E $tr:j.J}.g

inJpossi~~e

t).ln~d

~I

~I

to sa;y t}!at t;hp

fPT each higher

'
j

'(~1

expres~~pg th~s I?~en.!)P.lena :j.~

f~~qu~n~ies

effe~t

;I

i'

t~e

t-1,

'11,

;f~

Tlli?

This is illustFated by

v.

.J,J. '. -" ~.

differeq~e

hi~her (Qbov~ ~he gorp-1 ha~~oniF

pfeyiqys one.

:~f

Anoth.~f }'!~

ea~h

same frequency as the

2~~

~~

,I

t}}.e stl"ings q.pe hannpni.c thi$ II}a}<e$

the A-E interval eAual to a f:j.fth.

I
~

A String

ill'

E String

-.:--

-6-

No\v consider 'xhat 'vould happen if the A string were stiff .. Lf


the fundamental we-re 440, the first overtone might be 885 (instead
of 880) and the second overtone 1340 (instead of 1320).
$

~ea~

get zero

with the 1st

overt~ne

Now to

of the E fotring the tension

must b-e lowered so that i ,{i,ecomes 1320.

In this process t_he


_ ~
fundamental would be lowered from 440 to~40 _ (1340-132oj=
3
:J 440 7 - 433
and now the interval between the fundamental of the A string and the

E is no longer a fifth interval but larger than a fifth by about


7 c.p.s.!
By similiar arguments you can show that all of the other over~one

comparisons are "messed-up"; you will hear beats and no matter

how hard you try you can never tune the string to eliminate these
beats.

The string is non-harmonic.

The second important cause for a non-harmonic string is nonuniform density.

This may arise from wear of the string or a non-

uniform winding or a non-uniform core.

The problem is even more

complicated than the effects of stiffness and depends, among other


things on where the non-uniformity occurs.
As a simple example suppose one were to put a little weight
at the center of the string.

The effect would be to clearly lower

the frequency of the fundamental, but since there is a ILode at the


center, the frequency of the 1st overtone would be unchanged (as
well as the 3rd overtone which also has a ode there) etc.

The

overtone structure would appear something like that in Figure VII.

-l-

F i _g u rt' V I 1

'

..J

Ideal String

>$Ftll

String Loa.tl
at Cehter

the

**

e .

.I

ttd

"

'

,. u,.

l.,

f.,.

~-

w uu-

e .,l

.,l..

y .,

t
I

way,

ott~ ~ore

eaSel a

~tring

with a small weight plaosd at

a point ohe third of its length !tom one end.


would lower the te&Uehcy

o~ th~ furtda~enta1

but leave the 2nd bVettone unaffected,

Cl~~t1y

and the

of the frequency shifts from that of a

this weight

.,,..,_

i~t 6V~ttan~
.

Likewise the !:ith~~euld nat

be affected (6o) aiso because it has a ode there.


hAr~ottic

'th@

sttittg is

magni~Ud@
~omplid~t~d

to calculate and wi11 not be done here.


ProbleMS
ft 'Z7Wttt' tt"C

1)

.....

it would aiso be itnpossibie to ''tuneit this string in

con~erttiona1

Cortsidbt

. .. I .

'

2f1

fl

Cl~a:rly

.'

'""

Two strings are tuned so that the

~rtl

ovettone a one

string corresponds to the 4th overtone of the

other~

What is the requeney of the lower strirtg it the fUndamental of the

high~t

stting is

"

~Od

c.p.s.?

'I

.,..... r.

-8-

'

j
2)

Two harmonic strings are tuned to 440 and 444 respectively.

What would be their beat frequency for the

4th mode?
3)

Discuss what the effects of string stiffness on the


tuning of the piano.

'i

LECTURE III
Forces on the Violin Box
The box of the violin is subject to many forces which can be
thought to be divided into two types; namely, (1) the forces which
oscillate and make the box vibrate at frequencies on the string
causing sound to radiate and (2) forces that are constant resulting
from the tension in the string and tend to distort the box.

The

t:

subject of this lecture will be these latter constant forces.

il

1:.

Suppose that we start with an elementary discussion of forces.


The term force is used to describe "something" which tends to
move or to distort an object.

Forces always come in pairs, one

opposite in direction to the other but always equal in magnitude.


As a simple example suppose you push on a table top with your thumb.
You apply a force on the table but the table also applies a force
on

your thumb.

forces.

These two forces are typical of the pair of

A drawing of your thumb and the table combined in itself

doesn't express the force which you may be applying.

However, if

you separate the two surfaces that are in contact and draw the force
on each, it does describe more clearly what is happening.

'I

A force

can be represented by an arrow whose direction indicates the direction of the force, and its length, the strength or magnitude of the
force.

The two diagrams show this example:


Figure I Forces on a Table

~vMII

,;'

'

II!

I
r

....

~...........

---- _

..,. -..,.

_,_.,._
--

2
!

S i m i Lt 1'1 y , t h t' t c n:; j on i n a s t r i n g i 11 v o I v C' s two f o ret'~ a 11 d c H 11 h C'


rt~prt'~t'lltL'd

k
'l

hy two d iagr:tms as i r thC' string wC'rC' cut at some pojnt.

Figure II Forces in a String

''

I:

.l
The force FR (directed to the right) pulls on. the left segment
and FL (left) pulls on the right segment.

These two forces FL and

FR are equal in magnitude but in opposite direction as is always


the case.
Forces can be classified into three groups by. what they do to
an object.

I
l

:I

I
!.

'1

'I

"

Wood is strong in tension, and nearly as strong in compression,


11

l
I

if the object is kept from bending.


different directions in the wood.
and very weak in tension.

Wood strengths

diffe~

for

Glue is very strong in compression

Now let us return to the violin Box and look at the forces
Suppose we simplify the boX ~nd,
s
consider the neck, top, back, bass bar and sound pojt, as its main
that are involved in the box.

components as in Fig. III.


Figure III Schematic of Violin

Tlfll-

GuT

~~J>

~PtAI

First suppose we look at the neck and consider it to be just


a simplified blbck of wobd.

The forces acting oh it are shown in

Fig. IV.
Figure IV Forces on Neck Block

, I

T is the tension of the strings and can be thought of as having


a horizontal component Tff and a vertical component Tv.
force from the top and FB the force from the back.
force from both the top and back.

FT is the
is a vertical

Ii

'.

Now there are two very important concepts which permits us to


find the unknown forces, FTOP' FB and F1 . These two concepts are:
1.)
If an object is to remain stationary (or to have a constant
velocity) the sum of all the forces must be zero.

The

forces must be zero in every direction which means that


if the forces point in different directions, they must
add to zero viz. both in the vertical and in the horizontal direction, and
2.)

The torques at any point must also be zero if the object


is not to change its rotational motion (if stationary,

..

to remain stationary) .

The torque is defined as the

perpendicular distance times the force.


in Figure IV the torque of FB
TF

FB

An

example

IS

about the point A is

(1)

and is counter clockwise (if there were no other forces


the torque TF

would make it rotate counter clockwise).


B

Now look at the forces in the horizontal direction.


are TH, FTOP and FB (Figure IV).
TH

FB

They

We now see that

FTOP

The force FB must be to the right to counterbalance the


torque due to the vertical component of the string tension.
FTOP and T are both directed to the right, the force

~the

Since
neck

block applied by the top must be greater than the tension of all of
the strings T.

Note that the force FB applied by the back is a shearing force


and hence the glue joint between the neck block and the "b'utton"
of the back is under shear tending to slide one over the other.
Because glue is weak under shear, many violin makers insert two
pins between the back and the neck block.

These pins are more im-

portant for the back than for the top because the top is under
compression and "buts" up against the neck block supplying the
compressive force FTOP by being in physical contact not requiring
the transmission of the force by a glued surface (If glue is
inserted between the edge of the top and neck block, the joint is
under compression.

Under compression glue is very strong).

Now consider the forces that are applied to the top of a


violin.

Again we will simplify the argument by neglecting fhe

static forces that are supplied by the ribs of the violin and
consider the forces which arise from the neck block, bridge,
.5.

sound po!t, saddle and end block.


We will assume that the feet of the bridge are cut in such a
way that the effects of the tension of the strings on the bridge
results in a force which is approximately perpendicular to the surface of the top.

This condition may not be exactly met; i! depends

upon the tilt of the bridge as illustrated in Figure V.


Figure V. Side View of String, Bridge and Top

~::---------~_-:....-:...-:....-::.

--

--~ ~-~---,.,.--=-------

The fnrn' F
JHl.l't~.

011}'

from tlw hridgt' ht'COill<'~ divid<'d

into two

half to the !crt foot of the bridge t'C~t ing

011

t'lJII:II

the top

above the bass bar and one half to the right foot near the sound
post.

Since the top is quite flexible, the force applied to the

top by the sound post is nearly equal to 1/2 Fb applied by the bridge
foot next to it.

Now a force diagram for the top of the violin

can be drawn as in Figure VI.


Figure VI Forces on Top

f:'
I

7:2...

..
The forces on the top at the far right in Figure VI arise from
two sources; namely

r1

and

r2

are forces due to the tail gut riding

over the saddle, and F

and F arising from the neck block itself.


2
3
These forces can be combined into two forces, one verticle Fv and
one horizontal FH as shown in figure VII (B).
Figure VII

F,
.,
j

~~

ll

The net

r~sult

is that the top has the .forces acting on it

as shown in Figure VIII.


Figure VIII Simplified Diagram of Forces on
the Top of a Violin

li
F~r

...

4j,_

'F'
I

fv

The forces F'TOP and FH are compressive

fore~s

and because they

are applied at a point below the centra+ height of the top, tend
to cause the top to "buckle" raising the centra:j. part of the top.
However, the force from the bridge Fb tends to indent the central
part of the top with the net result that the top tends to deform as
shown by the dotted contour lines in Figure IX.

The distortion is

of course exaggerated.
Figure IX Distortion of Top

.. .

tAidtlt &,
CAR.IIEJ> 5HA'i'E

Because there is a small displacement between the forces Fb and Fb/ 2


on the sound post side of the violin, the distortion on the (left)
fingerboard side is less upward than the (right) taifpiece side
(Figure IX) .
Actually, the force diagram for the back is somewhat simpler
than that of the top.

