EP0138240A1

EP0138240A1 - Method of manufacturing a stringed instrument and stringed instrument obtained by carrying out the same

Info

Publication number: EP0138240A1
Application number: EP84201184A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Norbert Visser
Original assignee: Choroi Foundation
Current assignee: Choroi Foundation
Priority date: 1983-08-19
Filing date: 1984-08-15
Publication date: 1985-04-24
Also published as: NL8303707A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a stringed instrument, for example, a violin, a lyre or a harp comprising a frame, a lower plate glued to said frame, a top plate glued to said frame, said frame together with said plates bounding a sound box and comprising a fastening part extending outside said sound box and into said sound box and provided with string fastening members, which may be adjustable, a second fastening part arranged on the side remote from the first fastening part on the frame and/or the top plate and provided with string fastening members, strings stretching between the fastening members of the two fastening members across the sound box and means for transmitting the vibrations of the strings to the top plate and/or the lower plate.

In order to obtain an optimal consonance, so that excellent balance is ensured throughout the tone range of the instrument, the invention proposes a method in which first a first glue layer is applied between the bottom plate or the top plate and the frame, the plate concerned and the frame are brought into contact with one another through said first glue layer and the first glue layer is cured, after which or in addition a second glue layer is applied between the other plate and the frame, whilst leaving free the transition zone between the first fastening part of the sound space, the plate concerned and the frame being brought into contact with one another through the second glue layer, which is cured, the strings being subsequently mounted and stretched, whilst finally at the area of said transition zone a mass of glue is applied and allowed to cure.

