Structural acoustics of good and bad violins

Bissinger, George

doi:10.1121/1.2956478

Cited by 70 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…For unvarnished ("white") and varnished instruments, the mode shapes, modal frequencies, and modal damping of the modes under consideration were similar to those described in earlier papers (Marshall, 1985;Bissinger, 2003;2008;Schleske, 2002). While comparing the modal frequencies of the unvarnished violins the only significant difference was found for mode B(1−), Table 3.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…The mode shape sequence was similar to that well described in earlier papers and analyzed in a descriptive manner, being a widely accepted standard in the literature (Marshall, 1985;Dünnwald, 1999;Bissinger, 1995;2003 (Bissinger, 2008) of the top plate. These modes fall into the first Dünnwald frequency band (190-650 Hz) and are responsible for the sound "richness" (Dünnwald, 1999).…”

Section: Modal Analysismentioning

confidence: 57%

“…By comparing the modal frequencies of the varnished instruments it was found that the modal frequency B(1+) was significantly lower for instrument 2 with the oil varnish (534 Hz) than for violin 1 with the spirit varnish (598 Hz). The modal damping was slightly reduced for both varnished corpuses when compared to the unvarnished instruments (Table 3), but this fact did not influence the violin's quality, as damping trends are not robust quality discriminators (Bissinger, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among those former, the most popular are optical measurements and modal analysis. A detailed modal analysis of a violin was done by Marshall (1985) and many others (Bissinger, 1995(Bissinger, , 2003(Bissinger, , 2008Bissinger, Keiffer, 2003;Skrodzka et al, 2009). However, a few reports were published on the effect of structural modifications on vibrational behaviour of violins, among them by Weinreich et al (2000), examining a violin with holes drilled in the ribs, and the report by Meinel (1937), who measured the response curves for violins with and without varnish, with thick, normal, and thin plates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modal Parameters of Two Violins with Different Varnish Layers and Subjective Evaluation of Their Sound Quality

Skrodzka¹,

Linde²,

Krupa³

2013

Archives of Acoustics

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Two violins were investigated. The only intentionally introduced difference between them was the type of varnish. One of the instruments was covered with a spirit varnish, the other was oil varnished. Experimental modal analysis was done for unvarnished/varnished violins and a questionnaire inquiry on the instrument's sound quality was performed. The aim of both examinations was to find differences and similarities between the two instruments in the objective (modal parameters) and subjective domain (subjective evaluation of sound quality). In the modal analysis, three strongly radiating signature modes were taken into account. Varnishing did not change the sequence of mode shapes. Modal frequencies A0 and B(1+) were not changed by oil varnishing compared to the unvarnished condition. For the oil varnished instrument, the frequency of mode B(1+) was lower than that of the same mode of the spirit varnished instrument. Our two violins were not excellent instruments, but before varnishing they were practically identical. However, after varnishing it appeared that the oil-varnished violin was better than the spirit-varnished instrument. Therefore, it can be assumed with a fairly high probability that also in general, the oil-varnished violins sound somewhat better than initially identical spirit-varnished ones.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Modal Analysismentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modal Parameters of Two Violins with Different Varnish Layers and Subjective Evaluation of Their Sound Quality

Skrodzka¹,

Linde²,

Krupa³

2013

Archives of Acoustics

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“…A longstanding goal of violin research has been to correlate the playing qualities of these instruments with specific attributes of their physical structure and dynamic behavior, and yet "no [objectively measurable] specification which successfully defines even coarse divisions in instrument quality is known" (author's italics) (1). Many factors have been proposed and/or investigated to account for the presumed tonal superiority of old Italian violins, including properties of the varnish (2, 3), effects of the Little Ice Age on violin wood (4), differences in the relative densities of early-and lategrowth layers in wood (5), chemical treatments of the wood (6, 7), plate-tuning methods (8), and the spectral balance of the radiated sound (9)(10)(11). However, although correlations between violin acoustics and perception have been attempted (12), the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has not yet been properly investigated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Player preferences among new and old violins

Fritz

Curtin²,

Poitevineau

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Most violinists believe that instruments by Stradivari and Guarneri "del Gesu" are tonally superior to other violins-and to new violins in particular. Many mechanical and acoustical factors have been proposed to account for this superiority; however, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has not yet been properly investigated. Player's judgments about a Stradivari's sound may be biased by the violin's extraordinary monetary value and historical importance, but no studies designed to preclude such biasing factors have yet been published. We asked 21 experienced violinists to compare violins by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu with high-quality new instruments. The resulting preferences were based on the violinists' individual experiences of playing the instruments under double-blind conditions in a room with relatively dry acoustics. We found that (i) the most-preferred violin was new; (ii) the least-preferred was by Stradivari; (iii) there was scant correlation between an instrument's age and monetary value and its perceived quality; and (iv) most players seemed unable to tell whether their most-preferred instrument was new or old. These results present a striking challenge to conventional wisdom. Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Rather than searching for the "secret" of Stradivari, future research might best focused on how violinists evaluate instruments, on which specific playing qualities are most important to them, and on how these qualities relate to measurable attributes of the instruments, whether old or new.tone quality | old Italian sound | subjective evaluation | music | perception

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Violin

Curtin¹,

Rossing²

2010

The Science of String Instruments

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Structural acoustics of good and bad violins

Cited by 70 publications

References 10 publications

Modal Parameters of Two Violins with Different Varnish Layers and Subjective Evaluation of Their Sound Quality

Modal Parameters of Two Violins with Different Varnish Layers and Subjective Evaluation of Their Sound Quality

Player preferences among new and old violins

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