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Small Italian town of Cremona in Lombardy. It is here that the largest number of violin makers live 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 body is similar for both. Everything starts with a tree. It is from right choice material in more depends on the sound of the future violin. The most common among Cremonese violins is maple. Master glues shell, the side surface of the body of a violin (or guitar).

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 various 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.

Hello, friends! My name is Sergey, you can see my other collections on this site, today we will figure out together how to make a violin out of wood.

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2 way:
The violin is a high-pitched stringed musical instrument. Has a folk origin modern look acquired in the 16th century, became widespread in the 17th century. It has four strings tuned in fifths: g, d1, a1, e2 (salt of a small octave, re, la of the first octave, mi of the second octave), range from g (salt of a small octave) to a4 (la of the fourth octave) and higher. The timbre of the violin is thick in the low register, soft in the middle and brilliant in the high. There are also five-string violins, with the addition of the lower alto string "c" (up to a small octave).
The body of the violin has a specific rounded shape. In contrast to the classical form of the case, the shape of the trapezoidal parallelogram is mathematically optimal with rounded notches on the sides, forming a "waist". The roundness of the outer contours and the "waist" lines ensures the comfort of the game, in particular in high positions. The lower and upper planes of the body - decks - are connected to each other by strips of wood - shells. They have a convex shape, forming "vaults". The geometry of the vaults, as well as their thickness, its distribution to one degree or another determine the strength and timbre of the sound. A darling is placed inside the body, transmitting vibrations from the stand - through the upper deck - to the lower deck. Without it, the timbre of the violin loses its liveliness and fullness.
The strength and timbre of the sound of the violin has big influence the material from which it is made, and, to a lesser extent, the composition of the varnish. There is an experiment with the complete chemical removal of varnish from a Stradivarius violin, after which its sound did not change. The lacquer protects the violin from changing the quality of the wood under the influence of the environment and stains the violin with a transparent color from light golden to dark red or brown.
bottom deck ( musical term) is made from solid maple wood (other hardwoods), or from two symmetrical halves.
The top deck is made from resonant spruce. It has two resonator holes - efs (in shape they resemble the Latin letter f). A stand rests on the middle of the upper deck, on which the strings, fixed on the string holder (under the fingerboard), rest. A single spring is attached to the top soundboard under the leg of the stand on the side of the G string - a longitudinally located wooden plank, which largely ensures the strength of the top soundboard and its resonant properties.
The shells unite the lower and upper decks, forming the side surface of the violin body. Their height determines the volume and timbre of the violin, fundamentally influencing the quality of the sound: the higher the shells, the muffled and softer the sound, the lower, the more piercing and transparent the upper notes. The shells are made, like the decks, from maple wood.

3 way:
Old Petersburg takes on a new sound
Russia 24
Musical instruments from the structures of ancient buildings began to be made in St. Petersburg. It turned out that wooden beams demolished houses can find a second life. Violins are made from them, comparable in quality to the masterpieces of Stradivari and Amati.
23.02.2012

4 way:
The hero of the rubric is the only violin maker in the region. At first, he carved wood chip birds of happiness, and he was very successful at it. But when his children went to music school, violin class, they needed instruments. And he decided - he made the first violin in his life. It was a real musical instrument that took his daughter and son to the world of great music. Since then, he has been a unique master whose violins have been heard in different parts of the world. In 2015, Arkhangelsk will host a large music competition among violinists, where it is his violin that will become the main prize. And we will learn about what helps him in his work and the innermost secrets of creating a violin from the plot of our journalists...

