Computer Aided Design for Violins
This site provides a tool to measure the outline of a violin from its image and a tool to experiment with the curves that can be generated with a three-bar linkage in order to match those measurements. This site is also a meeting place for the exchange of ideas, resources and research results. You are invited to join the effort.
By finding the proper dimensions and placements of 3-bar linkages on a Stradivari violin image its outline can be generated. I have found the geometric design of the Stradivari 1704 "Betts" violin. These results can be found at: Start the CAD program
Click on the link above to open four windows, the "Display Console", the "Command Console", the "User Document" and the "Analysis of the Betts Violin" showing the geometry used to create the linkages that make the curves of the Betts.
Further study is needed to determine the progression of ideas in the designs created by Stradivari and other great masters throughout their lives. It may also be possible to determine the teacher-student relationship between the various masters from the geometry they used. To this end I propose that we find the linkages used by all of the great luthers for all of their instruments.
