How The Violin Fingerboard Works

[@richardmorris7188]

I just found your channel a few days ago. I do not play the violin but am a competent guitar tech and luthier. You sir are very skilled, to the point of amazing. Your channel style is very entertaining as well. I am finding much in your videos that can help me on my guitar work. Thanks for posting all these wonderful videos. You have a new subscriber.

[@victorvalentino5872]

Finally someone who makes sense and is a true professional and educator in this day and age! Make life livable everyday.

[@physicsjeff]

"Curviture" sounds about right, for an Australian. 😊 Great stuff as always, Olaf! Love your work. Peace oot from Canada

[@mellissadalby1402]

MMMM... Coffee! I am SO appreciative of the fine details you explain and demonstrate in your videos about all aspects of a violin's construction. Like you, I am convinced that the more you understand how this wonderful machine is built and how it works, the more potential you have to become the best violinist you could be. Thank you so much!

[@hibanasif2955]

Very important video.. Actually my violin is pro and handmade after one year I saw the gap in fingerboard I thought it is fault in craft.. So I asked the luthier he tell me don't worry it's normal.. Thanks for the explanation

[@jasonlw0]

I never even thought fingerboard maintenance was a thing!

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

It's quite amazing how much there is to stringed instruments.

[@michaelwhisman7623]

I buy and restore totalled violins. I have to plane almost everyone I find.

[@zacharyrowe8395]

Love your work Olaf you explain the workings of the violin well. It helps me to understand what is happening while i am playing/learning. Im a very mechanical person so if i understand the how's and why's then i learn faster and better. Thanks for the video

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Thank you Zachary. I am glad they are helping you understand the violin better. Feel free to make suggestions about other aspects of the violin you would like to know about.

[@zacharyrowe8395]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker i would like to know more about the bridge and how the different shapes like the thickness of the saddle affect the tone. And if oils from skin will cause the strings to become flat sounding like g and e because of straightening the bridge pockes up oils from fingers

[@wendynordstrom3487]

Wow! I never knew all the intricacies! (But I suspected.) Thanks, Olaf!

[@MattLeGroulx]

I've been binge watching you videos Olaf! Knowing how your tool works, which is what a violin is, is so important to knowing how to use it. Thanks!

[@Louise-zs9rl]

Great video Olaf, very interesting and thanks for posting!

[@simondanielssonmusic]

I've been on an Olaf binge the recent week. Very fun and interesting videos!

[@bily4566]

I really enjoy your videos you just put all the peace’s back together again amazing

[@nachosun_]

This man imparted so much knowledge into my brain rn

[@rw218]

I love the look of that softer ebony. It is beautiful.

[@michaelwhisman7623]

Violins are meant to sound good. Not look good. I have had some wonderful violins that were very sad looking.

[@rw218]

@@michaelwhisman7623 I agree completely. But I don't see a problem with admiring the aesthetic quality of a piece of wood as well.

[@tokyochemist]

I learned so many new things from this video, thank you! I would love a video about yearly maintenance: what you should be sending your violin into the shop for. I bought my first (non-student) violin two years ago, a beauty from the 1700s, and I feel like I should have been in the shop for some sort of maintenance by now but I haven't found any good information about that.

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, keep an eye out for a video on annual maintenance in the next few weeks.

[@mattdbridges]

i learned loads from this thank you! i live near Louisville Ky and hope i can find a luthier that is talented enough to do this for my instrument.

[@davidbostock6933]

Wow, I had no idea. What was covered Explained simply and thoroughly. My browsing has brought to mind other issues. String height above the fingerboard that you cover in another video, and fingerboard angle and bridge height impacting bridge pressure on front of violin transferring string vibration efficiently or too much pressure restricting movement of violin front surface, that was mentioned as a complication in another's KZbin video and they thought could only be resolved by trial & change.

[@scribbles8865]

Not a musician, just curious. If a fingerboard is planed multiple times across years of maintenance, does the fingerboard ever get too thin for continued use? If so, how would you deal with that or how long would it take for that to happen?

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Hi J L, Yes totally... Great question... It really depends on the hardness and thickness of the fingerboard as well as the player and how much they wear into the fingerboard. I usually expect a fingerboard to last between 20 and 40 years. Each time the fingerboard is planed, a fraction of a millimetre is taken off.