Description

The invention relates to a stringed instrument, for example, a violin, a lyre or a harp comprising a frame, a lower plate glued to said frame, a top plate glued to said frame, said frame together with said plates bounding a sound box and comprising a fastening part extending outside said sound box and into said sound box and provided with string fastening members, which may be adjustable, a second fastening part arranged on the side remote from the first fastening part on the frame and/or the top plate and provided with string fastening members, strings stretching between the fastening members of the two fastening members across the sound box and means for transmitting the vibrations of the strings to the top plate and/or the lower plate.
The invention relates in particular to a method of manufacturing such instruments.
It is known that even good stringed instruments frequently have defective balance between the high and the low notes. In the Applicant's opinion this is mainly attributable to a less satisfying coupling between two phenomena essential for the overall sound production i.e. the tone formation and the resonance.
For explaining the latter concepts reference is first made to a wind instrument, more particularly, a flute. A flute comprises, as is known, a head or mouthp-ece and an adjoining resonance tube. The tone formation takes place in the mouthpiece in which whirls are produced. If there were no resonance tube, these whirls would become manifest as an audible tone or as a noise in which not any tone predominates. Only in the presence of the resonance tube a given tone can be amplified to an extent such that it becomes virtually sonorous.
This explanation is, obviously, only quite rough and succinct. The mechanisms concerned are extremely complicated. It is emphasized, however, that the very coupling between or the transition from the mouthpiece to the resonance tube appears to be extraordinarily important with regard to the overall tonality of the instrument.
It is noted in this respect that, when a metal surface is used at said transitions with the same smoothness of the metal surface, a change of the kind of metal (gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron) appears to give rise to a great change of tone, even if said surface has a width of only a few millimetres. It is furthermore interesting to note that, when iron is used, a normal tone production is not possible.
The transitional area may also be termed a tone-forming region under the name of consonance.
Recapitulating the foregoing we are concerned with three tone-forming regions i.e. that of the tone formation, that of the consonance and that of the resonance. In particular the invention relates to the second region, that of the consonance.
With a stringed instrument the separation between the three regions: tone formation, resonance and consonance is more complicated than with a wind instrument. This is due to the strong interaction between the string oscillations and the oscillations in the resonance space, which influence one another much more than is the case with the natural tones and the fundamental tones of a wind instrument. The oscillation numbers of the strings and of the resonating sound body are, in general, of the same order and, therefore, penetrate strongly one into the other in contrast to the oscillation numbers of the whirls in the area of the mouthpiece of a wind instrument. The frequencies of the latter are appreciably higher than those of a resonance tube.
Nevertheless with the stringed instrument the phenomena of tone formation and resonance are at least as manifest as with the wind instrument. For further explanation reference is made to a lyre to be described in detail hereinafter. With this instrument the tone-forming elements are the strings, the bridge (the transversal tension of the strings) and the top plate, whilst the resonance elements are: the sides of the bottom plate, the bass beam below the top plate (longitudinal tension of the strings) and the column.
The meeting region between the tone formation and the resonance, the consonance region, is formed by two members which, so to say, "mediate" between the two types of tension transmission to the sound body (resonance body). These members join the longitudinal tension to the transverse tension. The longitudinal tension of the string is brought into contact with the resonance space by the round bass beam to be described hereinbelow, which begins where the column enters the resonance space. This round bass beam spreads on the periphery of the bottom plate. The transverse tension of the string is brought into contact with the resonance space by the so-called vaulted bass beam which supports the top plate in the plane of the bridge and establishes a connection with the bottom plate. Thus the transverse tension and the longitudinal tension meet in the open resonance space.
In order to obtain an optimal consonance, so that excellent balance is ensured throughout the tone range of the instrument, there is used, in accordance with the invention, a method as described in the preamble, in which method first a first glue layer is applied between the bottom plate or the top plate and the frame, the plate concerned and the frame are brought into contact with one another through said first glue layer and the first glue layer is cured, after which or in addition a second glue layer is applied between the other plate and the frame, whilst leaving free the transition zone between the first fastening part of the sound space, the plate concerned and the frame being brought into contact with one another through the second glue layer, which is cured, the strings being subsequently mounted and stretched, whilst finally at the area of said transition zone a mass of glue is applied and allowed to cure.
Qualitatively further refined and better equilibrated instruments are obtained by a method in which during curing of the first glue layer and, as the case may be, of the second glue layer the frame and the plate or the plates are together subjected to a bending stress in the direction of the string tension.
In this connection it is noted that it is common practice to play in stringed instruments, which is essential to obtain a well trimmed instrument with evenly balanced sound characteristics. The aim is to ensure the balance between tone formation and resonance. An amplification of the final "form element" is aimed at so that the dead mass of the ready instrument is smaller.
With respect to the above-mentioned bending or bias stress it is noted that in practice such a bending stress is applied that a given extent of bending or else for identical material and equally shaped instruments the same stress is obtained. About the extent of bending and the magnitude of the stress nothing can, in general, be stated since both are intimately dependent on the nature of the instrument, its dimensions (tone range) and the materials employed.
The first and the second glue layers and the mass of glue can be allowed to cure during a period of the order of one day.
Furthermore, after mounting and stretching the strings it may be advantageous to fill the transition zone with the mass of glue only after a period of the order of one month.
In order to obtain an instrument combining an excellent form stability with a relatively small mass an embodiment may be used in which the frame is at least partly laminated.
Reference is again made to the above-mentioned lyre. The explanation will now be continued in the scope of the steps embodying the invention.
The interengagement of tone formation and resonance by the two bass beams mentioned above i.e. the vaulted bass beam and the round bass beam, creates some medium space for the consonance. The virtual formation of the consonance takes place in a preferred embodiment to be discussed later by means of two particular members, one of which has a definite form character, the other a distinct movement character. Where the column enters the resonance space, it gets separated from the top plate and the bottom plate and extends over a short distance, so to say, freely in the space. This free zone of movement is particularly important for the manner in which consonation takes place. Small and even minute variations have a great influence on the interengagement of the longitudinal and transverse tensions and hence on the tone formation and the resonance. The zone concerned is termed in the instrument construction the zero point. The second particular member is formed by the foot to be described later. This foot has a laminated structure and serves to directly transmit the longitudinal tension of the column to the top side of the bottom plate and simultaneously, owing to the relationship to the laminated parts of the frame to be described hereinafter, including the column, to the sides of the resonance space.
The invention will now be described more fully with reference to the drawing of three different, arbitrarily chosen instruments i.e. a lyre, a harp and a violin. The drawing shows in

Fig. 1 a perspective view of a lyre,
Fig. 2 a perspective view of a harp,
Fig. 3 a perspective view of a violin,
Fig. 4 a perspective view of a lyre in the production stage for explaining the method embodying the invention,
Fig. 5 a detail of a lyre as shown in Fig. 4 during a further production stage,
Fig. 6 a view corresponding to Fig. 4 of the harp of Fig. 2,
Fig. 7 a view corresponding to Fig. 5 of a detail of the harp of Fig. 6,
Fig. 8 a view corresponding to Figs. 4 and 6 of the violin of Fig. 3 during the production stage and
Fig. 9 a detail corresponding to Figs. 5 and 7 of the violin shown in Fig. 8 in a further production stage.

