Instruments of the Violin Family
Core Information

The expression “violin” in the text that follows is to be taken as encompassing all instruments of the violin family.

1. Mechanical and historical information

Early bowed string instruments had empty sound boxes. The thrust to produce plenty of volume gave rise to the development that separates the violin family from what had gone before which is the sound post, a wooden rod that fits between the softwood top (“belly”) and the hardwood back (references to both the belly and the back are defined by the word “plates”) of the instrument. Drawing the bow across the strings results in their vibration. This induces vibrations and oscillations of the bridge which leads to vibrations in the belly on which it is mounted,  and through the sound post, the top of which stands near a foot of the bridge inside the sound box of the back. As the belly and back are of different woods, the rates of vibration are different and result in a much stronger movement of the column of air contained between them and a stronger, purer sound than was the case in the earlier instruments. Instruments of the violin family superseded the earlier instruments quickly and have continued to hold the field.

Development of the forms and thicknesses of the plates appears to have been the result of intelligent trial and error. The models most generally found were devised by Italians mainly during the seventeenth century. The best known is Antonio Stradivari. The Italian makers worked out configurations that have not been bettered. Later, violin making moved northwards into the Tyrol and Bavaria. In Bavaria Jacob Stainer developed a higher arched model of sound box which was favoured above the Italian models into the nineteenth century. It produces more of an “oo” sound than the “ee” that is produced by violins modelled on Italian lines. Stainer model violins are still available and make a pleasant mix with instruments of flatter modelling when played in orchestras. The majority of violins are modelled on the work of one of the best known makers. The main innovation is a consequence of the pitch of orchestras having been raised during the nineteenth century. The higher pitch requires tighter strings necessitating a different neck angle and, to prevent cracking, the bass bar, which runs along the opposite of the inside of the belly to the sound post, is now stronger than was originally the case. Older violins have normally been modified so that they work at current pitch. Unaltered, reconverted or new violins made to the old standards are described as “baroque”. Musicians playing old music, as it was originally heard, will have a baroque instrument for the purpose.

Violins benefit from "playing in" for a period after they have been made.  The general view is that they reach their tonal zenith after about thirty years.

2. Violin labels

A label will be found inside the sound box of many violins.It should be viewed with suspicion. Among other considerations many older instruments have been re-labelled by unscrupulous people wishing to gull prospective buyers into accepting goods that they were offering for sale as much better than was actually the case. Also instruments to be sold new and modelled, say, on the lines of Stradivari used often to be sold with a label of old style stating his name without additional information. One give-away in the case of such labels is that they are often on wood-pulp based paper which was introduced during the second half of the nineteenth century. These caveats issued, some labels are true and helpful. Some knowledge of makers’ names and marks and the history of violin making is desirable if sense is to be made of the messages conveyed by labels. Generally, matters such as outlines, archings, makers’ characteristics and national characteristics are the main factors to be borne in mind when identifying the origins of violins.

3. Bows