[@TomLeg]

So the fingerboard on a Stradivarius is actually post-WWII

[@joestevenson5568]

@@TomLeg Depends how often the strad gets played. Some of them only come out a few times a year, as opposed to getting practiced on 40hrs a day like a “normal” violin.

[@michaelwhisman7623]

@@TomLeg Why would anyone assume that?? The Messiah has hardly ever been played.

[@michaelwhisman7623]

@@joestevenson5568 One can t3ell the politics of people who make such assumptions.

[@tommierichardson9070]

Love your vids, you are definitely a master of your work

[@suniljain9507]

Fully dedicated to violin . You are grate teacher

[@TomLeg]

Love the sanding music!!

[@JuanDavid-ms6vs]

Gratitud!!!

[@VIM365]

Aw man, I’ll be at school at this time, hopefully I can still make it

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

You can always watch it afterwards... hope you have a great day at school

[@katie4623]

Hi there this is such a helpful video thank you. My teacher says that planning my cello fingerboard will reduce the string height but this is a brand new cello I just bought and I’m so afraid of tampering with it. Also if you shave down fingerboard won’t that just INCREASE the distance between the strings and the fingerboard rather than reduce it? I would be so grateful for any thoughts on this.

[@beldawilliams3282]

We bought my violin blind but we were lucky that it turned out to be a very beautiful red shade.

[@jacisantos1849]

Very useful information, thank you.. I always thought the fingerboard was supposed to be straight, not slightly concave. My violin does make a buzz noise, specially on the A and D strings and I wonder if that could be the reason.

[@snowyminnesota6028]

I'm not Olaf! But I've had students with buzzy strings where the fault was that the string's groove through the nut was cut too deeply. Kitchen counter repair was to put some material (in my case, a piece of chamois) under the string to lift it just a bit higher. I keep urging them to get that fiddle to a luthier! But after three months of "We'll go in the next couple weeks," I gave up. At least it's less horrible than before. Take a look at the clearance of your strings. You might be able to see what's wrong, at least in part, but there are SO many issues to balance: bridge height, proper cut of nut, proper fingerboard shaping, and even angle of fingerboard/neck set. Messing around with one variable affects everything else, and on the best instruments it *all* has to be ideal. You need a pro.

[@mmartin7483]

@@snowyminnesota6028 WHAT great answers you gave.

[@musictree5064]

Interesting video👍🏼👌🏼

[@roytofilovski9530]

The concave nature of the fingerboard is similar to the idea of "neck relief" in a guitar. However, with a guitar you change the relief via the truss rod, and almost all guitars have only one truss rod. Therefore, the relief is the same across the width of the fingerboard at any given fret position.

[@gregaltenhofel7326]

Olaf I watch because I’m a guitarist (mostly) i strongly believe no one would no more about a wooden stringed instrument than a master violin maker. I finally have a question for you if you would indulge me just a bit. Do all high end violins, viola’s etc have ebony fret boards? Or do some have a rosewood or equally hard & smooth? And if so what qualities beside hardness, smoothness is looked for?

[@mmartin7483]

GREAT question you raised; it was on my mind also. I do hope Master Olof gets to see your question and reponds.

[@enealiviu4797]

You used a Romanian folk song by George Enescu called The Lark(Ciocârlia). It was funny hearing it in high speed🤣🤣🤣.

[@roman14032]

to be clear, check if my understanding is correct, the radius of the curvature of the neck is slightly greater than the radius of the curve of the bridge, therefore slightly flatter now on an other issue, i understand the correct string heights at the end of the finger board but what are the correct string heights at the nut?

[@joshuawidmer3305]

What do you use to re color the fingerboard black? I also would like to know, if I have a really old copy of a stratavarius, and the finger board is really worn, would re finishing it hurt the potential value?

[@mattdbridges]

do you recommend Wittner fine tune pegs? thank you for any response!!

[@joehalas378]

So if you plain an old finger board how can it be the right height to the bridge and from the top of the violin body. And the right height itself?

[@Mischu708]

On guitars we use to treat the fretboard with mineral oil to keep it from drying out too much(and to keep a dark color), is it the case for violin fingerboards as well?

