Violin , practically the only musical instrument, apart fromritual drums and Greek harps, which was deified. The names of the parts of the violin have been preserved: head, neck, chest, waist, darling. The violin was created as an analogue of the human voice. Until now, even with the most modern technology, it has not been possible to synthesize the timbre of the human voice and the violin. For centuries, technology, materials and methods of its manufacture have been perfected, which have practically not changed since the middle of the 18th century. The violin has become one of the most classical instruments.
The device of the violin is the most complex in terms of physics, acoustics and resistance of materials. In fact, this is the most complex acoustic device that requires precise tuning and adjustment.
There are many schools and trends in violin making, but the most striking areItalian, French and German . All of them have their advantages and disadvantages and differ significantly from each other both in sound and manufacturing methods. The sound of the instruments of the Italian school is recognized as the most timbral, plastic and manageable. That is, the musician can control the timbre characteristics of the instrument. The sound of the instruments of the German School is distinguished by its brightness and emptiness. French instruments sound somewhat "glassy" and booming. Although in all schools there were instruments with "foreign" signs.
Three types of wood are used to make a violin: maple, spruce and ebony (black) wood. Depending on the properties of the tree, various details tool. Since the top is almost completely responsible for the sound of the bass strings, the combination of softness and elasticity of spruce is ideal for it. The bottom deck, head and sides are made from maple. The bottom soundboard mainly "works" on the upper register, and maple density corresponds to these frequencies. The neck is made of ebony. Ebony, due to its high rigidity and strength (by the way, it sinks in water) has maximum resistance to string wear. Can only compete with him iron tree, but it is very heavy and has a green color.
The combination of maple, spruce and ebony is used in almost all stringed wood instruments: stringed, guitar, balalaika, domra, lyre, zither, harp and others.
Many generations of violinists have experimented with different materials for violin making (poplar, pear, cherry, acacia, cypress, walnut), but maple and spruce best meet the requirements of acoustics. This is confirmed by all modern research.
the best tree for the manufacture of a violin, a tree grown in the mountains is considered. It's a matter of climate. In the mountains, the tree is exposed to sudden changes in temperature and is not oversaturated with moisture. Thus, the summer layers become smaller than on the plain and, on the whole, the relative elasticity increases, i.e. sound conductivity. According to the established tradition, for the manufacture of the lower deck, the craftsmen use wavy maple, which is distinguished by a beautiful wavy pattern. The historical fact of falling to the Italian masters of wavy maple is known. In the 18th century, Türkiye supplied Italy with maple for galley oars. On the oars there was a straight-layered maple. But since, without sawing a log, it is difficult to understand its structure, parts of wavy maple often came, to the delight of violin makers. By the way, working with wavy maple is much more difficult than with regular maple.
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Of particular interest, controversy and legend is the method of "tuning" the soundboards of the instrument. The most complex and effective method used by the Italians. Completely "honed" this methodA. Stradivari in the last 10 years of his life. It is known from physics that the thinner and softer material, the lower the tone it emits, that is, it reaches maximum resonance at low frequencies. Conversely, the denser (harder) and thicker the material, the higher its resonant frequency. Thus, by changing the density and thickness of the material, you can achieve maximum resonance for the desired sound. The essence of setting up a deck instrument is quite simple. For each sound “taken” on the string, there should be a section on the deck that resonates to it as much as possible and harmoniously combines with the rest. The problem is that all sounds have several overtones, which must also have their own place and also be in harmony with the rest. In addition, violin soundboards are in constant voltage under the pressure of the strings (for example, the stand "presses" on the top deck with a force of 30 kg.). Soundboard tuning is one of the most difficult and important operations in the manufacture of a violin. The genius of the Italian tuning is that, being the most complex (total), it takes into account any properties of the material. That is why direct copying of the thicknesses of unique tools does not give the desired results, since there are no absolutely identical pieces of wood. Often published maps of the thicknesses of unique instruments (Vitachek) do not carry any information if there is no soundboard with which this map was made in the hands.
Of great importance is the plasticity of the arches, and not their height. All other parts of the violin (head, neck, sides) also resonate, and therefore participate in the formation of sound. Wood, being an organic, dispersed material, can absorb and release moisture, thus changing its mass, and therefore, the resonant frequency. This property is well known to violinists when rainy weather instruments change their sound. Therefore, the soil, about which there are many legends, is so important. The priming of decks is very similar to the embalming of Egyptian mummies. The materials are very similar and absolutely the same goals - to keep the material in its original form, to prevent moisture and decay. In the violin, this process is more complicated, since by introducing soil into the tree, we change its mass, and hence the sound quality. In addition, changing something in one section of the deck, its relationship with others is automatically violated.
