One of the few things that has changed in the violin making world in the last 200 years is the way the neck is attached to the the body of the violin. Originally violin necks were nailed onto the top block of the violin on the same horizontal plane and the elevation (angle) was achieved by using a tapered fingerboard.
Gradually from the early 1800's most violins have had their necks replaced and the new slightly longer necks inserted into the the violin body via a mortise joint. This has accommodated the extra tension from the Baroque pitch of 415 to todays 440 for a concert A.
The neck joint is done by chiseling out the mortise of the top block and filing it level. When fitting the neck one takes into account the elevation (angle), wether it is aligned straight along it axis, how deep it is inset, its length and that it fits snugly against the protruding button of the violin back.
Before gluing the neck it is is roughly shaped with a knife and rasp.
Once it is glued to the body the button of the back is marked out using a compass and the excess wood chiseled away.
The finishing is done using finer files ensuring that all bumps are removed and finally the neck is polished to a silky finish by working through different grades of garnet paper.
Now the woodwork is over and one commences with the lengthy but fascinating finishing process.
I am traditional with all the finishing and varnishing I do, using only materials that were available in the 17th and 18th centuries.
I begin firstly by using a fine scraper to clean up the instrument followed by burnishing the violin with horsetail grass (Equisetum). Horsetail grass is a plant made up of bunches of leafless tubular stems or rushes. The essential element, silicon, is present in large amounts in the horsetail grass and therefore is very similar to a fine sandpaper. The major difference being that when one 'sands' the violin with the horsetail grass it does not deaden the reflective qualities of the wood but rather enhances them!
It grows along the river Po and is supposedly the material that the great old Italian master violin makers used to finish their instruments with. My two cats Jessica and Jasmine were fascinated by the long cylindrical tubes and had lots of fun playing with them!
A recent development of the Quartet of Peace is the generous offer of the world renowned string makers Pirastro to sponsor us with strings! We are delighted with this especially as Pirastro make such incredible gut strings which are ideally suited to chamber music being an organic material offering a warm, rich and complex sound.
These last couple of weeks have been rather exciting as I handed over the finished viola to Gareth Lubbe (viola player of the Quartet). See video below.
These videos are best viewed in HD and full screen. For email subscribers the videos can be viewed by clicking the links: Fitting the neck and Sound of the new viola
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