0

This link has a lot of cello related measurements. How can we calculated the string scale length of hypothetical 9/8 and 5/4 size cellos?

CELLO mm. 1/2 3/4 7/8 4/4 9/8 5/4
string length 602 637 672 695 ? ?
M.Viking
  • 113
  • 5
  • 2
    Um, why? Just as a thought experiment? Or because you're contemplating an unusually-sized instrument, like these? Maybe the question then should be about ideal string lengths for a given body volume. Note, the names "half size, 3/4 size" have no relationship to the actual ratios; they're just colloquial labels. Note also, there can be a lot of variation; two "3/4" instruments could vary by several mm of body length, and of course sounding string length is determined by bridge placement. – Andy Bonner Jan 26 '23 at 15:52
  • 1
    @AndyBonner Thanks for introducing me to the Octet Baritone Violin! I am contemplating an unusually sized instrument as a tall person looking for better cello posture - though I will try an XL endpin first. – M.Viking Jan 26 '23 at 17:39
  • That does seem like Occam's Razor. Note, there are ideal proportions between pitch, string length, and body volume (e.g., a viola would be more resonant if it were more like a mini-cello). I'm not sure how close the standard cello gets to that ideal, but messing with the proportions might alter the response. Also, obviously, the finger spacing will be wider; every time a kid moves up a size there's a significant adjustment to get used to. – Andy Bonner Jan 26 '23 at 17:44
  • "as a tall person looking for better cello posture": I presume you've tried changing the height of your seat, but if you haven't, you should. – phoog Jan 27 '23 at 11:48

1 Answers1

1

There is no definitive answer to that, because neither is a standard. But if we look at the numbers we see that except for 3/4 all of them lie nearly perfectly on a line:

https://sagecell.sagemath.org/?z=eJxVj8kKwzAMRO-B_IOOUuN4ydoc-iXGlB4aWshicKDp31d2IaUnPWY0QuMDXMCiUZWATlckAGvVMNd95F6dmfukG9ENLbk8y7OJQ9MzbFc_rRv6IOA9PxcWNUHBznJH64PVTgCP0jhHHJLhsb6Q4oFxwZ14H7-2NQ5KSAlGAnUY-mdoNk6A-59QHKn0F_-E883juAiwRsZWtYx9ehmbNImHxC2zI_oAw6w_Iw==&lang=sage&interacts=eJyLjgUAARUAuQ==

This would allow us to extrapolate linearly for 9/8 at 718mm and 5/4 at 741mm

Lazy
  • 20,345
  • 1
  • 13
  • 44
  • Now I would like to correlate the dimensions of the cellos with the height of the players typically using them, and extrapolate the heights of the players of the hypothetical 5/4 & 9/8 cello. – Theodore Jan 26 '23 at 21:59
  • I think this is a reasonable answer, but I want to point out that three points lining up like that only really requires one of the middle points to line up... You can always draw a line through the first and last. So I don't want to ignore the one 'outlier' here... But then again, I don't know what to do with that point, since you could use it to argue that the extrapolated sizes should be slightly bigger or smaller... (I probably don't have a good point, I just think your wording made it sound more serendipitous than it actually is.) – Edward Jan 28 '23 at 01:06