The points of force application to the back


5

are the neck block, the sound po/t and the end block.

The force

diagram for the violin back is shown in Figure X.


Figure X Forces on Violin Back

The force F1 makes the neck block-back glue joint under tension
while -FB make this joint under shear. For both types of forces 1
glue is not very strong, particularly for tension forces.

The

force Fb/ 2 downward in conjunction with the upward forces F1 and


F4, cause the center region of the back around the sound po$t to
distort downward.

Because the sound post is to one side of the

center of the back, there is a tendency to create a bulge in the


curvature on that $ide and a depression of the curvature on the
other side as indicated in Figure XI.

\,\

'"

'

[
~ ~

II'

It I
::" ~

Figure

Xi End View of Back Showing Distortion

~'
"il

.~ I

lv
'

Up to the present time we have ignored the effects of the ribs


in our consideration of the static forces on the top and back.
is not a bad approximation.

This

However, they do take some of the force

that we have attributed to the end blocks.

In particular, when the

top begins to distort under the forces that are applied, there are
forces in the ribs which become important just in the regions of
maximu1n distortion;namely in the curvature of the upper and lower
bouts as indicated in Figure XII.

These forces are important

mainly in the top making the glue seam under tension.

This is why

these regions so frequently come "un-glued".


Figure XII The arrows indicate regions of
maximal tension forces due to distortion of the top.

II

'li,,

:r

'

I
I

'

--

--

--

- -

- - - - - - -- -

LECTURE IV
Acoustical Motion of the Violin Box
In the last chapter, the static forces on the violin box
was discussed because of the importance of understanding the
mechanical stresses that the box must withstand.

ln this section

will be discussed the "vibrational" force$ which cause the box


to move at audio frequencies and radiate sound.

It should be

pointed out that the static forces are very, very large compared
to the vibrational forces (several thousand).
vibrational forces are miniscule in comparison.

Ihdeed, . the
The

amplitude

of the mechanical vibration of the top and back is of the order


of a few tenths of a millimeter.

Since the acoustical oscilla-

tion of the box is the topic that is now under consideration,


when reference will be made to forces, it will refer only to

~he

acoustical forces, assuming that the static f0rces are independent


quantities.

As previously discussed, the force that causes the bridge


to oscillate comes from the deflection in angle of the string
at the bridge.

This force causes the bridge to "rock" back and

forth causing the two feet of the bridge to move in opposite


directions as shown in Figure I.
-----i~PF,

@~
c

Figure I.

The bridge tends to rotate clockwise due to

the force FH lowering the right foot and raising the left foot.

----~-

~n

if

time

i1

li

_,

____ ..._-

-~

Fig. I(B) is a "snap shot" of a string

~here

angul~r

it makes an angle

deflection

a~

one instant of

e with the straight position.

This

e causes the tension T to have a component FH

in the horizontal direction which causes the bridge to rotate

!r

.,;
.,
.

'

'
'

clockwise.

Of course, at a later time the kink on the string

will be on the left side causing the bridge to rotate in the


opposite direction.

Aside from the inertial properties which we

will neglect here, the bridge follows mechanically the angle


deflection of the string

e at the bridge.

of

The force varies

with time for a bowed string as shown in Figure II.


~'JE-

"~

Figure II.

c~J.~'I'Ls.re

~r~tltl&-

Time Dependence of the force on a bridge

from a bowed string.


It would seem that the downward thrust on the bridge would
have an.oscillation because of the increase in the tension when
the s,tring is deflected.

Indeed, this oscillating force does

exist but its magnitude is much less than the


discussed previously.

side~way

force

At this point, this oscillating downward

force will be neglected.

Returning to the sideways force on the bridge, it is just


)

this component of force, trnasmitted through the bridge (the


bridge is a complicated acoustical filter to be discussed in
detail later) to the top of the violin that causes it to move
like a membrane.

The violin oscillates at frequencies which

correspond to those on the string.


resonant frequencies.

The violin box has many

The presence of these box resonances only

'

modify the amplitude of frequencies on the string.

'I

These resonances are, in reality, very important in the


"individuality" of the tone of each instrument, but the basic way

iI

(or mode) in which the violin top and back move, is the goal

of the subsequent discussion.


It should be pointed out that wood, in its deformation by

a force, acts like a spring.

By this is meant that the deflection

is proportional to the strength of the force, and if the force


is removed, the wood returns to its undeflected position.
The violin box has a fundamental problem to solve; it
is too small.

The size of an efficient radiQtor is determined by

the size of the wavelength in the medium in which it radiates.


For the lower frequencies, the area of the top of the violin is
too small.

We can illustrate this by taking the ratio of the

area of the top to the square of the wavelength. The top of the
2
violin has an area of about 300 cm . The wavelength for a fre- .
quency of 250 cps is;
A
or 120 em.

= rv

300
=ISO=
1.2 meters

The wavelength

square~

(1)

is then

'

This gives for the ratio of areas


R

area Top

A2
which is a small number.

300
1. 4 X 10

(2)

.021

If the sound were to come from the

jl

Ill

'I

moti9n of the top alone, the sound intensity for the low frequencies
woulq be quite low.
To overcome this basic deficiency, the violin

~employs"

cleaver trick which utilizes motion in opposite directions of


both the top and back, forcing air to move in and out of the f
holes~

In order to see how this is accomplished, a cross-sectional

diag~am

of the violin as seen from the end is shown in Figure III.

...

