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The bar—there is but one—ofttimes erroneously called sound-bar or bass-bar—is, in common with all the violins of the old Italian school, quite inadequate for modern requirement, that of supporting the upper table on the fourth string side against the pressure caused by the tension of the third and fourth, the heaviest strings.

This is also the case with the bass-bar or so-called "soul" of a violin, which is just as mysterious a part of the violin as any one can imagine; and its quality shows the skill or ignorance of its maker.

Thus I have become acquainted with several artists who constantly tortured their violins by getting the sounding post and bass-bar displaced.

Then, jumping over the bridge, he will animadvert on the tail-piece; after which, entering at the f-holes—not without a fervent encomium upon their graceful drawing and neatness of cut—twang—he will introduce you to the arcanum mysterii, the interior of the marvellous fabric—point out to you, as plainly as though you were gifted with clairvoyance, the position and adaptation of the various linings, the bearings of the bass-bar, that essential adjunct to quality of tone—twang—and the proper position of the sound-post.

His next, 'Here's the original bass-bar.'