‘THE GEOMETRIC DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF BSTHUMENT SHAPES Djildy Abbott and Ephryin Secerersa INTRODUCTION The coastriction of the Harting lute belly shape given by David Eesaras (Lute Soe. J, LS (1973) 48} 1s an apprcach leng Wied with rosject to violins, Resssrabott (Ancient European Mus|eal Instruments (1042), 205) cave what he called “Ser rincte an cotline mathematically ona given graruated steataht bine", ATL of these involve cfreuiar ares which join up to form the cultine of an inatnin Acy outline can be similarly represented by a series of circular ares, with perhaps some straight partions, We know thal carly instrument makers worked with compasses abd etraight olgec as part of thear standard equipmon!, ard thus It sexs highly reasonable, as Edwards implies, that tke early instrument shapes were cenersted by some such moans, Bessarabefl did not explain the construction he published, On p, 176 he mentioned a book be was writing explaining the methad, but we arc not aware of its apecarance, His violin analysis seems 6 Involve generating the arc-centros and sadtl by geometric construction from a basle rectangle without receurte lo a graduated ecaie. This 1s more elegant than Hleroa-Allen's approach which gives the arc centres essentialiy a3 eo-ordinates In a rectangular co-ordinate system and gives tho radii remerically. ‘Let us call Heren-Allen's approach a "geometrical deseription' and Borearazetlits approach a Ygeometriesl analysia". We have no data strongly indlenting whick of Whose mothods early Instrumont designers weed, OF whether they need 9 ecrtiction of them or some other aystem. There Is some valuc in making a geometrical dcseriatian or analysis ef am Instrumeat's shape beycnd the intellectual exercise which this offers. Geners-lor Of the shape by geometrical construction ds bath quicker and mentor that freezand drawing. Talso allows Letier extrapolation when the shape is Incomplete, 25 aceurs {for oxample when a Lite Nok Mas hoen widened to take extra collrees, ort puny of the ‘original belly auilide is hidden by the new neck. Another practienl sevancce is that ‘once @ ave found a yeumetrical analysis ofa shape, MM can be: copied whkest recuurse to tracing paper, and is often easier than the traditions] nipthed os copying by pricking. through the orijiaal ome Ue copy with a pin, at close intunals, Alco, le the baste dimension, wo ean easily scale the ebage to any other size We It We can never be sure, whea we make a geometrical deseri instrument's shapo, thal we have exactly matched the designer's imention because Of the question of necurncy. As evidenced by the differences. between hott a shape that was presumably Imended tobe symmeti ie, it is ol shape of am instrument could Well have Been dilte rent In yome detaits trom ike original design, Mf the shape is one of a surviving itatiumenl (zat! betrument i a painting) there 1s also the question of what mi cht hav the shape daring the instrumput's history, either because of the aplecteuj © ele af time on wood dimensions or because of acedlonts nial repairs, Sovatheliss it fs viten varth duing-a yooretcical vescriptibn and poviiagis a for the reasons éinted, alive, 1, Wf the anatesie romes out y it is highly yrobable Vist that ig what the than, sayy am—_—c“ce rent inctrumenis by the same maker could Lead to constructive speculations abeut bis methods, losisdes giving hints as ta how complicated analyses could be the resulie ef distortions trom laste simpler ones. THE METHOD When working oul 4 series of ares of circles that clreumduct a shape, it is imuortasl fa ole ihn for the curve to. be coatmuous at the paint bavween two circular ares, that point and tha (uo centres of the ares muat he on one straight lime, ‘Thus, No continue to {ila curve pat the point where the previous arc stops following it, the of he found lyr exploration along the line defined by that pow aea fae centre of the rw Js symmeteical and has a cure which ix as Il crusses the asmmetey line Lis as a good place