rd

'~.I

~~~~~'I
~

II

II

~i

d''!~
111,

H
I'
I"

.:
1"
I

'I

Figure III.

Cross-sectional view of violin.

The sideways force F from the string will cause the bridge
to

r~tate

post.

clockwise raising the bass bar and lowering the sound

Since the bass bar is rigid most of the area of the top

will move in the same direction as it moves; namely, upward at


that instant in time.
'
:'

downward.

Meanwhile the sound po$t pushe& the back

These combined motions cause the volume of the box

to increase with the result that air flows from the outside

:l

through the f holes to inside the box.

Now the important thing

that is accomplished is that the velocity of the air moving through


the f holes is much faster than the velocity of the air in
contact with the surface of the top.

In fact, the ratio of these

two velocities is given by the simple equation


=

area of f holes) X 2
area of top

(3)

The reason for the factor of 2 is that the back also moves
(we assume its motion is the same as the top).

This irtcreased

velocity makes the energy in the air motion greater and increases
the radiation.

This type of bellows motion I have called the

"breathing mode" of the violin.


Another important contribution to the sound radiated from
the violin comes from an air resonance called the Helmholtz
resonance of the box.

This type of resonator is quite common.

The typical example is a bottle.

The air enclosed in the neck

of the bottle constitutes a mass and the air volume inside the
bottle makes a spring.
sonating frequency.

This mass and spring has a definite re-

In the violin an effective air mass around

the f holes is the "weight" and the "spring" is the air enclosed
in the box of the violin.

This resonant frequency for the violin

lies near the open D string.

The breathing mode of the top and

back is very effective in exciting this air resonance, which


greatly enhances the radiation of sounds from the G and D strings.

The back of the violin contains several interesting problems


from the standpoint of the physics of the violin.

The sound post

is in contact with the back at a point to the right of the center


line and below the midpoint along its length.

This asymmetry in

the driving point would lead to a motion which would cause the
back to "rock" rather than make a piston-like motion.

To comI

i
I'

pensate for this asymmetry, the Italian makers made the thickness
variation asymmetrical in order to compensate for the asymmetry
in the driving point.

The magnitude and shape of the thicknesses

of old Italian instruments is about what would be expected from

..,,

this asymmetrical sound post location.


also depends

depeft~

The thickness variations

upon many other things such as outline,

arching, wood hardness and effects of varnish.


The breathing mode is important for the low frequencies

(less than about 1000 cycles/sec) but for higher frequencies this

,,

mode can no longer function because of inertial properties of both

the back and the bass bar in the top.

For the higher frequencies

there is also no need for "amplification" by a bellows action


because the box is no longer small compared to these wavelengths.
At these higher frequencies, the mechanical
compl~tely

motio~

is almost

restricted to the top.

The back is made of a relatively dense wood (hard maple),

il
~

relatively thick (about 5 mm), so that its mass is much greater

II'
li'J

than that of the top, excluding the bass bar.

'II'

For this reason

1",

~~

'

the back remains stationary causing the sound post to act as a


fulcrum
for a teter-tatter like motion of the top.
,.

,,I

The sound
.~

.l
I

,D

6'f
po$t is placed near ... but not directly under the right foot of the

bridge as shown in the side view of the violin in Figure IV.

.I

Figure IV.

Side view of the violin.

The bass bar also remains stationary at high

.
because it also is rather mass1ve.

frequencie~

'"'- ,

Because the bass bar remains stationary (up and down) as


well as the sound post, the principle part that moves is

th~

right foot of the bridge driving the top in a reeking motion about
!

the

~ound

post as a fulcrum.

The combined breathing and reeking

motions (for the transitional frequencies) causes some interesting


'
mech~nical

problems in the top.

Some of these are related to

the placement and shape of the f holes.


Suppose we examine the top at one instant of time where the
force on the bridge from the G string is directed to the right
t'

(tow~rds
I

the E string).

This force drives the sound post down

<.

and the bass bar upward.

8. -

The mechanical problem arises in the

top in the upper region of the right f hole as can be seen from
the following argument.

The upward motion of the bass bar causes

both the upper and lower p

.s of the top to raise.

Meanwhile,

the rocking motion causes the lower part to raise but the upper
part of the top to go downward, which from the breathing action
alone would have gone upward.
The

r~gion

Clearly, something has to "give".

just above the right foot of the bridge has to .stretch

to accomplish the combined motion of the two modes.

In fact,

the coupling or mixing of the two modes is controlled by the


stiffness of this area of the top.

If the thickness is changed

by 0.1 mm the difference can be heard in the nature of the


radiated sound!
Now we are ready to discuss some of the factors which give
a pat:ticular violin its "personality".

For example, the frequency

at which the cross-over takes place between the two modes is


governed by 1) the stiffness of the back~~~he mass of the back,
and~~he mass of the bass bar.
I'

The thicker and consequently the

heavier the back the more soprano the violin because the cross1
over frequency occurs at a lower frequency etc. Not only is the
mass of the bass bar critical from the standpoint of its inertial
properties for high frequencies, but also its length.

The

length of the bass bar controls, to a large extent, the effective


stiffness of the top for low frequencies.
I~

..;

II[':'
I

The reason that the

length is so very critical is due to the fact that the wood in


the top, between the ends of the bass bar and the end blocks,
for a spring.

The stiffness of this spring is determined by the

,.!-

......

inherent stiffness of the wood, the thickness of the top at that

point and the distance between the end of the bass bar and the
end blocks (the effective length of the spring).
~or

still higher frequencies, corresponding to higher over-

tones from the string, the rocking motion becomes restricted to

.I

a small area around the sound post between the f holes and the
bass bar.

For these frequencies,. the rotational inertia of the

bass bar is so great that it can no longer be driven to rotate.


The mass of this then reduced rocking area is effectively much
'

smaller than that of the entire top so that it can vibrate at


these frequencies very similar to a small "tweeter" of a speaker
system.
As you surely must have concluded by now, the mechanical
motion of the top is extremely complex, especially compared to
that of the back of the violin.

In such a short discussion it

is impossible to have gone in any detail into


anica~

and physical problems of the violin.

the mechIt is fascinating

to contemplate the obvious fact that the Italian violin makers

of ne~rly 300 years ago must not only have understood many

aspec~s of these problems but also clearly have understood in

some fashion many other problems that we are unaware of.at this
time.
How exciting it would be to be able to go backward in time
through centuries and walk unexpectedly into the unexpectedly
into the work shop of Antonio Stradivari or Giuseppi Guarneri in
the Piazza San Domenico in Cremona and discover them talking
about the problems of violin making.

What "language" were they

,.
I
'

--l:O

using?

How did they "think" about the acoustical problems?

How

did trey transmit their information on to their apprentices?


What problems did they know about that we are completely
about~

~gnorant

What were their goals in sound production, to just list

a few questions.
The realization that a handful of Italian craftsmen living
three centuries ago managed, not only to solve an enormous
number of complex acoustical problems, but also developed an
esthetic judgement as to sound quality and constructed instruments to create these sound which after three centuries, we
still agree to be the apex in tonal quality; constitutes one of
the greatest and humbling challenges to modern acousticians.

!
I
'

''

LECTURE V
ACOUSTICAL MOTION OF THE VIOLIN BOX PART II
In the last chapter the mechanical motion of the violin top
and back was descri,bed in terms of various "modes" of motion.

The

description of the motion in terms of these simple concepts is


helpful in guiding our thinking, but is a gross over-simplification
of reality.

In the following material these modes, their frequency

response and the effects of resonances will be discussed in some


detail.

The sideways rocking motion of the bridge forces the top


and back to move in opposite directions causing the volume of
the "box" to increase and decrease, following exactly the displacement of the string.

This change in air volume in the box causes

air to flow in and out of the "f" holes.

This type of motion of

..
'

the box I have called the breathing mode. 'This breathing mode
increases the radiated sound, mainly because it exites an impprtant
air resonance of the box.

The air resonance that will be discussed

is called the Helmholtz resonance after the famous Acoustician


Heinrich Helmholtz.

One frequently encounters this type of re-

sonance and a good example is a bottle.

When one blows across the

top of a bottle, it gives off a sound of a fixed frequency.

,,,:
'''I:
'I

The

air in the bottle resonates in a way which is analogous to an


oscillator made of a weight and a spring.

In the Helmholtz

oscillator the spring is formed by the air enclosed in the large


volume of the bottle.
pressible.

It acts like a spring because it is com-

The mass of the oscillation is the mass of air in


~

I '

..

th~

or

n~ck

the bottle.

The frcguency of such an oscillation is

given by the equation


fo = ~TI /(yp/v) ta/p~)

(1)

where p is the pressure, v the volume of the flask, a the area of


the neck of the bottle,
air and

the length of the neck,

is a constant equal to 1.2.

the density of

(Note that this looks very

much like the formula for a spring and weight where f 0 = /KlM).
In the violin, v is the volume of air enclosed in the box, a is
the effective area of the f holes.

If v is increased, the- frequency

is decreased; if the opening of the f hole a is increased, the


frequency of resonance increases.

In the violin this Helmholtz

resonance frequency lies close to the open D string frequency


(293 c/s).

It plays a very important role in the sound output of

the violin on the lower strings.

In the violin this Helmholtz

oscillator is driven by the normal breathing mode motion and is


the most important resonance in the violin for the lower frequencies.
It increases the sound output from the entire G string and from
the lower notes on the D string.

As previously mentioned, the

frequency of this resonance is determined by both the volume of


the box and the area and shape of the f holes.

Equally important

to the placement of the frequency of this. resonance

is the width

of the resonance (the range of frequencies for which it is important).

The width of the resonance is inversely proportional to

its ringing time


oscillator.

an~}s

determined by the energy loss from the

~~
A larie' fraction of the energy loss comes from the
'

energy radiation of sound from the f holes and increases with


increasing size of the f holes.

So the area of the f holes affects

both the placement of the resonance and the width of the resonance.
A large f hole opening decreases the sharpness and amplitude of
the resonance but increases the frequency range over which the
resonance is important.
Returning to the overall properties of the breathing mode,
one can ask, "What determines the amplitude and frequency range
for which the breathing mode is important?''

The answer to this

seemingly simple question is very complex but answering the question


will help to delineate the factors which determine the tonal characteristics of the violin.

First it should be stated that the sound

output is proportional to the square of the air displacement through


the f holes at a given frequency.

The air displacement in turn is

related to the amplitude of motion of the top and back.


simplicity, it will be assumed that

th~

For

effects of resonances will

be neglected and that the motion of the back and top are determined
