Body
The body of the violin is made of two arched plates fastened to a "garland" of ribs with animal hide glue. The ribs are what is commonly seen as the "sides" of the box. The rib garland includes a top block, four corner blocks (sometimes omitted in cheap mass-produced instruments,) a bottom block, and narrow strips called linings, which help solidify the curves of the ribs, and provide extra gluing surface for the plates. From the top or back, the body shows an "hourglass" shape formed by an upper bout and a lower bout. Two concave C-bouts between each side's corners form the waist of this figure, providing clearance for the bow.
The best woods, especially for the plates, have been seasoned for many years in large wedges, and the seasoning process continues indefinitely after the violin has been made. Glue joints of the instrument are held with hide glue, since other adhesives can be difficult or impossible to reverse when future repairs are in order. Parts attached with hide glue can be separated when needed by using heat and moisture, or by careful prying with a thin knife blade. A well-tended violin can outlive many generations of players, so it is wise to take a curatorial view when caring for a violin.
Read more about this topic: Violin Construction And Mechanics
Famous quotes containing the word body:
“I shook off the sweat and the sun. I understood that I had destroyed the balance of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I had been happy. Then I shot four more times at an inert body which the bullets penetrated without appearing so. And it was like four brief knocks that I struck on the door of misfortune.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Each body has its art, its precious prescribed
Pose, that even in passion’s droll contortions, waltzes,
Or push of pain or when a grief has stabbed,
Or hatred hacked is its, and nothing else’s.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“Love isn’t actually a feeling at all—it’s an illness, a certain condition of body and soul.... Usually it takes possession of someone without his permission, all of a sudden, against his will—just like cholera or a fever.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)