to start fining the ares Lecause (his part of tha Curve hay [Ls arc-centre on the symmetry tine. Vian insinintent has a corner, we are forced al that point to explore withost, knowing that the are-centre lies ona eemtain line, ti, {soften useful, and In this case especially s¢, lu averiny the shape with traasparentfoo-ordihate paper. One moves the jajer till the relovint pivce uf curve matches one of the circles on the paper and then the centre ts given by the centre of the polar co-ordinate paper. We are preparing seme popes of this type which will reach to a radius of about 2 metres: (ayatlable from Nit}, 1 is powsthle that geometrical descriptions and geomotrical analyses will be made on many carly stringed instruments, and se some efficient means of communieating (his werk should be available, There la no problem with geometrical descriptiuns since a lixt of the co-ordinates of the centres af ures and values of radii, [a sequence going arotind the shape would sufliew, Geometrical analysis invelves the description of acriey of geometrical comstructiona, and pinee this can Get very wordy, a sharthind notation that is unambiguous could be quite wsefol. We therefore proposu thy [ollowing system for notation ef goometrical analyses. 2. BASIC DIMENSION of the instrament can be speeificd cither as an absolute length. ¢2, 150 min, of 48 8 basic parameter of the instrument, eg, the maximum width of the soumdhnard, » SIZE OF TIP SIIPET needed far the drawing te specified as "Sheet eo much aerore amit so much Up", expressed either an absolute lengths or aa multiples of the haste perameter of the instrument. 3, Next a STANTING LINE is defined by the two poin the following: 3.1. STARTING LINE FOR A SYSIMETRIC INSTRUMENT (eg. lute, rictin). Symmetric Instruments are, hy convention, always drawn upright with the neck pointing upwards, ‘The statement: “Symmetric, A so much up, so much” meas: "The insinvment is syrimetric, Draw a vertical aymmetey ling down the mickite of the eheot, Mau point \ on this line at the stated distanec up from the bottoms. Draw horizontal line through A are on it mark gioint B to the right of A maling AT the ctated lensth, A and B on ft, by one of STANTING LINE FOIA NON-SYSMETRIC INSTRUMENT (eg, harpsichord, side eiew of a xan scroll). A su mueh acres, sa much ey 2 sonuch aeruse, xo auch wp,” deline the starting line AD, -#.4. CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHAPE, We now defing a notation for lines, ctroles and ares, where Uf, ¥, WW. X, Y and 2 are genoa! points, und f represents = number oT ratio expressed as such, 4.1, WAYS TO GENERATE LISES, CIROLES AND ARCS. XY defines a line segment between points Nand ¥. 0 «=> XYY defines a line between X and Y extended inthe ¥ direction, 7 F WOXY or WpIX¥ defines a line paralicl to the line XY going |. through the point W. a WAXY or WprX¥ defines a line perpendicular to the line XY | going through the point W. ae Uo¥ and Ue'v both define the same circle centred en polat U oiny through point V. VoY denotes following the circle Found in a clockwise direction starting at V, and Go'¥ dongles an anticlockwise direction. The reason for the s difference will become obvious later when We discuss Intersections, Va¥ and Us" similarly denote arcs (not complete circles) centred is ore oe U and starting at Vt; UaV denoting clockwise direction ue ” and Ua"¥ anticlockwise, (Complete circles rather than arcs are eseful if another part of the circle will be wanted later in the construction, ) the linc segment XY. The brackct around “KY" denotes that = 1” it is this length and not the actual line segment that is meant, Uo(XY) defines a circle centred on U whose radius fs the same as (=) Ne! {Aa there is no starting-point oa the cireumfercace we da not distinguieh between clockwise and anticlockwixe directicns here.) Tn this notation the (XY) can be replaced by either: 2 multiple of (XY), eg. WolkX¥) ae @ the basic parameter or a multiple of i, eg, Uetw) anabsolute length, eg. UollOem) WEUoV denotes a line through