Detail 1
Ideal Weights for Violin
and Fiddle Parts
On the advice of several luthiers, I pay a good deal of attention to weight as I repair and restore fiddles. I have researched the Internet and numerous books to come up with the following weights. Notice that modern violin parts, especially the top, back, and sides, often weigh more than those made by the early masters. As more modern makers start using a silicate ground, they will, I suspect, return to the weights used by the early masters.
For my work, the weights of the top, back, and fingerboard are, by far, the most important.
Grams
Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97-120
(Lighter is not always better. Try for +/- 105 g.)
Bass Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Block, Corner (each) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Block, Lower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8
Block, Upper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8
Bridge (after it is cut) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chinrest (modern) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-60
Chinrest (old-timey). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-50
End Pin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fine Tuner (steel or brass) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Fingerboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64-65
(A little lighter can be a little better.)
Linings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Neck (without the fingerboard) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65-73
Nut (shaped and polished) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Pegs (each) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Silicate ground (interior only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Silicate ground (interior and exterior) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Sound Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Strings (a set of 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Tailpiece with gut (Whitner Ultra with 4 fine tuners) . . . . . 22
Tailpiece (ebony, with gut, no fine tuner) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10
(A little lighter is a little better.)
Top (graduated but no f-holes and no bass bar) . . . . . . . . . . 55-73
(Lighter is not always better. Try for +/- 64.)
Top (with f-holes and bass bar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55-73
(Lighter is not always better. Try for +/- 64.)
Violin with back, sides, neck, and fingerboard only . . . . . . . +/- 287
Varnish, Ideal (total) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +/- 10
Violin, Naked (body, neck, fingerboard, and sound post only)
355 or less is ideal. 356 to 390 is OK. Good violins may weigh more.
Violin (finished and set up, no chinrest)
400 or less is ideal. 401-420 is OK. Other good violins may weigh more.