Bass bar

No. 10 is the bass bar.

In a string instrument, the bass bar is a brace running from the foot of the neck to a position under the bridge, which bears much of the tension of the strings. Bass bars are used:

• In all members of the violin family;
• In some archtop guitars;

and in many other string instruments.

According to the A Dictionary of Music and Musicians by George Grove:^[1]

BASS-BAR, an oblong piece of wood, fixed lengthwise inside the belly of the various instruments belonging to the violin-tribe, running in the same direction with the strings, below the lowest string , and acting as a beam or girder to strengthen the belly against the pressure of the left foot of the bridge , as the sound-post does against that of the right foot (in a right handed instrument). It is the only essential part of the instrument which, owing to the gradual elevation of the pitch, has had to undergo an alteration since Stradivari's time. Tartini states, in the year 1734, that the tension of the strings on a violin was equal to a weight of 63 lb (29 kg), while nowadays it is calculated at more than 80 lb (36 kg). (Other modern value: c. 22 kg / 220 N according to string manufacturers' data.) This enormous increase in pressure requires for the belly a proportionate addition of bearing-power, and this could only be given by strengthening the bass-bar, which has been done by giving it a slight additional depth at the centre, and adding considerably to its length. In consequence of this we hardly ever find in an old instrument the original bass-bar of the maker, just as rarely as the original sound-post or bridge, all of which however can be made as well by any experienced living violin-maker as by the original Stradivari or Amati. —P.D.

References

Violin family
Instruments	Violin Viola Cello Double bass Violin range Kit violin Five string violin Violino piccolo Alto range Five string viola Vertical viola Viola pomposa Tenor range Tenor violin/Tenor viola Violotta Viola Profonda Cello range Five string cello Baritone violin Cello da spalla Cellone Violoncello piccolo Bass range Bass violin Violone Octobass
Parts	Bass bar Bow Bridge Chinrest Endpin F-hole Fingerboard Frog Scroll Shoulder rest Sound post Tailpiece Tuning peg
Techniques	Bowing Arco Col legno Down bow Up bow Martelé Portato Spiccato Tremolo Arpeggio Artificial harmonic Double stop Fingering Bariolage Pizzicato Scordatura Vibrato
Ensembles and genres	String quartet String trio String quintet String sextet String octet Violin concerto Viola concerto Cello concerto Double bass concerto Violin sonata Viola sonata Cello sonata Carnatic music
Other	Violin physics Violin history Rosin Stradivarius String section Violin lutherie Violin musical styles Violin octet