Explanation of the Types of Violin Backs

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m David Kaynor for expertvillage.com, I’m going to examine three violin backs. The back of the violin like the top is curved has an arch, in many cases the back is a two piece and it’s generally two thin plates that are cut from a board, a maple board, and then one piece is cut from the board, it’s then sawn in half and down the middle, and then those two thin halves are joined together, and then the entire thing is carved to make the outside arch and the inside arch. It’s almost always maple, I have seen sycamore and walnut on violin backs. And how much relationship exists between the appearance of the wood and its acoustic properties? I’m not sufficiently informed to say, but I’ve heard that there are other more important variables than nearly the appearance, the actual thickness of the plate, how it’s carved, whether the wood is essentially good quality wood are all more important considerations than nearly how much figures in the wood. But the figure is from the grain of the maple, and it’s deepened by the application of varnish. And the back is generally made from the same tree as the ribs, and there are often similarities in the figure in the wood between the ribs and back."