...I got to thinking about his advice and decided to put some of my violins on a strict weight diet. By adjusting my plate graduation plan I was able to approach this standard and I am here to tell you that it does make a significant difference. Most of the over-weight was in the back plate being too thick so as the weight is reduced the tone really picks up.
...It is good to remember that we still want the violin plates to be of a certain frequency when completed, say 322HZ for the top plate and 353.5HZ for the back plate.
...My new modified Stradivarius graduation pattern will give you both the correct plate frequency (with a little final adjustment) as well as contributing to the 400 gram weight target. It will give good overall tone and power as well.
Component part:
- Completed instrument; ready.......................400 grams:
{chin restwith steel clamps adds about 50 grams}
- Top Plate; unvarnished with bass bar............54 grams
*( Bass bar weight................................................3)
- Back Plate by itself, unvarnished....................86 grams
- Rib structure with 6 wood blocks.....................57 grams
*Neck, finished to final size................................73 grams
- Fingerboard.....................................................67 grams
- Tailpiece, strings,fine tuner............................26 grams
- Tuning pegs; fitted (set of four).....................16 grams
- End pin...............................................................2 grams
- Bridge.................................................................2 grams
- Sound Post........................................................1 gram
- Oil varnish; 7 coats............................................20 grams
Total weight................................................... 404 grams
necessary for a truly successful violin. I hope they will be a useful guide to
you can prevent an overweight problem before it is built into your instrument.
top and back plates of the violin. I suspect that there is an ideal realationship
between these two but I can not say now what it should be for certain.
... However, I do suggest the following saying is a possible workable guide:
"Let the plates weights be in ratio to their relative density."
...This proposed guideline will then allow you to adjust for differing woods.
...Based on careful measurements of well seasoned instrument making wood I
have on hand, I discovered that:
*** Engleman Spruce top plate wood has a density of 6.88 grams per cubic inch.
*** Flamed Maple back plate wood has a density of 10.645 grams per cubic inch.
<>Thus the ratio of these two is (spruce/maple)= 0.646
<> the ratio of (maple/spruce) = 1.547
...You can measure and weigh a test sample of your material or use the above as a
guideline for matching plate wood for your instrument.
...As an example; if your top plate (finished and ready to glue into the completed violin body), complete with bass bar and cut out "ff" holes weights 55 grams then the back plate should weight 55 * 1.547 = 85 grams. Conversely, if your back plate was finished first and weighs 92 grams, you might consider a top plate weight goal of: 92 * 0.646 =59 grams.
...Remember that along with the proper weight, we also want the plates to have even-all-over tap tones and be 322HZ top and 353.5HZ back plate and the overall weight of the compelted instrument to be 400 grams (with out chin rest). If a choice must be made, I would make the instrument as light as possible while still maintaining the above frequency goals.
...In conclusion, it is a lot easier to build in this way so that the sum of the parts does not turn out to be so heavy that it can not vibrate freely.