by the magnitude of the force, their stiffness (considered as a
spring) and by its mass.
To digress for a moment, consider a somewhat analogous system
consisting of a mass supported by a spring and driven 'by an oscillatory force F as shown below in Figure 1.

I
I

:II
'.1

1
Figure 1.

A mass and spring system which simulates the

frequency response of the back of a violin.

,I

'

For a spring alone, the deflection x is proportional to the


force and inversely proportional to its spring constant k as

expressed in equation (2).

-J

(2)

X = F/k

Now consider two extreme cases, one at a very low frequency


(case I) and one at a high frequency (case II).

Case I

For frequencies which are low, the inertial property

of the mass is small and the force acting on it comes almost


entirely from the spring.

In this case, the amplitude of its motion

will not depend on frequency but only on the stiffness of the


spring k.

In the violin back the stiffness is governed by its

thickness, shape, and stiffness of the wood from which it is constructed.

The most sensitive factor among these variables is the

thickness since the stiffness is proportional to the cube of the


thickness.

Far the lower frequencies of the G string, the

assumptions made above are approximately true and the deflection


of the back is mainly dependent upon its stiffness and approximately
independent of frequency for a constant driving force.

For this

reason, the amplitude of the breathing mode is dependent mainly on

the stiffness of the back (stiffness distributions in the back

are important for they affect the net air displacement for a given

'

sound post deflection).


Case II

For high frequencies the forces from the spring can

be neglected in comparison to the inertial force from the mass m.


In this case the deflection x
2
X = F/mf

i~

given by formula (3)


( 3)

~.

which says that the deflection x decreases with increasing mass


and increasing frequency.

This is interesting because there is a


'.j
'
.,.,...,.
'"

------~~~-"

'

I
q.
I

strong frequency dependence on the amplitude of motion.

..
I
I

In the frequency range between Case I and Case II, the phenomena involves a resonance and is more complicated.

In general, at

the frequency of resonance the amplitude becomes much larger.

The
tl

displacement as a function of frequency is plotted in Figures II and

'I

I I I.

F,J&,

rk
I

A
~--~----/

4.

\\

?.

~
....

~
~

,'

})JflJ!.l!Nr

1.

1 \

tU)-!be?'s.

,5'f1l JAIGG

1,
/ !
\

-~-(

,IQ(.)A./....

"

~ ~
j'

1
I'

.fA

I_IJ

r:

'

Feefi' v & AI c. Y

I
Figure II.

Curve A is for an oscillation of mass m and a

spring of constant k 1 . Curve B is for the same mass but with a


stiffer spring k 2 ; k 2 > k 1 . A constant amplitude oscillatory force
is assumed. Note that the amplitude is the same for the two

i:'

oscillators at high frequencies as was mentioned previously in


the material related to equation (3).
I~
1'
4

.,

Similarily, the amplitude of motion of. oscillators with different masses is shown in Figure III.
~SIJ/H.,..

]),~~ellevr

5"PJAI65

UHs5

I
Figure III.

Curves A and B correspond to two oscillators with

equal springs but of differing masses.


curve A is less than that of B.

The mass corresponding to

Note that the amplitudes are the

same at low frequencies.


The important point to be implied by this discussion is that
the motion of the violin back at low frequencies is controlled by
its stiffness while the high frequency response is controlled mainly
by its mass.

This implies that the amplitude of the breathing mode

depends upon the back stiffness (and how the stiffness varies
throughout the back which in turn is governed by varnish, arching,
thickness, etc.).

The frequency range at which the motion of the

back ceases to be important (the cross-over frequency between


the breathing and the first racking mode) is determined not by the

--~--

l
I

stiffness but by the "effective" mass of the back.

The term "effec-

tive" mass is used to indicate that it is not the total mass of the
back that is important.

The motion is not uniform throughout with

the result that the mass near the edge, for example, contributes
very little to the effective mass because of its relatively small
motion.

The effective mass is always less than the total mass.

The contribution by the motion of the top of the violin to the


amplitude and frequency range of the breathing mode is determined
by its stiffness as a spring and its effective mass.

The stiffness

of the top is controlled to a dominant extent, by the length and


placement of the bass bar.

Likewise, the effective mass of the

top is determined largely by the mass of the bass bar.

For all

II

practical purposes, the bass bar can be considered rigid except


very near its two ends.

For this reason the stiffness of the top

I~

is related to the distances between the ends of the bass bar to


the neck block and to the end block.
this region is critical.

The thickness of the top in

..

These regions of interest are shown in

,.

Figure IV.

I~

Figure IV.

is shown.

The critical region at both ends of the bass bar

'u

Very crudely speaking, the stiffness is proportional to the


thickness cubed in the critical region and inversely proportional
to the distance between the end of the bass bar and end block, to
the fourth power.
Stiffness

T3

'V

(4)

:-4
L

Of course, there is some contribution to the stiffness from the


remaining edge

but it is less than the contribution by the critical

region shown in Figure IV.


Since the bass bar is stiff, all of its mass contributes to
the effective mass along with about one half of the remaining mass
of the top.

Like in the back, the stiffness as seen from the bass

bar, determines the contribution of the top to the amplitude of the


breathing mode, and the effective mass the frequency at which the
breathing motion of the top ceases to be important.
To a large extent the soprano or alto character of a violin
is related to the amplitude of the breathing mode.

This leads to

!,

i
I

a general statement which is; "to make a violin more soprano increase the thickness of the back, and increase the length of the
bass bar".

These effects stiffen the back and top which decreases

the amplitude of the breathing mode.

..

A violin is also made more

soprano if the cross-over frequency between the racking mode and


breathing mode is lowered.
To do this the mass of the back should be. increased (mainly
in the region of the sound post) and the mass of the bass bar
should be increased.
Now we come to the next most important mode of vibration of
the violin; namely, the rocking mode of the top.

This type of

motion is driven by the right foot of the bridge which is displaced

from the sound post.

This motion is only effectively driven if the

bass bar does not move, leaving the right foot to move.

Also the

lever action, created by the sound post and right foot of the
bridge can only operate effectively if the sound post does not move.
For this reason, the onset of the rocking motion is determined by
the mass of the bass bar and back respectively.
The inertial property of the bass bar for rotation is determined mainly by the mass near its ends.

This is the reason why

the bass bar is shaped so that most of its mass lies near the
center and tapers off towards the ends as shown in Figure V .

..

Typical shape of a bass bar.

Figure V.

The rotational inertial constant can be changed considerably


by changing the shape.

This in turn affects the amplitude of the

rocking mode as well as the upper frequency limit for this mode.
At frequencies above about 5000 c/s the inertia of the bass
bar is suffiently high that this type of rocking motion (driven by
the sound post

bridge foot displacement) can no longer occur.

At these frequencies, the small area bounded on the right by the


right f hole and to the left by the bass bar forms a small "tweeter"
zone again driven by the same sound post - bridge foot lever.

10

This area can be effectively driven because the area has a


correspondingly small mass.

For these frequencies the area need

not be large to form an efficient radiating surface because the


wavelength of sound in air is correspondingly short.

The ampli-

tude of motion of this tweeter is dependent upon the wood thickness


variations which determine the mass and stiffness for this zone.

.~
I

.'

LECTURE VI

SOUND POST ADJUSTMENT

In the past two chapters, the mechanical motion of the top

'

and back was described in terms of three "modes"; the breathing

II
Jl

mode, the rocking mode I which involves the bass bar, and the

,,I

..,,

rocking mode II which involves only a small zone around the sound
post.

These concepts will now be used to describe the effects of

positioning of the sound post.


It is convenient to establish a set of coordinates which
describe the location of the position of the top and bottom of the
sound post.

The pertinent question is "position with respect to

what reference point?"

In the top, the referenc.e coordinate system

will utilize the vertical center line as one coordinate and the
right foot of the bridge as the other as shown in the diagram
shown in Fig. I.
II

if

I(

,,"
,I

~I I

"
.~

,I

,,'

~ ~

'I

:r,.

'

I!

'I

!tl

I;

I.'

,.

'r

I!
"

I
:f,,
,

'

.l

The distance to the right of the vertical center line will

Similarly, the distanci~

be called YT for the top and YB for the back.

below the back surface of the right foot of the bridge and the edge
of the sound post will be called XT.
the back will be call XB.

The similar coordinate for

The problem remains to determine the

acoustical vertical center line of the top.

Because the f holes

cut into the top just at the point where it is narrow, their position determines the symmetry of the top to a large extent.

Most

violin makers make an effort to center the f holes horizontally.


They can be used as a reference edge.

Most violins function the

best when the sound post is approximately equal distance from the
center line as the bass bar.

This affords a first approximatinn

to the value of the coordinate YT.

To check this distance, the

inside edge of the f holes can be used as a reference assuming


them to be acoustically centered.

The distance from the edge of

the left f hole 'to the bass bar should be approximately equal to
the edge of the right f hole to the sound post.

'This is only an

approximation and can be used as a starting point.


Assuming that the bridge is positioned correctly the value
of XT can be used using a ruler on the outside of the top starting
from the back edge of the right foot of the bridge as a reference
'
point and sighting through the f holes at the sound
post and

ruler at the same time.

A nominal value of XT is about 2 mm.

As a first approximation of the value of XB is about the


same as XT.

(This would correspond to vertical position for the

sound post for this plane.)


about 3 mm.

Generally YB is greater than YT by

Now that the approximate position of the sound post

is established, the detailed effects of small variations in its


placement will be discussed.

'.

It is interesting that the ideal placement of the bridge is


determined by the graduation of the back.

In principal, there is

only one correct position on the back for the sound post.

Because

the back acts like a driven, flexible membrane, the total air
displacement is a maximum if it moves like a piston as opposed
to a rocking motion. 'For a given thickness variation, arching
and shape there is only one point on the back where it should be
driven.

The sound post should drive the back at that point.

in turn sets the position of the bridge.

This

This is perhaps too

idealistic because the sound post need not be absolutely vertical


and if the sound post surfaces are appropriately cut, it can be
inclined allowing for a movement of this position of the bridge.
Usually, the approach to positioning the sound post is more
empirical because it is difficult to determine the
driving point of the back.

In most cases the bridge location is

fixed by the string length requirement.

.
generally more

acoustfc~l

Indeed, this factor is

critical than the requirement dictated by the thick-

ness graduation of the back.


The general .effects of changing the quantities

~T'

YT' XB, YB

will be discussed.
There are two characteristics that depend critically

1)

upon YT; namely the overall magnitude of the voice of


the instrument and the "brightness" of the sound.
YT is

inc~eased

ness increases.

As

the voicing is increased and the brightThe term "brightness" of sound refers

to the ratio of the high fre.quency components > 2000 c/s

I'I
l

of the overtones to the fundamental and the first few


overtones.

