The violin’s "G" spot,
It is part of the current trend to look into the violin’s "G" spot, as "Guarneri" or "Gravity".
The violin makers know it well, the little wooden cone which “del Gesù” placed in the back of his violins.
From the outside, one can sometimes see the end of it piercing the instrument.
What is it, and of what use?
The current research demonstrated that Guarneri placed this little wooden cone on some of his violins, at the precise intersection of two lines linking the four corners. But this is not always true. Indeed, one can notice that this spot is sometimes located a bit lower, which hasn’t received yet a great deal of explanation.
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While conceiving my last violin, it appeared to me that this lower spot could be the centre of a circle linking the four corners. What a surprise it was, to discover that this precise spot is the centre of gravity of the instrument!
The hypothesis of a balance point has already been voiced, but the present thought is about this spot being the centre of a circle.
On one hand, diagonals link the extremities of a quadrilateral, and on the other hand, the spot is the centre of a circumference. The surfaces of these two geometrical figures are very close, which makes me think about attempting at squaring the circle.
The proportions of the violin as compared to the human ones are driving us to connect these figures to Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, where the navel is the centre of a circle linking the man’s hands and feet.
del Gesù’s instruments being often asymmetrical, the circle doesn’t exactly joint the four corners.
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Let’s take for instance the well-known “Il Cannone Guarnerius”: the spot isn’t at the intersection of the diagonals but well at the centre of a circle linking the four corners, precisely where the back is the thickest.
With more wood, thus enhancing the density and resistance of the centre of gravity, we improve the instrument’s basis, in connection with the player’s.
The wooden cone placed at this spot in the back of the instrument, is pushing at the centre of a plane surface, leading it to a third dimension, from a two-way space to a three-way.
Like raising a pyramid from the desert.
André Theunis Bruxelles le 30/10/2008