There are many legends about the secret of the sound of ancient instruments. There is a statement that the secret is in the varnish. This is not true. The purpose of the varnish is to protect the instrument from external influences, to emphasize the beauty of the wood and not to hamper the sound. When the varnish was removed from one of the Stradivari instruments, it began to sound worse. The fact is that the varnish was washed off, and not cleaned off mechanically. That is, they acted with a liquid solvent, which, of course, was absorbed into the tree and changed its mass and density.
But that's not all. In those days when violins were created that delight the whole world, there were other requirements for sound, other strings (strings), the neck was shorter, wider and at a different angle to the body, another stand and the standard of the “A” tuning fork was half a tone lower. That is, now we hear a completely different sound that was put into them during manufacture. From an acoustic point of view, the shape of the violin is not ideal. Already in our time, research was carried out in this area, and it turned out that the ideal form for sounding is trapezoidal (in the form of a small coffin). But no one was willing to play such violins. The third string "suffers" the most on the violin. Even on the best Italian instruments, it is a little weaker than the rest. Modern firms - manufacturers of strings, take this into account. Now the authentic style of playing and the structure of the violin are being revived. And this is much closer to why this tool was created.
In fact, all ancient instruments that have survived to this day work at the limit of their capabilities and therefore require special attention.
Musicians and craftsmen have the concept of “playing an instrument”. This applies to new, not played for a long time and restored instruments. Even a simple release of all the strings followed by tension changes the sound picture and requires playing. There are a huge number of voltages interconnected in the instrument. Wood is an organic material that can change its properties depending on external influences: this is the weather, the musician's way of producing sound, and even the weight of the chinrest. When playing, the instrument seems to get used to the style of the performer. A good musician can extract a very good sound from a mediocre instrument. But on a good, expensive instrument, not everyone manages to achieve the entire spectrum of sound. This requires a high level of performance, otherwise the instrument will get used to what you know.
I needed a violin. Well, as you already know, the easy way to BUY is not for me.
For work we need:
The base is cardboard. Here I would like to draw your attention to the fact that thin cardboard is desirable - not corrugated. Because corrugated cardboard has ugly sides and "waves" are visible. I have a tea box.
Glue. I use a pencil for gluing blanks - with it there will be the right amount of glue and the blanks will not bend, as from, for example, PVA.
Grinding tools. I have sandpaper, needle files and a nail file.
Ruler.
Scissors.
Pencil.
Needle. Or, in my case, a multifunctional knife, which now has a needle attachment.
Paints, brush, varnish.
Threads for strings.
And, not included in the frame, polymer clay to make a head.
First of all, we determine the size of the violin. I’ll say right away - I made a mistake in the calculations (I had to count from the chin to the end of the arm + the head, I didn’t take this into account and it turned out that the head lies in the doll’s palm - it’s a little short by one and a half cm somewhere - in 1:6 format it’s very critically), therefore my violin will live only in a case for beauty.
So, we decided on the length, we find a picture of a violin on the Internet and use the good old "draloscope", as my grandfather called it) That is, on the screen we adjust the size with a wheel, measure it with a ruler to fit, apply a piece of paper and carefully tear it with a pencil.
Or, if you have a printer at home, then there is a simpler option - we throw the picture into Word (here important point- select the scale of the sheet on the screen so that it matches the width of the A4 sheet), stretch it to the size we need (measure it with a ruler) and send it to print.
My version is hand drawing.
We cut out the pattern, transfer it to cardboard. We repeat several times. Cut out, glue the blanks together.
I got such a krakozyabra) Do not be alarmed if the edge is not even, it is very easy to sand it to beauty.
I sanded with a nail file, sandpaper and files. Here it is more convenient for someone)
Approximately such a smooth edge should turn out after sanding.
In the same way, we make a neck from several layers of cardboard. I made the head out of polymer. On the violin itself, the black is the string stand. A piece of cardboard is cut in, glued into the middle and painted. Too much small detail- didn't take pictures.
We glue all the details and paint. Stretching the strings. This time I took a thread for the strings. The wire looked too rough. Yes, and for the guitar I advise you to take a silver thread, because the paper bends under the tension of the wire and the strings sag. On my guitar, the strings are fixed in four places, because I'm stubborn)))) And so - it was easier to take the threads)
We stretch the strings like this - we drip glue at the bottom of the violin, lay out the "strings", wait for it to dry, then we stretch it (without fanaticism, just so as not to break everything) and put it in the head. At this moment, with one hand we hold the threads in the head, and with the other hand with a needle or other thin tool lay out the strings on the stand. And only after that we drip glue into the head and fix the strings at the top.
