Tone bars carved into top. Any thoughts good or bad?

[Hartley Ridge]

[sunburst]

It is common for cheap fiddles to have "integral bass bars", that is, bass bars carved from the same piece of wood as the top like those pictured. It is thought of a sub-standard construction.
Tone bars are a means for the builder to adjust stiffness and mass of the top. To maximize stiffness/mass, the grain must be very straight through the piece. The carved-in-place bars have a lot of grain run-out, so they are less stiff, yet at least as massive as glued-in bars with straight grain.

[Hartley Ridge]

Thank you Sir for the good information. I will just carve them out and move on.

[Tobin]

I've just never understood why the German violin makers (and others) would have done this. Isn't it more labor intensive to carve around those bars than to just carve the back and glue bars on separately?

[fscotte]

It's not that difficult to fit tonebars to the top.

[billhay4]

FWIW, you did a darn nice job carving them, but John is correct. You've lost a lot of the characteristics of good tone bars by doing it that way.
Bill

[Loudloar]

I've just never understood why the German violin makers (and others) would have done this. Isn't it more labor intensive to carve around those bars than to just carve the back and glue bars on separately?

The tops and backs were machine-made with a pattern carving machine. And they didn't do any further hand carving, just slapped them together. This was for the very cheapest violins, which also had no corner blocks, stained maple fingerboards, etc.

Steve

[Bill Snyder]

Hartley Ridge, I don't know if you look at the forum often or not but you should take a look at the Builders and Repair section of the forum. Lots of good information and access to experienced builders willing to offer advice.

[Hartley Ridge]

Thanks Mr. Snyder I am new to the Forum . I'm thankful to all the builders that take time to answer questions.