Violin

The parts of the violin

The violin is a carefully made hollow wooden box, with a neck protruding from the top, and an internal sound post connecting the front (belly) and the back. The sides of the violin, curiously, are called ribs. The belly is reinforced by an internal bass bar, which runs vertically through the instrument underneath the lowest string. The inlaid outline of dark wood which follows the outer edge of the surface of the belly and back of the violin is called the purfling. The purfling keeps the wood from splitting along the edges, and, according to some, allows the belly to vibrate independent of the rigid ribs.

Related Topics:
Ribs - Purfling

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The four strings run from a tailpiece attached to the base of the violin, across an intricately carved wooden bridge, then upward just above the fingerboard. At the top end of the fingerboard, the strings cross the nut, a very small second bridge, mounted just slightly above the fingerboard. They then enter the pegbox, where they are wound around their tuning pegs, which are mounted sideways through tightly fitting holes in the pegbox. The tip of the pegbox is ornamented with a carved wooden scroll.

Related Topics:
Tailpiece - Bridge - Fingerboard - Nut - Pegbox - Tuning peg - Scroll

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The bridge of a violin has two purposes. First, it holds the strings in an arched configuration, permitting each to be touched separately by the bow. The bridge also transmits the sound vibrations of the strings to the belly, from which they are transmitted to the back by the sound post.

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Materials

Generally the belly (also called the top), the sound post, and the bass bar are made of spruce, a light but strong softwood. The back, ribs, neck, pegbox, scroll, and bridge are of maple, a hardwood. The choice of woods is basically the same as in the piano, where a hardwood bridge is attached to a spruce soundboard, mounted on a hardwood frame.

Related Topics:
Spruce - Maple - Piano

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The fingerboard of a violin is usually of ebony. Some old violins have ivory fingerboards. Still other fingerboards are made of a less expensive variety of wood stained black. Ebony is the preferred material, because of its hardness and superior resistance to wear. The pegs and tailpiece are generally ebony or boxwood.

Related Topics:
Ebony - Ivory

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Strings were originally made of sheep gut. Contrary to popular belief, violin strings were never made of cat gut. Such strings are still often used in historically accurate performances of music from the 18th century and earlier. However, they have a tendency to go out of tune and snap more easily than modern strings, most of which are made from metal. Modern strings are most commonly either metal, monofilament steel or braided steel filaments, or else synthetic material wound with metal; the outer winding gives them greater mass, allowing them to vibrate at a lower pitch. The uppermost E string is usually a steel mono-filament. Synthetic-cored strings, the most popular of which is perlon (a trade name for stranded nylon wound with metal), combine some of the tonal qualities of gut strings with greater longevity and tuning stability. They are also much less sensitive to changes in humidity than gut strings, and less sensitive to changes in temperature than all-metal strings.

Related Topics:
Historically accurate performances - 18th century - Metal

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The hair of the bow is traditionally white horse (male) hair, although many cheaper bows use synthetic material. The hair must be frequently rubbed with rosin in order to grip the strings and cause them to vibrate. For more on the materials of the bow, see Bow (music).

Related Topics:
Rosin - Bow (music)

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Violin acoustics

It has been known for a long time that the thickness of the wood and its physical qualities govern the sound of a stringed instrument such as the violin. The sound and tone of the violin is determined by how the belly and back plates of the violin behave acoustically, according to modes or schemes of movement determined by German physicist Ernst Chladni. Patterns of the nodes (places of no movement) made by sand sprinkled on the plates with the plate vibrated at certain frequencies are called "Chladni patterns", and are often used by luthiers to verify their work before assembling the instrument. A scientific explanation includes a discussion of how the properties of the wood determines where the nodes occur, whether the plates move with end or diagonally opposite points rising together or in various mixed modes.

Related Topics:
Ernst Chladni - Luthier

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Sizes

Children learning the violin often use 'three-quarter', 'half', 'quarter', and on down to 'sixteenth' sized violins. Occasionally, even a 'thirty-second' sized instrument is used. In all meaningful parts, they are scaled but otherwise identical to full-sized instruments.

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The body length (not including the neck) of a 'full-size' or 4/4 violin is 14 inches. The 3/4 violin is 13 inches, and the 1/2 size is 12 inches. There is a size referred to as '7/8' which is approximately 13.5 inches, but this size is fairly rare. The viola is also made in different sizes, but the n/4 designation is not used for violas. Instead, the viola size is specified in inches, giving the length of the body. A 'full-size' viola is 16 inches, but there are violas made that are larger.

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When determining the violin size appropriate for a child, a general rule is to have the child hold the instrument against the neck, and reach out past the end of the scroll as far as possible. The child should be able to reach around the end of the scroll at least to the point of being able to see the tip of the middle finger sticking out above the scroll. This will establish the largest sized instrument that the student can handle. However, different teachers will have different methods for picking the appropriate size.

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Sometimes, the finger board is inlayed or otherwise marked with finger positions; however, these are not a fret as with a guitar or other stringed instrument. This is also often achieved by applying a piece of adhesive tape across the finger board in several places. This tape method is very popular for beginning violinists but is quickly abandoned as players advance. There are also commercial decals made for this purpose which are more convenient to install, and typically more accurate than individual tapes. Another commonly-used marking technique is the placement of dots of 'white-out' on the fingerboard. These dots will typically wear off in a few weeks with regular practice.

Related Topics:
Fret - Guitar - Stringed instrument - Adhesive tape - Tape

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