[@mmartin7483]

That's a Great question ! I'm waiting to read our Master Luthier Olof's answer.

[@oicfas4523]

Just put a straight edge on my violin's fingerboard, and it is slightly concave. Never knew that before.

[@geraldinebaker1007]

My fingerboard seems to have a hump at the location where it goes onto the body of the violin. Could I just sand this small area down level with the rest of the fingerboard. Thanks.

[@nskimharris]

I can't find a neck reset video - is there one?

[@gnzlsdj]

Sir Olaf, can fingerboards(that are not made from ebony) still be good?

[@Γκριουρανό]

Yes but the life span is expected to be shorter. In the past violins had maple and rosewood fingerboards but also used gut strings that were softer to play but metal strings are tougher so they wear out more from the fingerboard and ebony is pretty much the prefered option for making them. It´s very heavy and it´s known that it takes away some resonance from the instrument but it´s also very resiliant to the metal strings and also the sweat and oils from the hand of the musician

[@snowyminnesota6028]

Olaf, that fiddle with the soft ebony that was so very badly eroded: surely you had to take that down quite a bit? Did you thereafter have to cut the bridge down also, to adjust string height? And then doesn't reducing bridge height affect sound output (that's what I heard anyway - my dad was an amateur luthier, but he adored doing the research)? Of course, maybe on an instrument that was made with cheaper (softer) ebony that's definitely going to wear faster, it's more about playability than projection. Right? Still curious about whether you had to do anything with the bridge.

[@ElsweyrDiego]

i have this same question. after some maintenance with the next years soon the fingerboard itself needs to be replaced

[@michaelwhisman7623]

@@ElsweyrDiego Yes it does.

[@Tostra1997]

Hi Olaf, I have a question regarding fingerboard shaping... Are the sides scooped as well as the playing surface? I have had to make the sides scooped to meet a strangely carved neck once in a while, but I don't know why you wouldn't make the sides straight on a new instrument? I haven't been able to find any reliable information on this, so I hope you can help :-) I'm in the process of making my first cello at the moment. I mostly want to match the feel of the playing interface of my own cello so swapping between the two won't be too difficult, but of course I also want to do things the "correct" way where mine is off a little bit.

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

The sides should be straight lengthwise. Sometimes after instruments get older the sides get scooped as well.

[@Tostra1997]

Thank you, that's what I thought. I talked to a guy once who insisted that the width of the overhang should increase in a curved function, but mathematically that doesn't make sense. I'll make my sides straight :-)

[@mattdbridges]

oh by the way, when i practice a lot i notice black on my fingertips, is this from my relatively new Eva Pirazzi strings or is it from my fingerboard?

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Probably from your fingerboard... sometimes they use wood other than ebony and dye it... the dye can come off

[@mattdbridges]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker my fingerboard is definitely ebony, the dark marks are only in the dents from my strings. Thanks loads for the reply! I was so excited to see Olaf had responded to my question!!

[@peterc2016]

Have you ever run into situations or client requests for customizing finger board dimensions (width and thickness, let’s say)?

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

There are some standard measurements that work well for most people and also help with resale of instruments. Just some players have small fingers or really wide fingers... so narrower neck and Fingerboard help with the first one and wider Fingerboard for wide fingers. The problem with narrowing the neck is that the instrument needs a neck graft to reverse it.

[@rafaelcobos2470]

Where can you find these metal templates for measuring curvature? Are they handmade or purchased?

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

I made that one myself... I think if you Google Strobl violin measurements, he has a paper template in his book

[@rafaelcobos2470]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker Thank you! Love your videos

[@stephaneparis5115]

dommage que votre vidéo ne soit pas traduite en français 😭 j'ai regardé toutes les autres grâce au sous titré en tout cas merci pour vos conseils 😉

[@razvanbutiac7684]

You didn't let out any numbers... yes we understand the importance... but what is the radius of that curvature?

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

42mm for violin

[@kaiyuanwu8903]

Is it normal that I find I need fingerboard planing every year?

[@michaelwhisman7623]

Maybe we can all chip in and buy her a new fingerboard. LOL

[@terry1965]

I really enjoy your work I've learned a lot from you but I believe you should wear a mask while playing and scraping ebony I would not want to see you get sick