🦋 viola d'ottone: soundboard under tension
In my post below on dowel vs. bolts I've been working through a couple of different designs for the brass viola. A dowel will absorb most of the tension of the strings, so that the tension on the soundboard is primarily from the bridge pressing down towards the dowel. If instead of a through dowel, I use blocks and tenons at either side of the pan, then it seems clear there will be a lot more tension on the pan, and in different directions. The question in my mind is whether this extra tension will enhance the sound or detract from it.
My guess is that the extra tension across the soundboard will be a good thing, is why I'm leaning toward the latter solution. You need tension for the soundboard to resonate; so why not add more tension? As I visualize the instrument strung up, the strings would tend to pull the endpin upwards, which would in turn pull the tail block against the pan, this would have the effect of making the pan quite taut along its length. If the instrument were constructed with a dowel. the pan would be under tension along its center line from the bridge to the neck and tail, but the sides of the pan would be less responsive.
posted evening of Saturday, February first, 2020
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