Violin

Overview

The violin is a bowed string instrument and the highest-pitched member of the modern string family. Four strings are tuned in perfect fifths and set into vibration by drawing a rosined horsehair bow across them, or by plucking. The player stops the strings against an unfretted fingerboard to choose pitches, and tone is shaped continuously by bow speed, pressure and contact point. The strings themselves move little air; the bridge transmits their vibration into a carved wooden body that resonates and radiates the sound.

The bowed energy enters the Bridge, a thin carved maple bridge that stands on the belly and couples string motion into the Body Assembly. The spruce Spruce Top is the primary soundboard; beneath it a bass bar distributes low-frequency energy along the grain, while a small Sound Post wedged between top and back transfers vibration to the maple back and sets the instrument's acoustic balance. Two carved f-holes vent the enclosed air and let the body breathe, reinforcing the lower register.

Construction

The body is built from carved plates: a spruce top and maple back joined to bent maple ribs with corner and end blocks and inlaid purfling, then sealed with varnish. The carved-maple Neck Assembly carries an ebony fingerboard and the nut, and seats into the body without a heel cap. Four ebony Ebony Tuning Pegs in the pegbox set coarse tuning, while the Tailpiece Assembly anchors the string ends and carries fine tuners for precise adjustment. The instrument is played with a separate Bow Assembly: a tapered pernambuco stick strung with horsehair and tensioned by the frog screw, the hair gripping the strings only once coated with rosin.