How Violins Are Manufactured And Assembled
Violins are made in a variety of ways. The least expensive are factory-machine made. These are fine for beginning students.
Great, beautiful sounding violins, called “bench-made,” are created by hand by a master violin maker or his/her group of artists.
The first step is choosing a wood like spruce, maple, rosewood or willow. Ebony wood is most often used for the neck but, maple is also used. Woods are chosen for their sound quality and their natural beauty.
There are many parts to the violin body with each piece made individually. The back is usually one piece of wood while the front is two pieces. The sides, also called ribs, are thin pieces of wood carefully bent with heat. These are all glued together, then sanded and varnished. The sound holes or “F” shaped holes are carved out by knife just before the varnishing.
Finally, the neck, chin rest, bridge for the strings, and tuning pegs are applied with specific measurements and placement. The violin is ready to be strung creating great tension on the instrument. The wood, glue, and varnish will adjust over time affecting the tuning and resonance. The violin’s sound will “open up” or develop over years.