The violin and the art of its construction: a treatise on the Stradivarius violin

Chapter 8: IV. THE BACK AND EDGES.

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About This Book

The treatise offers practical, step-by-step guidance on making, repairing, and caring for violins, grounded in the author's decades of workshop experience and admiration for Stradivarius. It begins with selection and properties of woods, then proceeds through construction details—ribs, back, belly, arching, purfling, thicknessing, f-holes, bass-bar, neck, fingerboard, and dimensions—and continues with fittings such as pegs, bridge, tailpiece, sound-post, and strings. Final chapters address varnish, cleaning, maintenance, and bow construction, combining technical measurements with hands-on tips for professional makers and informed amateurs.

IV. THE BACK AND EDGES.

It is not of importance whether the back be made in one or two pieces; nevertheless, Stradivarius seems to have given the preference to a divided back. I also consider it more advantageous, as, being joined, it offers greater resistance, and is not so easily pressed outwards on the sound-post side, as is the case with violins having the back cut in one piece. The edges of the mid-rib and corners should be 4 m/m. thick, whereas the upper and lower edges of the back (Fig. 1 ee/ee), gradually decreasing from the corners, become 1 m/m. thinner.