This increase in brightness is due to an

increase in the amplitude of the rocking mode I as compared to the breathing mode amplitude.

The explanation

for this dependence upon YT is the following.


I

Consider the string as a device whtch supplies an oscillating


force whose frequency is that of the string and whose force amplitude is proportional to the amplitude of motion of the string.
This force from the string gives rise to a force applied to the top

of the violin by the right foot of the bridge.

I,,

this force depends among other things upon the separation between

the sound post and the bass bar because this is the lever arm of

a "teeter-totter" like lever.

The amplitude of

The problem can probably be easier

visualized if an analog system is considered where the top and


back are replaced by springs as shown in Fig. li.

r.w.~tee

/.,eFr

Yr
$" v Ill)

-f}, c;;T

Ftzo-..,
~ooT

tJF

"8/liDG!-,1;

.)Pfl.IK(J.

C1J~/E$P,A11> 141(,..

To b~

STIF~I/1!.>$

J
l

Fig. II.

A lever system which is analogous to that of the

breathing mode in the violin is shown.

;,

'I

__
_..i

t - /.

Increasing YT results in a
for a fixed force FR.

smaller force on the spring kB

This results in a smaller oscillation of

the back, decreasing the amplitude of the breathing mode.

The

reduction of the breathing mode makes the instrument more soprano.


This reduction in the vertical motion of the sound post with
increased YT means also that the sound post is more effective
in forming a fulcrum for the racking motion I.

This means that

the rocking motion is more effectively driven when YT is increased.


Both of these effects make the instrument more soprano and augments the rocking mode I in comparison to the breathing mode.
2)

XT XT is one of the most critical parameters in the


sound post location.

It is critical because XT is a

small dimension and a change of 1 mm represents a large


percentage change (50%).
The effect of increasing XT is to (a) increase the

~,~shrillness"

(frequencies around 1000 to 3000 c/s) and (b) decrease the fundamental frequencies.

As

Xr

becomes larger than about 2.5 mm the

overall voicing of the instrument decreases with a general deterioation of the quality because of an excess of overtones in the
shrill region.

As XT is increased the very higp frequency

overtones > 30001c/s compared to the shrill region is changed.


The very high frequencies start falling off (compared to the mid
range) with distances greater than about 1.5 mm.
The distance XT is the lever arm for the rocking moti-on of
the top for both modes, rocking mode I (R.M.I.) and rocking ,mode
II (R.M.I.)

Furthermore the vertical motion of the sound post

'

.,.
I'

'!

, I

'

I'

'

(breathing mode of the back) is also dependent upon this distance

Xr, as can be seen in Fig. III


to the top as

s~en

which is lever system .analogous

from the side.

I'
I

I
I

il'I

1-V~AI<..
~PIOI~'-

(sw.-~
"P11sr

r:toiVf
T()'/>

f~ ~.,

IIIEAI(.
S'/>R.IAI&-

Ft.,p.r IDP

=>Pre,v t,-

ffu;JIA

I l

8A-vk.

;j

1
~

l
..Fig. III An analogous spring system is shown to illustrate
the dependence of the motion of the sound post on the distance XT.

1
<l

j
II
I

. 7
For a given stiffness of the back kB and top kT the sound post
will oscillate the most when XT is zero (bridge sitting on top of
it) and as XT is increased its motion will decrease.

Graphically

the change in the amplitudes of motion of the modes B.M. and R.M.I.
with.changes in XT is illustrated in Fig. IV.

rt,l!~,~r'

v,;

AJ,p L I TIID ~
IF
A./Oil f) 41

~T

till

3
. , . ...._ .

Fig. IV Shows the dependence of the breathing mode (B.M.) and


rocki~g

mode I upon the distance XT.

Clearly,

~here

is a compromise between the amplitudes of B.M.

and R.M.I. which ts in part an esthetic judgement on the part of


the player as to how bright he or she likes the instrument.
Rocking Mode II is an interesting mode for it is the "tweeter"
of the violin and plays an important role in the caTrying power
of the violin.

The reason that this small zone oscillates some-

what independently of the whole area of the top is due to the


inertial property of the bass bar for very high frequencies.

Because of the relatively large mass of the bass bar and corresponding relatively high moment of inertia, there becomes a point where
it is easier to flex the top in the region around the .. sound post
than it is to vibrate the bass bar (in either a vertical motion or
in a rocking motion).

Even though the area of this region is

quite small, the wavelengths in air are correspondingly small with


the result that it becomes an efficient radiating surface.
3)

YB.

The variable YB affects principally the "acoustical

tension" of the strings.

As YB is increased the bowed

string feels "tighter".

The term "acoustical tension"

is an expression which relates the excursion of the


mot~on

of the string to the driving force applied to

the string.
The acoustical tension should not be confused with the normal
usage of the term string tension.

The latter is related to how

much you tighten the string by means of the peg.

The acoustical

tension is related to how efficiently the energy is taken from the


string by its support.

Increasing the rate of energy dissipation

from the string results in a lower amplitude of motion of the


string for a given driving force.

This gives a feeling that the

string "feels" tighter when it is bowed.


4)

XB . As XB is increased the tension of the acoustical


string is also increased and the instrument becomes
more soprano.

.
,

'

The previous discussion with a crude explanation as to why


. the changes in X and Y do what they do has perhaps left you with
the impression that (1) there are a lot of variables and (2) several
of the variables result in similar effects.
impression that is intended.

It is true that

Indeed this is the


changi~g

distances is similar to changing other distances.

one of the

This type of

condition is described scientifically by saying that the variables


XT, YT, Xn, YB are not independent variables.
Secondly, it is true that there are indeed many constants of
a violin which determine in turn the best values of X andY.
Since each instrument has its own set of "constants!' it is impossible to determine the best

val~es

of X andY, especially since

their values would also be different for each player . The ultimate choice of these optimal values of X and Y can only be
determined by "feeling" the response of the violin and listening
to the sound it creates.

Because it involves so many variables

and because the ultimate choice of these constants depend, in part,


on esthetic judgements the subject is appropriately described as
an art rather than a science even though well-known scientific
principles are involved

..

LECTURE VII
l

[.

THE VIOLIN BRIDGE


PART I - Mechanical Considerations
I.

et us begin our discussion of the mechanical properOiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.....,..,

ties even though the bridge is probably the most single critical
component affecting the tone production and dynamic response of the
violin.

It not only mechanically supports the large force from the

strings but more important!'y it acts as an acoustical filter, which


\

has its own set - of numerous


and-s~rve_? _.tQ... __couple.... the string.
- - - resonances
--acoustically to the box. The frequency dependence of this filter
.-

can be rather easily altered acoustically by the "cutting" and


"fitting" of the bridge. The substance of this first lecture
will be restricted, however, to the mechanical aspects of the
bridge; namely, the fitting to the top, the arching, location of
springs, deformation and wood impregnation.
II.

Arching

./.

Although the desired arching may vary from one player to


another, this variation is rather small percentage-wise.

Let us

IIl

1~.I.
'

assume for simplicities sake that the arching is constant; that


I

is, that the curvatute of the upper surface is a segment of a circle


witha fixed radius.

In this case there are two parameters which

describes the arching, namely the radius of curvature and the


sideways displacement
Figure I.

of the center of the circle as shown in

A typical value for R is 5.9 em and S

2.7 mm.

'

t:"

ljl

II'I . '
d'
iJ

Although a value of S of 3 mm
seems small, it is enough to
make the G string height about
5 mm higher than the E string!
The arching may not follow a
constant radius curvature but
the departure is usually less
than 0.3 mm in radius R from

sl-

the G string side to the E


string side.

In general, the

percentage variation in S is
greater than in R from one

instrument to another, due primarily to different archings of the


fingerboard.

Some typical values of R and S are given below.

These come from different bridges cut by different people.


Table I Curvature of Violin Bridges
R

3. 9

R = 4.0

$ = 4.1
R = 4.3

s
s
s
s

= 3.3

R = 4.1

2.25

R = 4.0

= 2.8

3.8

R = 3.8

s
s
s
s

= 3.1
= 2.3
= 2.1
= 2.6

It should be pointed out that large values of S (greater than about


4 mm) leads to a horizontal instability problem:-- L"arge values of
S means that the E string side is considerably lower than the G
string side.

The effect of this is to make the horizontal compo-

nent of the static force from the E string larger than from the
G string, resulting in a tendency for the bridge to move sideways.

III. String Spacing


The string spacing on the violin bridge has a nominal value of
11.5 mm.

In general practice it can vary from 11 to 12 mm only.

Also the spacing between each individual string is kept constant


in the violin.

This is not necessarily true for the viola and

also not true for the cello where the separation between C and D strings is intentionally made greater than between the other
'

strings because of the large excursion of the C string.

There is

frequently a small correlation between the radius of curvature and


the string spacing.

If the radius of

c~rvature

is small, the

string spacing can be made smaller and still maintain the same
height of one string above the two adjacent strings.

A change of

0. 5 mm can be discerned by the player in the string spacing.


IV.

Fitting of the Feet of the Bridge


The feet of the violin bridge is one of the critical compo-

nents of the bridge because they must make a good acoustical


(mechanical) contact with the top .

They form one component of

the several acoustical filters that are present in the bridge.


These acoustical properties of the bridge will be treated in the
following chapter.
It is the customary practice that the violin bridge is carved
from a commercially available bridge "blank".
a typical bridge "blank"

follows.

A photograph of

Blanks do differ in the

amount of wood available for removal in the central part of the


bridge.

The blank shown has less wood than many blanks.

In carving

the blank, wood is usually removed in every region except the


surface of the central opening.

==g

-Ita.

I"
I"

"

The surface of the foot must be


carved to fit the contour of the
top.

In most cases an effort is

made to duplicate the detailed


convolution of the top surface onto
the surface of the foot of the
bridge.

This is always done by

using a carving knife since a file


or sand paper will leave curved edges.

The feet must also cut in

such a way that the bridge makes an angle with the top so that it
nearly bisects the angle made by the string over the bridge.

This

It is crucial

may result in a slight tilt backwards

--

that both feet are cut so that they


make the same angle; otherwise the
bridge will distort in time.

In

general, this slightly backward angle


for the bridge may result in the
back surface of the bridge being
perpendicular to the top and the leading edge inclined backwards
because of its wedge shape.
The next consideration in cutting the feet of the bridge is
the determination of the spacing between the feet.

The blanks

contain enough wood to permit considerable variation in this

constan~

by either cutting the "ankle" above the feet from the outside or
from the inside as shown in the diagram below.

~ul

/-IIUt.E

rp

1-f" ll.TYAf

cvr

HEK.t:

To I~CJ(,/!/r6E.

LeN~TH

!,

The separation of the feet (1 in Fig. III) is determined by


the location of the bass bar.

This distance 1 should be twice the

distance from the bass bar to the center of the violin (increasing
1

in general makes the violin more soprano and tends to increase

the voicing).

Once the bass bar-center line distance is measured,

the ankle is carved to make the.feet spacing correspond to twice


that value.

The nominal feet spacing 1 is 30 mm.

Most blanks

contain enough wood to permit a variation in 1 by 1.5 mm.


Sometimes a special case may arise where the desired spacing
