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The violin's sound and construction

Factors influencing the sound

The violin sound depends on several factors, including:

• Its shape
• The wood it is made from
• The top and back graduation
• The varnish that coats it
• The skill of the luthier

The varnish and especially the wood continue to improve with age, enhancing old well-made violins built by famous luthiers.

Violin components

The neck is usually maple with a flamed figure compatible with that of the ribs and back. It carries the fingerboard, typically made of ebony, but often some other wood stained or painted black on cheaper instruments. Ebony is the preferred material because of its hardness, beauty, and superior resistance to wear. Fingerboards are dressed to a particular transverse curve and have a small lengthwise concavity, more pronounced on the lower strings, especially when meant for gut or synthetic strings.

The bridge

The bridge is a precisely cut piece of maple that forms the lower anchor point of the vibrating length of the strings and transmits the vibration of the strings to the body of the instrument. Its top curve holds the strings at the proper height from the fingerboard in an arc, allowing each to be sounded separately by the bow.

The sound-post

The sound-post, or soul post, fits precisely inside the instrument between the back and top, at a carefully chosen spot near the treble foot of the bridge, which it helps support. It influences the modes of vibration of the top and the back of the instrument.

The tailpiece and fine tuners

The tailpiece anchors the strings to the lower bout of the violin (tailgut), which loops around an ebony button (tailpin) that fits into a tapered hole in the bottom block. Fine tuners may also be applied to the strings. The fine tuners enable the performer to make small changes in the pitch of a string.

Pegs and strings

At the scroll end, the strings wind around the pegs in the pegbox. Pegs are tapered and fit into holes in the peg box, held in place by the friction of wood on wood. Strings usually have a colored silk wrapping at both ends, for identification and to provide more friction with the pegs. The pegs allow friction to be increased or decreased by the player.

Types of strings

Strings were first made of sheep gut, which was stretched, dried, and twisted. In the early years of the 20th century, strings were made of either gut or steel. Modern string can be made with a lot of natural or synthetic material. Gut strings are used to achieve a specific sound, especially in performance of Baroque music.

Players generally change a string when it no longer plays "true" (with good intonation on the harmonics), losing the desired tone.