I. OF THE WOOD.
There can be no doubt whatever that a correct knowledge and choice of the wood for the construction of violins is of the utmost importance. Both these qualifications, however, can only be gained by experience, since that alone can prove which kind of wood is the most suitable and produces the best results.
The back, the ribs, the neck, and the head should be of maple, and neither too hard, nor too soft, nor yet too deeply grained. In every case light wood should be selected, and I consider Hungarian maple the best for the purpose. For the belly, the so-called white fir or pine should be used, as both kinds of wood possess sufficient resonance, and are easily manipulated. These woods too must be as light as possible, and should have neither very narrow nor very broad, but regular and well-formed concentric circles. The Tyrol and the neighbouring cantons of Switzerland produce the best wood for this purpose. It is to be observed that the pieces used must be split and not cut.
In my opinion, the much praised American pine is too soft and resinous, and neither do I consider the American maple qualified for the construction of violins. The wood used by myself is obtained from Schoenbach, near Eger, in Bohemia, where large supplies for the needs of instrument makers are always on hand to be selected from. The age of the wood I consider of only very small importance; if it has been laying by for five years, ready cut or split, as the case may be, for the construction of a violin, it will then be sufficiently dry and will need no further preparation. I have exactly ascertained the weight of wood which had been laid by for drying for five years, and then, having weighed it again at the end of twenty years, have found it had not become perceptibly lighter. All the violins made by me, some 1600 instruments, have always weighed from 260 to 275 grammes, without the pegs, finger-board, and tail-piece, a weight which I have generally found to be that of the violins constructed by Stradivarius.