1

is slightly larger or smaller than can be achieved from the

blank.
problem.

In this case you can employ a "trick" to help solve this

j.,-:-

The force distribution can be made non-uniform across

the foot of the bridge by purposefully


cutting the foot so that it does not
fit exactly the contour as shown in
Fig. IV.

This figure represents an

exaggarated case where the bass bar

I'

requires a value of 1 greater than


can be obtained from the blank.

This misfitting 6f the foot angle

j,,

''I
I
t

changes the force distribution so that the centroid is displaced


to the left and above the bass bar as shown in Fig. V when the foot
is forced down onto the top.
order for this "trick" to be

In

effective the ankle width


W must be larger than normal.
This represents a special case, and in general the surface of the
feet are carved so that they indeed.do fit the contour of the top.
No matter how carefully one tries, there is always a small amount

i'rf -1

- 6

of adjustment in angle by the foot.

Because of this it is important

that the "spring" formed by the ankle be not too stiff.


This stiffness is controlled mainly by the width W as shown
in Fig. V. It depends on w3 and the thickness linearly.
3
4
Stiffness "' w T/L
" (1)
where L is the length of the "ankle" above the foot.

As will be

discussed later, the total amount of wood in the foot and "ankle"
is critical even though it would seem to be very small.
No matter how well one tries to fit the contour of the foot
to that of the top, on the microscopic scale, the entire surface
may not be in contact.
s~und

The back surface of the foot next to the

post (right foot) is the most critical.

The distance between

the back edge of the right foot and the front edge of the sound post
is considerably less than the width of the foot.

For this reason

it is rather important that the


back surface of the foot makes
good contact with the top.

If

the foot surface happens to be


slightly rounded then this small

PosT

distance becomes 0 rather than


as shown in Fig. VI.

To

overcome this problem sometimes a small amount of wood is removed


from the central underneath side of the foot to help 'the feet to
make contact at the back edge as shown in Fig. VII which is an
enlarged view of the foot from the
underneath side.
{4/tJ~)

~EMtJVIJD

F#ilt 6P
7JR.t7>U
~1/P'PE!tS 1/)E)

TlJ ])J!PfH
.-u

e:;. t'" ,....,.

V.

Height of Bridge
The height of the bridge is dictated by the height of the

fingerboard assuming that the height of the fingerboard is fixed.


Since the height affects the mass and stiffness of the springs
in the acoustical filter system of the bridge, it is generally
accepted that there is an optimum height.
at the center is about 35 mm.

The nominal height

If the bridge of necessity needs

to be higher ow lower, some compensation for the acoustical consequences can be made by the adjustment of the stiffness of the
"springs" in the bridge.

This material will be discussed in the

following chapter.
VI. Bridge Thickness
The bridge blank comes with a thickness at the feet of 5 mm
and a thickness at the top of 1.2 mm at the center.

The nominal

thickenss of the feet of the finished bridge is 3.5 mm and that of


the top of 1.2 mm.

Because the blank is cut down in height, about

equal thickness of wood is to be taken off everywhere which amounts


to about 1 mm overall.

This seems like a small amount but this

cutting reduces, apart from other cuts, a reduction in mass of


about 20 percent.

This wood is removed from one side only; the

side facing the fingerboard.


There are many other cuts made in the blank but they involve
mainly the acoustical property of the bridge.
VII. Wood Impregnation
After the carving is finished, nearly everyone impregnates the
bridge with some substance.

This may be only the rubbing of the

bridge in the hands which impregnates a small amount of body oil

into the bridge or it may be the application with a brush of a high


grade of machine oil.

This impregnation serves to stabilize the

bridge during rapid humidity changes, but it also changes the


acoustical property of the bridge.

The addition of a small mass

due to the oil is sufficient to change the tone notieeably.

In

general, an oil impregnation tends to reduce the high frequency


components of the sound making the instrument sound somewhat smoother
Too much oil may result in a slow, gradual change in the acoustical
properties of the bridge because of slow impregnation rates and
evaporation or chemical changes caused by the impregnant.

-BRIDGE MADE BY STRADIVARI FOR TH


"TENORE"

or

THE "TuscAN" QUINTET.

LECTURE VI I I
THE VIOLIN BRIDGE:

A CRITICAL FILTER

side-from the critical mechanical support


of the

~trings

provided by the bridge,

th~

acoustical forces provided by the string are


transmitted through a somewhat long path in the
bridge to the top of the violin.
ar~

bridge itself, there


consitute a

comple~

str~ng

a large number of mechanical elements which

acoustical filter which has a very complicated

frequency dependence.
where the

In the

The acoustical motion at the top of the bridge

is supported is greatly different from the motion

of the top of the violin.

It is this acoustical filtering action of

the bridge which will form.the bulk of the material of this chapter.
Aside from (1) the frequency filtering property of the bridge
(2) it also introduces a controllable amount of energy loss which
dampens the overall string-box system, as well as (3) decoupling the
string from the violin box.
the filtering property.
resonances.

This latter property is as important as

All violin boxes have litterly hundreds of

If the string were to be directly "attached" to the

box, these resonances would unduely control the property of the string.
In an extreme

cas~,

it might even be impossible to bow the string at

a frequency which would correspond to the frequency of the resonance.


i

'"I

' '
A good example of such a phenomena is a half
note on a viola or

violincello.

In general, a certain degree of acoustical isolation

"

of the string from the box is essential in order that the string not
be controlled by the acoustical properties of the box.

The under-

standing of the mechanism of control of these three functions in an


actual bridge depends upon understanding the basic idea of a simple
mechanical-acoustical filter.
II.

A Simple Mechanical-Acoustical Filter


The acoustical action of violin bridge depends upon the inde-

pendent mechanical vibration of various parts of the bridge.

One

of the simplest filters consists of a weight and a spring of the


type shown in Fig. I.

It has a weight

of mass M and a spring of stiffness k.


The important consideration is the
following:

"if an oscillatory force

of magnitude F0 is applied to the mass

C5C.

t FI>R.CE.

M, what fraction of this force will be


transmitted through the spring to the
wall"?

The correct mathematical considerations which lead to the

correct and detailed answer to this question is more detailed than


should be discussed here but for low and high frequencies the
answer is rather simple.

Consider the case corresponding to low

frequencies where the effect of the mass is negligible.

In this

case of a spring alone, the force applied to the spring at one end
is transmitted to the other end and there would be no "filtering"
action.

The displacement x of the spring is given by the simple

formula F = kx where k is spring constant of the spring.

The

----

displacement does depend on this stiffness


but the force on the other end of the
spring is equal to the force applied and
independent of frequency as shown in Fig.

II.

FK.I! tt . IN CPS
Now consider the other extreme; high frequencies.

At high

frequencies, a part of the applied force must overcome the inertial


property of the mass M in order to make it vibrate.

If this inertial

force is much greater than the force from the spring, then the
vibration of the mass is determined by the frequency and its mass
by the expression
X

2 2

= Fapplied/M(2rr) f

(1)

Then the force on the wall is obtained from F = kx of the spring


giving the force applied to the wall

Fwall = (F applied

(2)

The important point is that the force on the end of the spring
compared to the applied force diminishes rapidly with
increasing
-- ---- ______

..........

frequency as shown in Fig. III.


In the frequency range in between
these two extreilies there is a resonance
where the oscillatory force on the wall

is much greater than the applied force.


This frequency is determined by the
spring constant and the mass.

This

frequency is given by the formula


1

fo = 2rrlk?M

(3)

The overall response of this filter

.J

consisting of the spring and mass is ~


shown in Fig. IV.
Interestingly enough the factor

which determines the height and


sharpness of the peak is another
quantity called the resistance.

This

quantity is related to energy dissipation in the elements.

In

mechanical systems such as wood, the resistance comes from internal


friction in the wood.
in the chapter.

This can be controlled as we will discuss later

This simple system is the basis of many filter syste

including the filters in the violin bridge.

In the violin bridge,

the system has many masses and many springs with many resonances
corresponding to the different sets of springs and masses.

An

analogous system of lumped springs and masses, an aid to our


is shown in Fig. V.

For low

frequencies (where the inertia properties of all the masses are


negligible) the force applied
by the string will be equal to
that on the box.

At higher fre-

quencies there will be many resonances


where the force on the box may be

IJIDLIIJ

rr;P

amplified and at still high frequencies,


the force on the box, compared to the
applied force FA, will be greatly reduced.

We are left with the

problem of dealing with the true violin bridge as opposed to the


simple model that has been discussed up to now.

III. Location of Springs and Masses in a Violin Bridge


A magnified profile outline of a typical violin bridge is shown
in the following page.

In most respects, there is a rather close

symmetry about a vertical center line.


assumed that both sides are alike.

For simplicity it will be

There may be cases where the

left and right springs may differ in stiffness but to the first
approximation we can assume them to be equal.

s2, s 3

Areas labeled

and

s4

in Fig. VI are springs while areas

M , M and M are almost entirely masses. Area M, S, is a distri4


3
2
buted mass and spring combined. For example if a force is applied
to the top of the bridge to the left, spring
tension while

s 21

will be under compression.

are a different kind of spring.

s 2R will
Springs

be under

s 31

and

s 3R

Rather than stretching and compres-

sing they are a "bending" type of spring.

A typical example of

this type of spring is shown in Fig. VII


which represents a small bar fastened
at one end to a table, and bends downward under the Force F.
Springs

s 41

and

s 4R

are similar

springs and permit a small angular

,Ct~

--

JL!.L

adjustment of the feet if it is necessary to fit the feet to the


surface of the top.
IV.

How to Control Stiffness of a Wooden Spring


As an example of a wooden spring consider the bar used in Fig.

VII.

A view of it from above may look like the piece shown in


/
Fig. VIII. It has a length L, a width Wand a height;fbe stiffness

I
.l

It

of this piece of wood, used as shown


in Fig. VII depends upon the inherent
stiffness of the wood (called Youngs
Modulus) and the dimensions.

l~

The

correct expression for the stiffness

n ,c "tt e.

N;l(.
UIAV

k is

rtl 'S

.~

Hft:rll ~ 6

Vr11
(4~

The important thing to note is that the

stiffnes~

is more sensitively

dependent upon the length and height, than upon the width.

This

idea can be directly applied to


sprfngs s 3 L and s3R where the
bridge thickness then corresponds
to W in formula ( 4) while h and L.
are indicated in the sketch in Fig.
IX.

Removing wood in area A de-

creases h and weakens the spring.


Likewise removing wood from area
B lengthens the spring and likewise
weakens it.

However, the two effects are not equal for removing wood

from B also reduces the mass M2 at the same time.


It should be remarked that the strength of the springs s 3 L and
s 3 R are weakened by removing,wood from area M3 even though it lies
outside of the direct area: of the springs.

This is due to the

fact that a force tending to bend these springs causes the fibers
to want to slide one over the other (this is called shear).

The

strength of the wood to resist this shearing motion is related to


its length.

If wood is removed from the top surface of M , it


3

will not only reduce the mass of M3 but also weaken the spring
