Books › An encyclopedia of the violin, 1925 › scan 82
Scan 82
An encyclopedia of the violin, 1925
103 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1Although the violin is the best known and most generally used stringed instrument to be found in the world of music, very few laymen have any idea of how many individual parts it is composed. The writer has even been asked whether the arched form of the top and back was not secured by submitting these pieces first to a steam bath and then to strong pressure.
3The violin (Plate 27), when belly and back each represent an individual piece, is composed of sixty-eight separate parts, and when the back and belly are each formed of two pieces, of seventy parts.
5The instrument comprises
7<table>
8 <tr>
9 <th>Part</th>
10 <th>Number of Pieces</th>
11 </tr>
12 <tr>
13 <td>Belly</td>
14 <td>2 (sometimes 1)</td>
15 </tr>
16 <tr>
17 <td>Back</td>
18 <td>2 (sometimes 1)</td>
19 </tr>
20 <tr>
21 <td>Ribs</td>
22 <td>6</td>
23 </tr>
24 <tr>
25 <td>Inside blocks</td>
26 <td>6</td>
27 </tr>
28 <tr>
29 <td>Inside linings</td>
30 <td>12</td>
31 </tr>
32 <tr>
33 <td>Inside bass-bar</td>
34 <td>1</td>
35 </tr>
36 <tr>
37 <td>Purfling</td>
38 <td>24</td>
39 </tr>
40 <tr>
41 <td>Finger board</td>
42 <td>1</td>
43 </tr>
44 <tr>
45 <td>Neck and scroll</td>
46 <td>1</td>
47 </tr>
48 <tr>
49 <td>Nut</td>
50 <td>1</td>
51 </tr>
52 <tr>
53 <td>Lower nut</td>
54 <td>1</td>
55 </tr>
56 <tr>
57 <td>Tailpiece</td>
58 <td>1</td>
59 </tr>
60 <tr>
61 <td>Loop</td>
62 <td>1</td>
63 </tr>
64 <tr>
65 <td>Tailpiece button</td>
66 <td>1</td>
67 </tr>
68 <tr>
69 <td>Pegs</td>
70 <td>4</td>
71 </tr>
72 <tr>
73 <td>Strings</td>
74 <td>4</td>
75 </tr>
76 <tr>
77 <td>Bridge</td>
78 <td>1</td>
79 </tr>
80 <tr>
81 <td>Sound post</td>
82 <td>1</td>
83 </tr>
84 <tr>
85 <td></td>
86 <td>70</td>
87 </tr>
88</table>
90Several varieties of wood are used in the construction of a violin; maple or plane wood, fir or spruce, and ebony or rosewood.
92Maple or plane wood is used for the back, neck, ribs and bridge. Spruce is used for the belly, the bar of the corners, the molds, linings and sound post. Ebony or rosewood is used for the finger board, nuts, pegs, tailpiece and the tailpiece button which supports it.
94Back and belly are given the shape peculiar to them by means of various cutting tools, such as chisels, small planes and knives.
96The neck is carved.
98The ribs and linings are chiseled, and afterward smoothed by means of water and a hot iron.
100The other string instruments are constructed in the same manner as the violin, the only difference being in their proportions, which are constantly increasing until the double bass is reached.
102The viola, which is tuned five tones lower than the violin, is approximately one-seventh larger in dimension than the latter instrument.
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