Violins made from what type of wood

For the most part, violins are made of wood, glue, and metal mostly for the strings. Instruments made since the late 19th century have some plastic and other synthetics. For violins hand-crafted by a luthier, you can add in lots of patience and the pride of a true artist. Are you ready for a new violin? Discover the difference between violins here.

A Connolly Music Publication. What Are Violins Made Of? Published by StringOvation Team on October 22, Strings and the Bow To dispel a misconception, no cats have been harmed in the manufacture of violin strings. Relatively Few Materials It should be noted that there are carbon-fiber violins available, but they do not dominate the market. Share this article. Maple from the Yugoslav region of Europe is considered the best, because it is known to be lighter than American Maple. Matching the ripples in the Maple throughout the parts of the violin gives it an attractive look and may enhance the quality of the sound.

Spruce is a soft tonewood with a high stiffness-to-weight ratio and is used for the top, or front, of the violin, as well as the bass bar and sound posts.

When the strings vibrate sound waves into the body of the violin, a quality spruce top is imperative for optimal acoustics. The dense brown and reddish color make our instruments classic and elegant after polished. Rosewood pegs, rosewood fittings, rosewood bows, you can see how perfect it is when there are tons of violins that are made of rosewood.

You might think only the parts that make sound will make a difference like strings or bows, but that is not true. Finally, the air vibrates and come out of the F-holes of the violin when you draw the bow across the strings. There are different ebony species, namely Macassar ebony Diospyros celebia from Southeast Asia and Gaboon ebony or African ebony Disopyros crassiflora.

Macassar ebony has average modulus of elasticity and Janka hardness values of 2,, psi and 3, pounds, respectively. Having an average density of 1. Rosewood also is used for tail pieces and pegs of a violin. Rosewood is a general name for hard reddish dark color wood from several species of tropical leguminous trees such as Brazilian rosewood Delbergia nigra , which is widely used for making fingerboard and pegs. It has density and modulus of elasticity of 0. Figure 2 illustrates schematics of a typical violin and its parts.

Varnish also is a very important factor influencing overall sound quality of a violin. For example, it was found that a combination of gum Arabic from trees, salt of copper and iron, along with other organic compounds were used to finish famous Stradivarius violins. It is claimed having some metal in the varnish also gives special acoustic effect to the violin. The bow is the part of the violin that causes vibration and is manufactured from exotic species, most commonly Brazilwood Caesalpinia echinata with a density of 0.

It has dark red color wood, which easily can be varnished. Bundle of horsehair is the prime material for the bow, creating excellent friction on the strings. Many of them produce world-class violins for famous orchestras and concert violinists. There also is one violin maker in Oklahoma, owned by Arsenios Corbishley who has a degree in cello performance.

He produces violins and restores other string instruments, including cello and doublebase, in his studio located in downtown Oklahoma City.