V.
A Typical Resonance Curve of a Violin Bridge

s3.

If you have followed the arguments up to this point, you probably have come to realize that the bridge must be very complicated.
In order to illustrate this, a typical resonance curve of a violin
bridge is shown in Fig. X.

This

frequency response picture was


obtained by photographing an
oscilloscope.

The violin bridge

was driven by a transducer.

The

vibrational motion of the bridge


was monitored by a phonograph pickup attached at another point on the
bridge.

The frequency of the source

was varied as the trace was made across the oscilloscope.


resonances can be seen.

Many

By changing the itiffness of a given spring

and noticing which resonance has changed, the source of the


resonances can be identified.

Clearly the placement of the resonance

depend both on the stiffness of the springs and the masses.

The

frequency of a given resonance will in general increase with spring


stiffness and decrease with increasing mass.

The optimal location

depends upon what is desired from the violin and no set of fixed
parameters would be suitable for all violins.

In fact, the impor-

tant lesson to learn is how to vary the springs and masses so that
the desired filter action is achieved.

VI.

Acoustical Damping Introduced by the Bridge


The amount of energy loss caused by a piece of wood depends most

of all on the degree of lecture for a given frequency.


softer springs dissipate.more energy.

In general,

Most violins need to have a

certain energy loss introduced into the filter system of the bridge.
The energy loss is necessary to minimize the effects of the resonances of the box and to make the excursion of the string sufficiently
large so that its properties are determined by the string and not
the box (decoupled).

The energy loss in the bridge can be controlled

by the stiffness of springs

s2

and

s3.

However, a small cut is

usually made into the region of M3 . This insignificantly looking


cut is very critical and controls the damping as much as springs

s2

and

s3 .

If the damping is sufficient, the string will feel as

though its tension has been reduced.

Indeed if the "acoustical

.\

tension" is defined as the ratio of the dragging bow dorce to the


amplitude of the string, the "tension" in this sense is reduced.

'

'.Jiii.AA.It..A.AtA.AAollll...it.Aa.A

LECTURE IX
The Violin now:

Mechanical Properties

I.

ven though the


material presented in these two chapters is entitled
"The Violin Bow"

it is intended to be much more general.

Nearly

all of the material is equally applicable to the bows of each


members of the violin family of instruments.

The general concepts

and principles are almost identical for each style of bow, only
the values of parameters differ .. Throughout the text typical values
for violin bows only will

b~

given, although similar sets of values

are kno~n for other types of bows.


The v.:iolin bow is an important partner to 'the violin in the
production of violin sounds.

'

Like the violin, there is a certain

mystery that has developed around the bow, probably because there
seems to some unexplainable or rational explanation

f~r

an almost

unlimited number of characteristics making up the individuality' of


each bow.

A part of this mystery may have its origin iri the

apparent difficulty in the attempts'to duplicate the property of

I,

a specific bow by duplicating the dimensions of the bow.

This

failure is related to the large variations in the constants of woods


from tr.ee to tree of the same family.

-------------

All "good" bows are made from a wood called pernamhuco.


tree grows in Brazil in the province of Pernambuco.
mahogany.

This

It is a type of

Pernambuco has a high density, is very stiff and will

take a permanent bend following a heat treatment.

This wood was

introduced into France several centuries ago and among many uses,
was used by the

dyi~g

may cause a strong

industry.

alle~gic

The dust is also rather toxic and

reaction if inhaled.

It is interesting to note that the Frenchman Tourte who


developed the modern bow, was also one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, maker of bows.

The French bow makers hold the position

in bow making analogous to the Italians

in

violin

making~

Near.fy

all of the great yiolin bows that are extant today were made by
Fre~ch

makers during the last century.

first half of the last century.

Tourte lived during the

The esteem for Tourte bows is

indicated by the high selling price of his bows at the present time.
Some have sold for as much as $15,000.
The physics of the violin bow falls rather naturally into
two categories; those mechanical properties which describe how the
bow "feels" when it is used on the violiJ1. and those acoustical properties which control and describe the sound production by the
bow.

These mechanical properties will be described in this chapter

while the acoustical characteristics will be the subject of the


following chapter.
teri~tics,

This division into two categories of charac-

although mainly independent, do have some overlap.

For

example, the stiffness of the bow, although largely a mechanical


property, does influence the attack and spicatto properties.

Also

some of the mechanical properties may be correlated with the acoustical properties.

The mass of the head of the bow is an example

where it affects the mechanical rotational property of the bow and


also its acoustical response.
II.

Th~

Bow as a So1id Object

It will be assumed that the many and varied characteristics


that lead to the indiyiduality of the bow which the player senses
can be described in, terms of a set of values (numbers) for each of
the physical quantities o the bow.

The important problem for the

physicist is to determine which physical constants are the important ones.

After these constants are proven to Qe important, a

means of evaluating them must be divised

and.toler~n~es

found for

their variation.
For some considerations, the bow can be considered as a solid
rigid object.

These properties. are the least complicated.

When

it will be necessary to consider the flexibility of the bow, these


constants derived from a rigid object consideration will be found
to essentially be unchanged.
(1)

Mass

The mass o:t a bow can be expressed- in grams .. The

average mass of a violin bow is about 60 gms.

Aviolin bow of

mass less than about 56 grams or heavier than 63 grams is considered


outside the normal range of mass.

Violinists can distinguish two

bows which have a difference in mass of as little as 2.5

gra~s.

The weight of the bow obviously is proportional to the mass


and many times the two terms mass and weight are used interchangeably.
The weight indeed is the force, due to earth gravity, on the mass

1:

II

li

and at the

~urface

of the earth, the two are proportional.

(At

the surface of the moon, the mass would still be the same but its
weight would be less, just in case a violinist gives a concert on
the moon.)

The force necessary to change the velocity o an object

is proportional to its mass.

One way a violinist

"f~e1s 11

the mass

of a bow is in the force necessary to change the direction o


motion or its velocity.

In other words, its inertial property for

changes in linear velocity is proportional to its mass.

A heavy

bow not only feels ''heavyu but also feels "sluggish''.


For a given volume of wood, the mass is proportional to the
density

M=
where

(1)

pv

is the density of the wood and v its volume

(2)

Location of the Center of Mass

There is a point, generally inside the object, where all of


the mass can be considered to be located.
at that point, it will not fall or rotate.

If the object is supported


The location of the

center-of mass requires three coordinates, but in the violin bow,


two of these coordinates are nearly fixed by the geometry as shown
in Figure I; namely the x andy axis.

~YA~15

'

=
Figure I

The location of the center of mass of the bow is at

the point of intersection of the three axis x, y, and z.

The bow is held at the frog with the thumb inserted near the
indent of the leading edge of the frog.
appl~ed

to the bow is at this point, the leading edge of the frog

will be used as the reference pdint artd

tom

Because the major force

th~t

~11

lengths

wil~_~e

meksured

point as shown in Fig. II.

The distance to the center o mass


from this point will be called Lcm
and measured in em.

A typical value

of Lcm is 17.5 em.

Fig. II

The location of the center of mass depends.upon the mass distribution


and not upon the magnitude o the mass.

The change in the value of-

Lcm caused by a small element of mass is directly proportional to


how far it is located from the center of mass.
(3)

Torque

The torque of a bow will be defined as

~he ~roduct

times the distance to the center of mass.

of the mass

(2)

The torque is the "twist" that must be applied by the handin holding
it horizonal.

A bow with a high torque feels 1'heavy"

Sometimes

the term "tip heavy" is used to characterize a bow with a high


torque.

The mass of the frog contributes little to the torque but

directly to its mass.

If the mass of the tog were increased, the

Lcm would be shortened, the mass of the bow increased but the
product, which is the torque would remain constant.

A.. typical

value for the torque is about 1050 gm-cm.

l
1!
~

(4)

Moment of Inertia

The moment of inertia I is the constant which describes the


inertial properties of the bow under rotation.

The "twist" that

must be applied to rotate the bow is proportional to the moment of


inertia of the bow.

The moment of inertia of the bow is important

when rapid string crossings are attempted.

The difference in

pressure on the string from a clockwise to counter-clockwise rotation is related to the moment of inertia of the bow:

The moment

of inertia depends upon the mass of the bow, but more importantly
on the mass distribution.

Unlike the Lcm' the moment of inertia

contribution of a small mass element depends upon the distance


squared from the point of reference.
violin bow might be 45,000gm-cm 2 .
(5)

A typical value of I of

Radius of Gyration

It is useful to have a constant which describes the mass distribution as it affects the moment of inertia but which does not
depend upon the mass and therefore the.density.
is the radius of gyration.

Such a quantity

Two bows, one made out of iron and the

other out of light wood, would have the same radius of gyration if
their mass distributions were the same.

The radius of gyration R

is given by the formula


R =

III. The Spring

Propert~es

/I7M

(3)

of a Bow

The main reason for arching the bow is to produce a strdng

"

spring which applies an adjustable tension to the hair of the bow.


{-,.!

t'c;

' )'

As the screw on the frog is tightened, the tension in the hair applies
a torque to the curved section of the stick which increases the displacement between the hair and the stick.

The stiffness of this

spring is related to the inherent stiffness of the wood (Youngs


Modulus) and the dimensions of the wood.
curvature (camber) of the bow.
in cross-section

c~ost

It is not changed by the

Because the bow need not be round

bows are not) the stiffnes for flexure

sideways (horizontally) is not the same as in the vertical direction.


For this reason, two constants are needed to describe the .spring
.
properties. There are several ways to quantitatively describe these
two constants and perhaps one of the simplest is to apply a

f~rce

at the center of the bow supporting


it at-both ends and measure the
deflection as shown in Fig. III.
The ratio of the force to
deflection will be called the spring

Fig. III

constant of the bow.


(6)

Vertical Spring Constant

The vertical spring constant kv of the bow is determined by


kv ;; Ywh 3a
-- ---~-----( 4)
where Y is Youngs Modulus, w is the
width and h the height in cross-section,
see Fig. IV.

The constant a depends upon

the length of the bow, the taper, and


.the ~~sh'ap.e factor - oval or octagonal.
Fig. IV.
'l\
l';t;,
, .. ~he vaiue -of kv ..do~.s not depend upon the tens ion in the bow.
Jif'

,?\'

~~--~~~-----

---

-~

...

(7)

Horizontal Spring Constant

LikewLse the horizontal spring constant kH is determined by


similar factors except that the values of w and h are interchanged
kH ~ Yhw 3 8
(5)
The valtle of 8 is nearly equal to a but

sl~ghtly

different

b~cause

the tapers in the horizontal and vertical dimensions are generally


quite different.
Interestingly enough, the 'effe'ctive horizontal spring constant
kA does depend upon the tension in the hair.

When the bow is tight

and it is deflected horizontally, the tension in the hair tends to


