The Quest of the Violin Bridge-Hill

Good violins have a Bridge-Hill, i.e. a hump between 2 and 3 kHz in their frequency responses, both in radiated sound and in bridge mobility. Experiments have proved that the Hill is not confined to the bridge only. Present experiments show that the Hill can be modelled by a plate-bridge and a rectangular spruce plate with f-holes shaped as up-side-down L's. The flaps, the wings cut free by the up-side-down L's and especially their areas determine the peak frequency of the Hill. By tuning the bridge and the wings of a complete violin the Hill is obtained and can be tuned within a wide frequency range.