What advanced violin makers make classical violins
Violin maker Stradivarius and spruce
The great Stradivarius from Cremona is a violin maker, what he breathed, what he thought about, what he dreamed about, creating his masterpieces. Stradivari is a great violin master of creating and manufacturing a classical violin, whose secrets many craftsmen have been trying to unravel for three centuries and create their own master violin. In the period from 1930-50, a number of studies of classical Stradivari violins were also carried out in the Soviet Union. They tried to establish the production and manufacture of classical violins in mass production. Anfilov Gleb Borisovich in his popular science book "Physics and Music" (1962) mentions the ongoing research and their results.
The violin makers wondered what the great violins were made of, what kind of wood the violins were made of, and what was the secret of the unique sound of the violins made by Stradivari's hands.
Rest violin makers intuitively searched for a zest in the manufacture of a classical violin.
Their assumptions were reduced to elementary things, they thought the secret was:
In removing resin from spruce:
At the spruce resonance:
In the type of wood;
In the soil on which the tree grew;
In the season of cutting down a tree;
In dryness and the presence of wormholes.
It is believed that Russian spruce gives the sound a special sensuality, tenderness and even silveriness.
German - has strength, power and even rudeness.
Using this line of thought, it can be assumed that musical instruments and classical violins made of material that is characteristic of this area reflect the character of the people. Russian music should be performed on native instruments, just like German music. But what about the skills of the master, the ear of the tuner, the manner of the violinist and the quality of the scores?
Violin maker Mukhin and polystyrene
Vasily Filippovich Mukhin, a Leningrad violin maker, challenged these assumptions.
He proved with his works that alder is no worse than the famous Tyrolean spruce. From his experience in making a violin with his own hands, he concludes that using wood in the manufacture of a violin, it is impossible to create instruments that sound the same. To make identical instruments with a repetitive sound, it is necessary to use a homogeneous material, for example, the body of a violin should be made of hard foam.
Imagine how surprised the musicians were when they made a foam plastic violin with their own hands. Curiosity got the better of them, a wave of the bow and classical music flowed, everyone was struck by the beautiful timbre and powerful sound of the violin. The creator was pleased with the made violin. At the time, it was a breakthrough. He did not stop at the violin, the Leningrad violin maker made a violin, viola, cello and double bass from foam plastic for an ensemble of bow performers. Where are they now?
One day, this violin history and its testing, similar to the legend, happened on the radio, when two groups recorded Mozart's works there, but none of the sound engineers signed the magnetic tape. I had to turn to the musicians of the State Quartet named after S.I. Taneyev to identify the record. Surprisingly, musical works sounded the same in terms of timbre and coloration of sound. It was difficult to tell the foam tools apart from the regular ones. Using porous material, homogeneous in physical properties And chemical composition, V. Mukhin proved that it is possible to make not only a violin, but also to make the same instruments, not inferior to classical ones, but not exceeding them. They are more likely to be suitable for jazz or teaching than for academic use in a symphony orchestra. You cannot buy such a violin in a music store, but there is a trend of printing an electronic violin on a 3D printer.
pBone craftsmen and plastics
Richer than wood or polystyrene, the range and spectrum of frequencies is plastic - plastic. It can be given different colors musical instrument and sound, volume and transparency. A start is made, music becomes plastic.
Small Italian town of Cremona in Lombardy. This is where the most a large number of violin makers on the planet. The glory of this place was brought by Antonio Stradivari, familiar to you by hearsay, probably the most famous in the world. luthier, who set the world standard for the violin as we see it today.
In our age of large factories and automated assembly lines, violins continue to be made by hand, each instrument is unique and unique. Three hundred violin makers live in Cremona, and I visited one of them, Stefano Konya, a hereditary lute.
1 If you walk around the center of Cremona (and there is something to see here), you will meet violins at every step. In shop windows, on the walls of houses, on monuments and cafe signs. The Music Museum, the Stradivarius Museum, the Violin Museum are all excellent, but you can go there without me. Do not go far, I'm already ringing the intercom, the door in the arch opens, and we find ourselves in the courtyard.
2 A small garden immersed in greenery, almost balconies, and at the back of the courtyard there is a workshop with windows to the entire floor.
3 The door is opened by Stefano himself: downstairs he has only a workshop, and the house is a floor above, where he lives with his parents. It's pouring rain outside, but it's warm in here. Catch your breath after a wet run, warm up, and start looking around. Where did we find ourselves?
