Short cuts or quick methods are used in low grade factory or trade violins. Resulting in poor sonorous instruments. Violin fronts or belly's are often not finished properly on the inside, instead of being finish smooth you will find gouge marks leaving the belly with uneven thickness and the bass bar being an integral part. Often these type of bass bars a not the correct shape to do the job acoustically. The bass bar should be a separate piece of spruce cut on the quarter and fitted with a small amount of spring to make contact with the belly. The image above left shows this inferior type of bar, and above right shows the new bar with the belly gouge marks smoothed out.
