Kansas City daily journal., 1895-09-23
OLD NlDLISS.
Why They Arc Better Than New, and Why
O'd Italisns Are Best.

From ~. Cgrrhul Magazine.
There are very good reasons why AZ,
r'F ,.-,t---s o,,,r,, ,,r.-s,,r,,~r !, .,
.'1 ''-''-.-'- Course l'ys"Illi"s II 10
re -'-- -Astrlinen; 70 oeE!n Wlth-ls
better than new one, and sLu better
rszz g-s way the Italian yIolins of the
classical period should remain the
---'tz-e-T. eees OF their kind. First Of
a- there is the wood; that requires TO
De :. ..rT Is age and there j. no ar
---o.a. process tEa- can take the place
~ -.-le IN this matter. Nu.llaume, the
celebrated Partisan maker and dealer,
-Er--.-.- in trying 30 age the
17t- ay chemicals and by baking,
rl- the idea proved worthless. Again,
r7--s is the Kind Of wood 10 be used,
and that j. not such q simple affair as
some people slppos-. 4 violin is made
IF about .ttT-eiga- separate pieces Of
wood and rhe kind and quality are Of
The first importance. Let US look at
this T1.n. q little la detail, for ii IS not
generally understood
Ta= front os "a violin is usually made
Of deal, The back Of maple. Now 4
piece Of wood can be set III vibration
Just IKE q string in tension. and a GER
tain musical note VIII be the result the
pitch depending, Of course upon the
myth, thickness and density Of the
wood. Well. the curious fact has been
established by experiment that In all the
best Strad.varlus vioIins-the vlollns
that are now the rage-thc mote" pro-
duoed by the front of.thc instrument is
the same; and again, that In no case is
the note OF the front the same as the
note ~ tho hack We u0H know that
there are acoustic reasons for this. ana
these reasons determine the kind and
quality of the wood You want the
front Of the instrument to be light. soft
ana porous. and you take deal as
answering best these qualities. When
the wood is dry the mirr1scoue will re-
veal a multitude Of llttle hollow coils.
once Gllcd with sap The more Of these
cells there are. the more uuilk Xiv win the
wood yibgate to the sound, and here it
Is that the fine skill in selecting the wood
comes in.
You might cut IN n dozen riaces Of
deal, and perhaps only one piece would
be absolutely perfect for It's purpose.
similarly with the uaule of which
the back Of the instrument is made.
This is a harder wood. containing less
san and. consacuentIy. fewer cells when
drv, Ii is used because IL yihrates more
slowly than deal and the effect on tn.
violin is as Mi IIaWels nuts il. -,
.datain the waves Of sound radiatin.-
from the daai and +, mix than7 win
lover yiIrations Of tbe hack in thc
hollow Of tho instrument" The ribs and
sides of the violin are also of manIe,
nud these serve To- connect the 1uicIxly
yibrating front win tha slowly yibraf-
{no, hack and hold rbar untu b0tb
rbrob together with fun uulsatIon and
L.1y of sound
Now tbar. is abundant. evidence "a
SHOW maj tho aIG italian makers naid
rartirr1ar attartiop /, oI tbesa detairs
n,. at least If tba,- 7f1 not ~ sat ,,,,r-
rrsa thsy did unrGusrf5i,sIv by, an in
tuitinr which ar,ounted M aStuaI ,snri,is
s,ra6iyariI,s ana most ~ tha Cr.fnon,-a
r,5l,.rs nr ~. classical rsrr,d saIa"tsi
,tit, ,.1,d fro,, H. ,r,,c. - a, a.,
49,, t,e,, ril,sI,, tGat ~. ro,,,,5 e,,i,
t,.cofoi r,io1itI, IN NE tir,tr tbGr MIN
r,,rIi,i,I n ~ tbair attertio,
Ana me yarpish-the Cremona var