add a force deflecti.ng it further.
the horizontal stiffness.

This effect effectively reduces

How much it is reduced depends upon the

vertical spring constant kv among other things.

Jn fact, the

effective horizontal spring constant is given by the expression


(6)

where x is the vertical deflection of the stick upon tightening it,


and H is the height of the head.

In normal usage K~ is less than

kH by as much as 30%.
Most bows have w less than h so that kv/kH generally has a
value of about 1.2.

Under tension kv/k~ is about 1.5.

This implies

that the bow is stiffer vertically than horizontally by about 50%.


A

typical value of kv may be 980 gms/cm.


(8)

Hair Tension

The tension in the hair is determined not only by the stiffness


of the stick

v~rtically

kv but also on its deflection x and more

importantly upon the inverse of the height of the head H.


T = (constant)xkv/H

./

(7)

In making a bow, the tension in the hair can be controlled by


controlling the height of the head.

In general low tension bows

have a high head etc.


(9)

Length of Tang.ency..LT

The force than can be applied to the string without having the
hair touch the wood of the bow depends upon many things in a complicated way such as; the string position along the bow, the shape
of the camber, the hair tension, and the vertical spring constant.
The interrelationship of all of these variables is complicated.

One

other important constant which affects this limiting force is the


distance from the frog to the point where the stick touches the hair
when the bow is playing a string at the tip of the bow as shown in
Fig. V.

In general, bows which

have a larger value of LT can apply

------

a larger force to the string for the


same stiffness of the bow stick.

LT

=~

'-...

depends mainly on the shape of the

'

camber and upon the vertical taper


of the bow.

Fig. V

(10) Camber
All woods have the largest Youngs Modulus (stiffpess) for
forces applied parallel to the wood fibers, and the lowest modulus
for forces perpendicular to these fibers.

Woods break (fail) rather

easily under tension if the tension force is applied


to the fibers.

For these reasons it is

essenti~l

perpendicul~r...,

that the fibers

10 .

of the bow be parallel to its length.

This means that the bow must

be carved "straight" and bent subsequently.


,i

This bending or cambering

of the bow is accomplished by heating the bow and flexing it almost


to its breaking point and retaining this flexed shape until it has
cooled.

1i
I

As you can imagine, it requires a great skill to produce

in a bow the complex curvature desired by the bow maker.

l!'
rr

'

t~on

II

The varia-

of the curvature along the length of the bow as well as its

magnitude is one of the most important characteristics of the bow.

typical camber is shown in Fig. VI for a French bow made by

Bernardel.

In this figure note that the vertical scale is greatly

ul

magnified.

11

"~

~
'~
.:1

~I

3.0

t: ~

~k
_, ~
~

..J

J:.
~ ~

..
'

""

. .. ..

.. ..

{.a>

'II ~

(.:\

I(}

.$"t1

tAl CM.

..

LECTURE X
The Violin Bow:
I.

Acoustical Properties

Bow and String Interaction

vioifnist-exc1tes the string


across it.

This certainly doesn't seem

lik~

by

drawing-a bow

a very complicated

process but if one starts to look into the details of what is


occuring on the short time scale corresponding to one cycle of the
"

string it indeed does become complicated.

Another general'*'way of

thinking about the problem is to consider the bow as a device which


converts energy of linear motion into vibrational ene.rgy of the
oscillating string.

Work is supplied to the bow, by the arm, in

"dragging" it across the string.

Once the amplitude of the string

has reached its equilibrium value its vibrational energy remains


constant.

The string then acts as a means of transferring vibra-

tional energy to the box.

Not all of the energy supplied by the

bow is transferred to the box for some of it is dissipated in the


frictional sliding of the hair over the string.

The rate of energy

transfer to the violin box by the string is indeed small, of the


order of a watt.
The string

excita~ion

process relies on the difference between

the dynamic and static frictional forces.

If two surfaces do not

move one over the other (static friction), the force that can be
applied before the surfaces slide, is

grea~er

than the force once

'

I.

I
'

they start moving (dynamic friction).


\

,,

This means that the bow

catches the string and pulls on it with an increasing force until


the force reaches the limiting value for the static

I
I

friction~

string then starts to slide (backward) causing the force to decrease until it reaches the opposite displacement; again getting
"caught" by the bow and travels along with the bow.

An attempt

to show this motion is made in Fig. I.


P"~/11~

"~
~

". ~

~
I

The

't

~,_ ,N

t.IIAITA.e.r W1nl

IIIII H,t-1 It

'
s~'J)'N~-o
I)N ~"' !lAIIt.

(A)

~
0

(B)
!

~
4

(c)

During the time interval AB (Fig. I) the string moves in contact


with the bow hair and hence the velocity of the string is constant
and equal to the bow velocity.

During the time interval BC the

string still remains in contact with the bow hair but it slides in
the opposite direction.

The velocity of the string in the time

interval BC is greater than in the time AB.

(This is true for the

point on the string where the string is in contact with the hair
while at the center of the string these two velocities are equal.)
The fact that the velocity is constant between B and C is due to
the effect of standing waves on the string and not the frictional
properties between the string and the hair.
to be

gleaned'f~om

this

long-~inded ~icussion

The impo'rtant point


is that the motion

of the string during the time in.'terVa1s AB and B'C is in no way


influenced by the acoustical properties of the bow.

The only way

that the acoustical properties of the bow can influence the motion
of the string is to (1) change its amplitude and (2) determine
the sharpness of 'the kinks at po'in'ts B an'd C.

The sharper the kinks

the larger the high frequency component will be.

In fact the

highest frequency component will be approximately that frequency


which corresponds to the time of "turn around" at the kink which
is related to that frequency of response of the bow.
Now suppose we estimate that frequency which is important in
the bowts response.

Assume that the open A string is being bowed.

The turn around time is clearly less than 1/20 of the period of
the wave.

This would then correspond to a time of

lkJ

4!o rilm=

l'

corresponding to a frequency of 4400 cps.

The point of this crude

argument is to emphasize that the frequency range that is important


in the sound,production lies in the very high

frequen~ies;

greater

than a few thousand cycles per second.

Il.

How the Bow Vibrates


Tightening the bow raises the main stick of the bow, increasing

the separation between the hair and the wood (increases x).

The

same thing happens when an oscillatory force is applied to the tip


from the hair.

This oscillatory force comes from the oscillatory

nature of the pull on the hair from the oscillating string.

If

the string is oscillating with a frequency of 500 cps then the


curve section of the stick also oscillates in the vertical plane
as indicated in Fig. II.

It is the

oscillatory property of the head


and stick that influences the sound
production by the bow.

Now suppose

4-->
Fi;te,.c.E"

we look a little more deeply into


this oscillatory motion of the bow.

FU~~-t

Srlfl.,IVG-

Fig. II

At low frequencies (500 cps) the amplitude of the oscillatory


motion is determined by variation in stiffness along the length of
the stick.

The stiffness at a given point is governed by the

inherent stiffness of the wood and its dimensions.


only changes the stiffness slightly.

The curvature

As mentioned previously this

stiffness is proportional to the height cubed and the width


linearly.
(1)

:"""---~,

------

The stiffness along the length of the bow changes enormously


because of the large change in h; the vertical taper of the bow.
As we will see, the taper is one of the two most important parameters which controls the acoustical properties of the bow.

Once

the taper is known, tpe amplitude of the vertical oscillation of


the bow can be predicted and

agr~es

tributions along _the, stick.

(Vp.rnishes or surface finishes penetrate

wel:}. with the measured dis-

such a small distance that their effects are small, unlike that
of the violin.)
At

h~gher

frequencies, the motion of the stick becomes quite

complicated Gtnd standing wave patterns of motion are established.


The standing wave pattern with

node~

and anti-nodes is

from the string in a very basic and fundamental way.

di~ferent

Returning

to the properties of a string, the resonant frequency is given by


the expression
f

v/f...

(2)

where v is the velocity of propogation and f... the wavelength.


lowest mode is where the length L is f.../2.

The

The velocity is deter-

mined by
v

= IT7P

(3)

where the tension is T and the mass per unit length is p.


string

For a

and T are constant and therefore the velocity along the

string is constant.

This is where the motion of the bow differs

basically from that of the string.

For the bow the velocity of

the vertical wave propogating along the bow vB is given by the

approximate

(4)

Equation (4) illustrates the fact that the velocity of propa-

at one frequency;

v B ~ 1Yh 3w/phw ~ 1Yh 2/p

I
I

equa~iDn

gation depends upon the vertical taper (the variation in h along

the bo;) ana is independent of the horizontal taper.

This results

in a complicated standing wave pattern where the nodal spacing


varies and the amplitudes of vibration at the anti-nodes are all
different.
The other important characteristic of the traveling waves
along a stiff object such as the wood of the bow is that the
velocity of propagation is dependent on frequency, quite contrary
to that of a string which has a velocity independent of frequency.
Because the velocity is frequency dependent, it is called dispersive.

To illustrate these facts, the standing wave pattern of

a Bernardel bow is shown in Fig. III for a frequency of 3600 cps.

tq)~

1)/snt-NC.E-

BDW

ht:- Ttl
BeAI~R,J)J!t

;4-L/JN C-

Fu,u

liP ~F 8fJIII
~

The bow was excited at the tip by attaching an electrical


transducer.

The vertical motion was measured at many points along

the bow by means of a pickup.

Note that the distances between .the

nodes is not a~- constant. ---Thes'ep'arafio:n-rs "'l.argeriiea-rt1i'e--ftog'' -----than at the tip as would be expected from the taper.

A larger

vertical height h in the bow's cross section results in a larger


velocity (equation 4) .

The dispersion. property of the stick leads

to reflections of the wave as it propogates down the bow leading


to an attenuation of the wave as it travels down the stick.

This

attenuation decouples the mass of the major part of the stick from
the head.

Thi~

means that the effective mass of the stick is only


..

a small fraction of its total mass and that it is governed by the


taper of ;the bow.

-The exact mathematical formulation of this

problem has not been worked out by me at the time of this writing.
It is interesting to know that the mathematical formulation is
similar to

th~

problem of a radar antennaL

The second important set of parameters involving the moment


of inertia of the head itself with respect to the stick . . One component of its motion involves a rotation of the head about the
point where it is attached to the
stock (see Fig. IV).

The ampli-

tude of this motion is inversely


proportional to the effective mass
of the stick, as previously discussed and the moment of inertia
of the head.

For this reason the

Fig. IV

'

i'

height of the head, the mass distribution of the head itself as well
as the height of the head, all enter into the high frequency acoustical response of the bow.
Even though all of. this sounds complicated, "the reality" is
'

even more complex because the

e~~ire
. ,I~

.'";

:effects of resonances have


r

been completely neglected~. Th~-~~sohaA~~s


..
. .. are
-- important and the
prediction of their frequencie~can not be made with the present
~

understanding of the constants of the bow.

In principle, they

sould be amenable to calculation if one had enough patience or


enough time (and money) to solve the
A

equ~tions.

typical frequency response

bow is shown in Fig.

v.

The curve
~
illustrates the many resonance
\
features of the bows' high
!~
~

~~

frequency response.
,,.,

. ).'
....

...

..

..,.,(( fii&N~'I

Fig. V

->

~--89~3~~3~6

-,

11~~~~~11111~1111

También podría gustarte