W whieh is tangent to the circle UsV, Of the two poselile such tangents the first ono to be encountered in following the circle round clockwise starting from Vs the one that is meant. Wilo'Y denotes the other tangent. “Gy ‘WIUaV and WiUa’ are obvious by analegy.AYS TO GENERATE A POINT TO GENERATE A POST BY INTERSECTION, A general statement '"%w line or cirele or are. another line or cirole or arc” meansz 42 4. in the form: The polit 7 1s raection of the first linc or circle or are with the ‘Gthce line oF circle or arc. Where tosuch intersections esist, point Z Is the si cf the two to iw encountered while following around the circle or are that comes T the Got in tho Examples: Zemin 2 2 = UplvWw.XY Zexy, t= X¥.U0'v x 4.2.2 TO GENERATE A POINT BY CONSTRUCTION ALONG ALINE A general statement of the form: "2 = X¥(leneth)" or "= XYY¥(length) " or "2 ~ XXY(lencth}!" means: ‘The point Z Vex on the line XY or XY¥ or XXY al the specified distance from the first-mentianed point X. Thia distance, which appeara in brackets, can be interme of eithor a ling sogment or multiple thereof, or the basic parameter or le of it, or an absolite length. XXON) 22 XY Y(20) Zs xxv(en) © 2X x yo? z x — —— S. DESCRIBING THE SHATE, When one has completed the construction (stare 4) it merely remains ta show Where the instrument shage is among all the limes and arce. This (5 Hono by Listing all the points along the outline where one are oF line-segment stops ard the next begins, With arcs we also give, in between the points fer its ends and ina bracket, |b re of the are. Frample: shape WH(U)YOR)Z ¥ en BS THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SYMMETRIC SITAPE mest operations are done twice over, ance for the left aide of the shape and once for the right. For every point to the right of the symmetry line (eg, X)}we eall the symmetry-related point on the left side X', and each drawing instruction lnplies also the syrimetrical operation on the opposite side, (This docs not apply to points on the symmetry linc, which are of course unique.) wipeAN EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATING TIE METHOD ‘Lute Belly by LAUX urmberg No. M. 1.04. Assumed symmetric, The basic dimension Is w, the maxlmurn wlth of the belly. w= 296 Sheet Iw across, 2w up Symmetric, A 0,6 wup, AD = dw R= AprAB. Ao (Mig the contre of the rose.) C= ABB.(1g0) D=ARR.CaBt E = RprRA.c'a'B = UE. AOR G+ RAA.AOB I= GF.RIAA Te hin, oan Je RINT Mat K~RAA.Ras Shape DC OUMB UTR,EXAMPLE: PEARL-SIAPED LUTE Late 16th century lute body (converted to 1fth century theorbo) In our possession. Assumed symmetric, The basic dimension is w, the width of the body = 370m. Sheet Uw across, 1 up Symmetric, A lw up, AR = dw CRAG (ISH) D- aAnnncy Ee CplAn,D'a'n Fe Acc.D's'D Re AC. DT G= FaB, Bac = AGG.Aa [= RG6.Galt 2 RAA. Ral Shape FED WASMG)TIN}I. -[2-‘These exampics both fit the symmetrized shapo more accurately this each half doce, and are simple enough to encourage us ta believe that the metho! of generation mar woll have bees Similar to what was originally used, This tecvirement for acearacy is necessary for trustworthy commanication, tut to mainiain some shapes need rather more arcs and constructional steps than we ean imazice maker using, sinec quite nearby points ceukd have buen cencrated much men simply. Following 1s an anatusis of one such shape, of tho large bass Into im Nurnberg. In apite of its » certain fea cantre, come oui s0 easily choc It ix bard tu believe that he maker costd tare generated them in any other way, ‘The analysis is as follows: Basic dimension w = maximum width of the body = 434 mm. Sheet tw aeroxs, gw up Symmetric, A iWwup, AB = dw C= BBA) BeAa.capt R=cD*.c'D E = RAA.AOB F = AoR.Bo!'A GP CR.A0'R Ke BC. BoA Shape OCLYN(MIDICUA BAP OFT In the next FoMRHI issue we will present analysen of other lotes and of the Practorlus bindora. We expect ether FoMRIM members. as well as us wii be making such contributions regularly, We find this a rather fun game to play - and more constructive than crosswords.