4 The Trudovik's desk at school looked almost the same, don't you think?
5 To become a master, you need to know many sciences well, except for joinery and carpentry. Chemistry and mathematics are among them.
7 The violin and guitar are almost brothers, despite the fundamentally different principles of playing these instruments. As a rule, master violinists sometimes make guitars, although lute guitarists are unlikely to be able to immediately make a good violin. But the principle of gluing the case is similar for both. Everything starts with a tree. It is from right choice material to a greater extent depends on the sound of the future violin. The most common among Cremonese violins is maple. Master glues shell, side surface violin (or guitar) bodies.
8 The biggest difference in the manufacturing process is that the body of the violin is “assembled” inside the struts, while the body of the guitar is built around the strut.
9 From the side it seems that the master is just "cutting plywood"? The upper soundboard of the violin is made of resonant spruce, special acoustic wood. Surprise, but people grow special forests with musical Christmas trees! The rest of the instrument is made of maple. Each movement of the planer changes the sound of the future violin. Rough carpentry work performed by luthier becomes almost a jeweler's work.
11 Stefano Konya is a hereditary master, his father also plays violins, like his grandfather. By the way, our hero is Stepan Stepanovich, my father's name is the same, and at first, when I found the master's website on the Internet, I thought that I would meet Konio Sr. Such is the profession, dynastic.
12 Although Stradivari himself did not leave the secrets of mastery to his sons, they have long been unraveled, and today everyone is trying to follow his traditions. Look, the shape of all the creaks is absolutely identical, everything is done according to the canons that have long been fixed in this world, you can’t retreat even a millimeter. Where is the creativity in this work? In sound!
13 Instruments differ from each other, first of all, by sound qualities, here two equals can no longer be found. You can come up with different decorative elements and drawings, but such work will not be the manufacturer's fantasy, but the client's order. The creator of the violin in Cremona never puts his brand on the instrument, but in a very narrow circle of local masters they will always accurately determine who made it. Three hundred people, who have known each other for a long time and closely - not so much.
14 Of course, violins are made in many countries of the world, in China they are desperately riveted in factories, but still, serious musicians from all over the planet order a violin here in Cremona. Among other things, it is also a status.
15 A violin made by Konio the son costs ten thousand euros. Stefano Sr. successfully sells his instruments at a price of twenty thousand. Piece orders, but scheduled six months in advance. A lot of musicians personally come to Cremona to choose the best master.
16 Stefano said that two Russian violin makers live and work in their city. And they also continue the work of the great "grandfather" Stradivarius.
When talking about the masters who became famous for making violins with an unusual sound, two Italian surnames always come to mind - Amati and Stradivari. The art of these two great Italians is still worshiped by the world. The small town of Cremona in the 16th and 17th century became famous thanks to two unsurpassed masters.
But the Italian direction in the manufacture of this musical instrument is not the only one. A worthy rivalry, or rather, an addition, is made up of the German and French schools. Each of them is not only unique, but also significantly different from the others, having its own advantages and disadvantages.
To answer unequivocally the question, “What wood is the violin made of?” impossible, because each of its parts or elements are made from a certain breed. For the top deck, on which in the central part there are two resonator holes resembling English letter"f", spruce is used. This type of wood has the most pronounced elasticity, which allows you to achieve excellent sounding bass notes. The top deck is made either from a single piece of wood, or from two parts.
The bottom soundboard, on the contrary, is responsible for the top notes, and maple is generally recognized as the appropriate material for this. It is also used to make shells. In addition, wavy maple was used for a long time, which was delivered to medieval Italy from Turkey, thanks to which their unique creations came out from under the hands of violin makers.
The neck is another important element of the instrument, which is an oblong plank. It is constantly in contact with the strings, and therefore subject to wear. It is made of rosewood or ebony (black) wood, which are particularly hard and durable. Rosewood also does not sink in water. Iron wood is not inferior in these properties, but because of its green color, which is not in harmony with the general colors violin, it was not used.
From what wood the violin is made, it becomes clear only now. These are the three main species - spruce, maple and rosewood. At the same time, it is believed that the tree that has grown naturally in the mountains will be the best. As a result of natural temperature fluctuations, such trees have more elastic wood with a minimum moisture content in it, which is reflected in the sound of the instrument.
The violin has a complex configuration that has bulges and curves. Each master who creates this instrument has his own handwriting of its creation. There are no and cannot be two violins of the same sound, but not only for this reason. The main one is the properties of wood that can never be repeated.
