Handbook Of Violin Playing - Online tutorial

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	THE INSTRUMENT.	5
	The author is not aware if practical experiment in the orchestra has been made with these instruments, but it should certainly give some advantageous result. Another invention has been produced recently by Herr Christopher Scheinert in Berlin. It consists of a vibrating hammer or tongue for stringed instruments. This is a little instrument placed under the bridge of the violin, so that, (it being furnished with a slender hammer), elastic metal tongues vibrate freely between the upper table and the strings. The vibrating hammer is set in motion through the strings by the bow, through which simultaneous movement the power of the instrument is increased, and the tone colour elicited. Experts have tested the contrivance, declaring it to be a happy idea. Professor H. Ritter's invention of the normal three-footed bridge must also be mentioned. Assuming that the bridge in use for centuries, with its prescribed feet, does not fully convey the vibrations of the strings to the upper table, — the two middle strings sounding feebler than the outer, — Prof. Ritter has made a middle point of contact between the bridge and the upper table. This inner support is intended to make the middle strings sound with the same intensity as the outer ones.

	In his pamphlet on the subject (Wurzburg, G. Herz), Herr Ritter demonstrates that his three-footed bridge has