DAY 2 : Making the back of the violin

It’s busy here today – musicians are getting ready for the weekend concerts (see the programme here) and the violin project has got off to a great start. Everybody is enjoying dropping in to the buzzing workshop between their rehearsals to help out, even the volunteers, guests and staff have been spotted there quite often!

For the back of the violin there are two options: a one-piece back or a two-piece back, depending on the diameter of the tree that is used. The biggest parts of the violin (the back and the top) are always carved, never bent, which is very time consuming work. The outside of the back is done first – roughly with a chisel, then more precisely with a plane, and finally evened with scrapers (see the photo of the tools below). The inside of the back is arched, which is very important for the stability of the instrument. For acoustic reasons, and also to support the construction (especially the soundpost), the back is 2-5 mm thick.

Tools for making the back of the violin