5 way:
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Academy of Entertaining Arts. Music. Lesson 1. The first musical instruments. Violin sound.
People tried to express the sound of music with the help of the first musical instruments. Our progenitor Adam from the first moments of his life began to observe what was happening around him and discovered that music is everywhere - not only in nature, but also in himself. The ancient musicians expressed the impulses of their soul by clapping their hands, snapping their fingers, knocking stones against stones. It is difficult to say when and where the first musical instruments first sounded, but archaeologists still find them all over the world. At different peoples they are different, but scientists all call them idiophones. An idiophone is a musical instrument in which the body of the instrument serves as the sound source. Idiophones include many percussion instruments, such as castanets, spoons, triangle, bells. The Bible mentions musical instruments 29 times. After all, music has always been an expression of the feelings of the people.
The title of queen of music was given to the violin quite deservedly. Its sound most closely conveys the intonation of the human voice. The violin is subject to different musical techniques and styles. This was proved by their art by the great violin virtuosos: Niccolo Paganini, Pablo de Sarasate, David Oistrakh, Vladimir Spivakov and others. In their hands the sound of the violin was unique. And the best violin makers lived in Italy in the 17th century. The Italians sacredly kept their secrets of craftsmanship. They knew how to make the sound of the violin gentle, soft, like a human voice. Very few Italian instruments have survived throughout the world, but they are all strictly registered. They are played by the most famous virtuoso musicians from all over the world. The first violins appeared in Italy and France in early XVI century. At first, the violin was considered an instrument of the lower classes. Gradually, with its bright sound, the violin conquered space. How is a violin made? This instrument is made up of two different breeds tree. This is spruce and maple. Only this ratio gives the violin a special sound. The two planes of the body of a violin are called soundboards. On the top deck there are beautiful cutouts in the form of the Latin letter f - through them the sound comes out. The decks are connected to each other by shells. The strings are fixed on the tailpiece and rest on a stand, which transmits the vibrations of the strings to the decks. The strings pass over the neck and are tensioned by pegs located on the headstock. A chin rest is fixed on the top deck for comfortable holding of the instrument. A darling is placed inside the body, which transmits sound vibrations from the upper soundboard to the lower one. Also, the sound of the violin depends on the composition of the varnish, which its body.

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The violin, practically the only musical instrument, apart from ritual drums and Greek harps, 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 prominent are Italian, 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.

For the manufacture of the violin, three types of wood are used: maple, spruce and ebony (black) wood. Depending on the properties of the tree, various tool parts are made from it. 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. Only iron wood can compete with it, 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 craftsmen experimented with various materials for the manufacture of a violin (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 making a violin is a tree grown in the mountains. 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.

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. A. Stradivari completely “honed” this method in the last 10 years of his life. It is known from physics that the thinner and softer the 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, the soundboards of the violin are in constant tension under the pressure of the strings (for example, the stand "presses" on the top soundboard 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 in rainy weather the 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.

Prepare the wood. Most often, violins are made from spruce and maple wood. The bottom of the body (bottom), sides of the body (sides) and the neck are made from maple. For the manufacture of the upper part of the body (top deck), as a rule, spruce wood is used.

• You will need a solid piece of maple for the back, a long maple plank for the neck, a few strips of maple veneer for the sides, and a solid piece of spruce for the top.
• Also, in order to give the violin the necessary shape, you will need a few more pieces of spruce wood, which will subsequently be wrapped around with maple shells.
• Small pieces of wood are placed at the corners of the violin in order to connect the sides and support the body itself.
• You can find the materials you need to work on the Internet. Try searching here on these sites: (for those who live in the UK) and (the site works worldwide).
• For search additional information use Google.

Work with a solid piece of maple: saw the thick timber in half. Then glue the panels together so that you get one large canvas. Do the same with a solid piece of spruce timber, which will be used to make the top deck. More information you can find here:.

From the veneer, form the shells. Do not spare money and buy a bending machine - a tool for bending wood and metal. You can also use a regular iron, but it is more difficult to work with, and the result is not perfect.

Give the desired shape to the top and bottom deck. Carving will take you quite a lot of time.

1. Be sure to use a template - you can find it on the Internet or come up with your own. Transfer the drawing to the tree.
2. Cut out carefully. Sand the edges with a file. The upper and lower parts of the case should be perfectly flat, the thickness around the perimeter should be the same - around 0.5 cm.
3. To achieve the required uniform thickness, you can use a file and sandpaper. It is also necessary to get rid of excess wood inside the decks. To do this, use a chisel.
   • You can use a drill to speed up the process.
4. Follow the steps above for the top and bottom of the case.
5. Using a drill, make holes in the upper deck - efs, use a template for this. Also, do not forget to glue a darling to the bottom deck, which will make the sound of the violin more clear and bright.