A
phonofiddle is a class of stringed musical instruments that are played with a bow and use a
phonographThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
type reproducer as a voice-box.
The sound producing diaphragm may be a metal cone as in the Stroh violinStroh violin, Strohviol, or Strohviol, is a trade name for a horn-violin, or violinophone—a violin that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns rather than a wooden sound box as on a standard violin. The instrument is named after its designer, John Matthias Augustus Stroh, an...
or a micaThe mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
sheet as in the instruments made by A. T. Howson, London and the Stroviols company of Britain. The sound generated by the vibrations from the string or strings are transferred through the bridge to a connecting arm into the center of the diaphragm within the reproducer. The vibrating column of air is then directed into one or several horns.
Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh patented the use of a metal diaphragm in the voice-box (reproducer) of a violin in 1899.
The use of phonograph reproducer with micaThe mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
Isinglass diaphragms allowed the cost of production to be reduced.
Phonofiddles had a brief period of popularity as studio instruments for acoustic recording of phonograph recordsA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
as the energy of the sound could be directed into the collection horn of the recording equipment. Later the phonofiddle was relegated to novelty performances such as those of The Temperance SevenThe Temperance Seven is a British band specializing in 1920s-style jazz music.- Career :The Temperance Seven were founded at Christmas 1955, although it has been alleged they first "saw the light" in the Pasadena Cocoa Rooms, Balls Pond Road, North London, in 1904...
and Bennett & Williams.
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