Why cello has such big ribs?

June 17, 2016 at 07:31 AM · No one knows.

June 17, 2016 at 08:31 AM · It needs the extra space in there to form the soundwaves at the proper frequency. The cello deals with mostly bass notes and those require wider movements of the strings and the front and back plates and the air between them to form properly.

June 17, 2016 at 09:43 AM · Carleen Hutchins Baritone Violin, tuned like a 'cello, has lower ribs, but larger plates, so the air resonance is similar, but the wood resonances are deeper. Different tonal balance.

June 17, 2016 at 11:32 AM · I hope a violin maker weighs-in on this, but till then I'm basically with Fox. For the proper resonance, if the cello were more of violin-like proportions I think that its vertical and horizontal dimensions would have to be so big as to be unplayable for all but some talented Sasquatches! So to get enough air space to resonate, the deeper ribs compensate.

Now, while we're wondering about our big cousin, why is the cello bow shorter than the violin bow?

June 17, 2016 at 01:33 PM · I already use a shorter, heavier stroke on the lower strings on violin or viola, so for a cello...

June 17, 2016 at 02:55 PM · "Grandma Cello, what deep ribs you have."

"All the better to resonate with, my dear"

June 17, 2016 at 08:16 PM · Check this thread about the New Violin Family Orchestra.

http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=28060

There is a intro youTube video that demonstrates each instrument. I don't remember the specifics but he mentions something about cello ribs vs violin proportioned ribs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZl3BN3aZo

June 17, 2016 at 08:18 PM · Please stop talking about a cello or I'll end up getting one! My living space is already full of instruments.

June 17, 2016 at 08:50 PM · So the big ribs compensate the lack of size?

June 17, 2016 at 09:28 PM · "So the big ribs compensate the lack of size?"

To put it in its simplest terms, yeah, more or less. But not only the volume of the instrument's insides but also the shape is what gives it its characteristic tone.

Nancy, cellists have been trying to recruit me to their ranks for years! We must resist the temptation! The cello is like a drug; once you start using it you can't stop! ;)

June 17, 2016 at 09:31 PM · The deep ribs are all to do with the amount of alcohol that can be stored inside, once the instrument has been converted into a liquor cabinet!

Cheers Carlo

June 18, 2016 at 01:19 AM · Double post

June 18, 2016 at 04:15 PM · No one knows why the cello has such deep ribs since it is geometrically very similar to the violin. I studied with Carleen Hutchins and I have ample proof that cello ribs are about double the needed height. The baritone violin, although larger than a cello, still has a smaller body cavity in terms of volume. And remember, the original cellos were much larger than the ubiquitous B form Strad model we use today. I speculate that when the cellos were reduced in size, the luthiers of the day mistakenly assumed that the rib heights would have to made taller in order to compensate for the loss of volume.

If you have never heard a baritone (or basses on the Hutchins theories), I can tell you that the sound in the low register is stupendous, and much cleaner and less boomy than a standard cello. It is totally counter-intuitive, but a fact nonetheless.

June 18, 2016 at 10:04 PM · Robert Spear? The one of the "new violin family" instruments? Awesome!

I'm in love with the sound of that soprano violin! What's the difference however between that and a smaller violin size like a 7/8 or so?

June 18, 2016 at 10:14 PM · So is the size what matters in the instruments?

June 18, 2016 at 11:32 PM · Fox, If I remember correctly from the videos, the Soprano body is the size of a 3/4 but its fitted to a adult hand, thus the neck is standard violin size.

June 18, 2016 at 11:51 PM · ...I wonder if I could convince my luthier to put a full-size neck on a 3/4 body... ;)

June 19, 2016 at 03:23 PM · Fox, I confess. It's I.

The body length of a Hutchins soprano violin is very nearly that of a 3/4-size violin, as Kimberly remembers, but the rib height is about 5 mm less. With a tuning of low c,g,d,a (an octave above the viola and a 4th above the violin), the resonance in the body cavity of the soprano is raised to the right vicinity. I must add that in the smaller instruments, ergonomics holds as much influence as scaling theory, so neither the soprano violin nor the piccolo violin is as small as theory suggests. They are made for adult hands, so the neck and scroll are adjusted for comfortable playing. Putting soprano strings on a 3/4 violin will work OK, but the instrument will tend to be boomy if the corpus air cavity is too large.

In the hands of a skilled player, a soprano violin sounds magnificent! I could be a wee bit biased, I suppose, but . . . :-)

June 20, 2016 at 04:42 PM · The cello has high ribs in order to reach from the back to the belly :-) if they were shorter there would be gap....