When trying to perform a modal analysis on a standard violin bridge, which weighs between 1 and 3 grams, the weight of the sensors placed on the bridge will often impact the results of the experiment. To overcome this, Joseph Curtin has asked me to create a violin bridge that is roughly 5 times bigger than the standard one. Because the larger bridge is made form the very same material as a normal bridge, it should resonate in more or less the same way. The larger bridge size also means that the weight of the sensors will be a much smaller percentage of the entire system. This should dramatically reduce the sensor’s impact on the results.

The modal analysis will be performed later this week at the Violin Society of America’s Violin Acoustics Workshop at Oberlin College. On Friday at the conference, I will also be giving a talk about electric violin history and design. If everything goes well, we will be demoing our electric violin and 3D speaker on Friday as well. I’ll be sure post more as soon as there is more to post.

Since I began working with Joseph Curtin, we have collaborated on several projects which have tried to improve the object that is the modern day violin. I am excited to report that we have evidence of some amount of success in our endeavors. The proof is that musicians are starting to request some of our inventions!

The photographs above show a fingerboard that features a new geometry we designed (digital model, FB just after milling, and FB on an instrument), as well as a next generation violin bridge, and a digital model of a standard bridge. Our improvements to these violin components are as follows. The new fingerboard geometry optimizes the area underneath each string to make depressing and playing a string as easy as possible, while our innovative bridge design reimagines the way bridges are constructed. This new method allows us to strengthen several fragile areas of the bridge, conferring the added benefit of improving sound conductivity between the strings and the soundboard. When our design is applied to traditionally shaped bridges, it improves the quality volume of a violin’s sound. These improvements are made even more dramatic when coupled with our inventive ultralight bridge shape.