Fig. 1 shows a lyre 1 comprising a frame 2, part of which is formed by a column 3. The column 3 forms part of a bracket 4 extending outside the resonance space 5, which is bounded on one side by the frame 2 and on the other side by a bottom plate 6 and a top plate 7.
Across the resonance space 5 are stretched strings 8 between fastening members 9 constructed in the form of tensioners and an apertured fastening beam 10. The strings 8 are stretched across a bridge 11 arranged on the top plate 5.

The top plate 7 has a sound hole 12.

Fig. 2 shows a harp 13 comprising a frame 14, part of which is formed by a column 15. This column forms part of a bracket 16 extending outside the resonance space 17.
The resonance space is bounded on the one side by the frame 14 and on the other side by a bottom plate 18 and a top plate 19. Across the resonance space 17 are stretched the springs 20. One end thereof is fastened to tensioners 21 arranged on the bracket 16 and the other end is fastened to a bridge 22 secured to the top plate 19. In this respect the difference between the lyre of Fig. 1 and the harp of Fig. 2 should be noted. The lyre 1 has a fastening beam 10 and a separate bridge 11. In the case of the harp 13 the bridge is at the same time a fastning member for the strings.
The top plate 19 has furthermore sound holes 23, 24, 54, 55.
Fig. 3 shows a violin 25. It comprises a frame 26, part of which is formed by a neck 27. The frame 26 together with a bottom plate 28 and a top plate 29 bounds a resonance space 30, across which strings 31 are stretched. One end thereof is fastened to tensioners 32 at the end of the neck 27 and the other end is fastened to a fastening member 33 connected with the frame 26.
The top plate 29 has sound holes 34, 35.
The strings 31 are stretched across a bridge 36, which is carried by bridge feet 37, 38, which extend downwards through holes 39, 40 in the top plate 29 and are coupled through bass beams to be described with reference to Fig. 8 with the bottom plate 28.
Fig. 4 shows the lyre 1 of Fig. 1 during the manufacture thereof. This Figure clearly shows the internal structure.
The column 3 is ramified in the transition zone designated by reference numeral 41 to the resonance space 5 into four separate parts, to wit a laminated wall part 42, the round bass beam 43 glued to the bottom plate 6, the laminated foot 44 locally glued to the bottom plate 6 and a laminated frame beam 45.
In the resonance space 5 is furthermore located the vaulted bass beam 46, which is locally glued to the bottom plate 6 and fully glued to the top plate after manufacture.
Fig. 4 shows in broken lines the surfaces which are first provided with glue for fastening the top plate 7 during the manufacture of the lyre 1. The transition zone 41, as is shown, is not provided with a layer of glue during this stage of manufacture.
Reference numeral 47 designates means for exerting a bias stress in the direction of the strings 8 to be stretched afterwards and applying bending stress during curing of the layers of glue between the frame 2 and the bottom plate 6 and the top plate 7. For pressing tight the top plate a pressing stamp 48 is used.
Fig. 5 shows a detail of the lyre 1 of Fig. 4 in a further production stage. In this production stage glue is applied to the transition zone 41 corresponding to the above-mentioned zero point. In this way a rigid coupling is obtained between the column 3 and the resonance space 5 after the glue has hardened. A tube of glue 49 and a spatula 50 are shown schematically.
Figs. 4 and.5 illustrate the manner in which the laminated foot 44 and the laminated frame beam 45 are glued to the column 3 in the transition zone 41. The laminated wall part 42 extends throughout the length of the column.
Fig. 6 shows the harp 13 in a production stage.
It is clearly shown that the lower surface of the top plate 19 is provided with a bridge beam 51 in a position corresponding to the bridge 22. The bridge beam 51 is laterally supported by supports 52, which are fastened by glue in recesses 53 in the top plate and the frame 14 during the manufacture. Bridge feet 56 are glued in recesses to the bass beams of the bottom plate.
Fig. 6 shows the internal structure of the harp 13. In a transition zone 56 (the zero point) the column 15 adjoins a round bass beam 57, which is glued to the bottom plate 18. There is furthermore provided a vaulted bass beam 58.
Contrary to the lyre 1 the harp 13 does not comprise an internal, laminated part.
During manufacture the surfaces indicated by broken lines are provided with a layer of glue, whilst the transition zone 56 is left free.
Like in the method of manufacturing the lyre 1, a bending force is exerted by bending means 59 on the curing structure in the manufacture of the harp 13. The top plate 19 is pressed tight by means of a pressing stamp 60.
Fig. 7 shows the next-following production stage in which the transition zone is provided with glue. A spatula 61 with glue 62 is schematically shown. Apart from the application of glue to the surface not yet glued, a corner part 63 is glued between the column 15 and the adjacent surface of the frame 14. This corner part completes the desired coupling between tone formation and resonance, that is to say, it is co-determinative for the desired consonance. A stock of glue 64 and a glue brush 65 are schematically shown.
Fig. 8 shows the violin 25 during a manufacturing stage.
The internal structure of the violin 25 is clearly shown in Fig. 8. The neck 27 is divided in the resonance space into a first bass beam 66 to be glued to the bottom plate 28 and a second bass beam 67 to be glued to the top plate 29. The bridge feet 37 and 38 are connected with the first bass beam 66 and the second bass beam 67 respectively. The bridge foot 37 is carried by a stem 68 carrying a forkshaped member formed by two curved stack parts 69 and 70. The stack part 69 is connected with the first bass beam 66 near the end thereof, whereas the stack part 70 is connected with the second bass beam 67.
The surfaces provided with glue during the production stage are indicated by broken lines. During this production stage the transition zone between the neck 27 and the resonance space 30, more particularly, the end of the first bass beam 66 facing the neck 27 is not provided with glue. In Fig. 9 this transition zone is designated by reference numeral 71. In full analogy with the statements made above with respect to the lyre and the harp said transition zone corresponds to the zero point.
During hardening of the said layers of glue, like in the case of the lyre and the harp, the drying structure is subjected to a bias stress by bending means 72. The top plate 29 is pressed tight by means of a pressing stamp 73.
Fig. 9 finally shows schematically the manner in which by means of a spatula 74 and glue 75, in the last production stage the transition zone 71 between the bottom plate 28 and the first bass beam 66 is provided with glue so that the desired consonance is ensured.
Finally referring to the structure and manufacture of the lyre, the harp and the violin discussed above a few points of correspondence and difference between the instruments concerned will be briefly considered. The harp does not comprise internal, laminated parts like the lyre. The lamination in this case is not needed because the much larger surface of the side allows a more favourable mass ratio than in the lyre. The side at the column has sufficient form stability owing to the large surface. In the lyre it is necessary to strengthen this form stability. The essential difference between the harp and the lyre is discussed above, i.e. the presence of a fastening beam and a separate bridge in the lyre and a combined function in the harp. In the lyre the transverse tension (also termed the tone forming tension) of the strings is brought into contact with the space of the resonance bocy, whereas in the harp the longitudinal tension (also termed the space tension or resonance tension) is brought into contact with the mass of the resonance body.
It will be obvious that the construction method described is not limited to the three instruments described, and that it is, in general, applicable to other stringed instruments such as piano, clavecin and the like. Obviously in analogy with the violin a cello or a big bass can be constructed.
It is emphasized that the superior results obtained by the invention can be perceived not only subjectively but also be verified by objective measurements in a laboratory.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a stringed instrument, for example, a violin, a lyre or a harp comprising:

a frame,

a bottom plate glued to said frame,

a top plate glued to said frame,

said frame together with said plates bounding a sound space and having a first fastening part extending outside and into said sound space and being provided with string fastening members, which may be adjustable,

a second fastening part arranged on the side remote from the first fastening part on the frame and/or the top plate and provided with string fastening members,

strings stretched between the fastening members of the two fastening parts across the sound space and

means for transmitting the oscillations of the strings to the top plate and/or the bottom plate, characterized in that

first a first layer of glue is applied between the bottom plate or the top plate and the frame,

the plate concerned and the frame are brought into contact with one another through said first layer of glue and

the first layer of glue is allowed to cure, subsequently or additionally a second layer of glue is applied between the other plate and the frame, whilst leaving free the transition zone between the first fastening part and the sound space,

the plate concerned and the frame are brought into contact with one another through the second layer of glue,

the second layer of glue is allowed to cure and the strings are mounted and stretched and

finally at the area of said transition zone a mass of glue is deposited and

the mass of glue is allowed to cure.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 characterized in that during curing of the first glue layer and, as the case may be, the second glue layer the frame and the plate or the plates are together subjected to bending stress in the direction of the string tension.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 characterized in that the first and the second layer of glue and the mass of glue are allowed to cure during a period of the order of one day.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 1 characterized in that after mounting and stretching of the strings the transition zone is filled with the mass of glue only after a period of the order of one month.

5. A stringed instrument obtained by carrying out a method as claimed in anyone of the preceding Claims.

6. A stringed instrument as claimed in Claim 5 characterized in that the frame is at least partly laminated.