Body   

Body consists of the top plate also called the belly, back plate, ribs which connect the top and bottom plate at the side and the neck .The backplate, ribs and neck are made of maple or sycamore whereas spruce is generally used for the belly.
The purfling running around the edge of the spruce top provides some protection against cracks originating at the edge. It also allows the top to flex more independently of the rib structure. Painted-on faux purfling  on the top is a sign of an inferior instrument.

Scroll

The main function of the scroll other than to hang up the violin is to be a decorative part. Violin makers show their originality by carving the scroll. 
 
Pegs                                                                                                                                                      
Pegs are normally made of ebony, but they are also made of boxwood or rosewood. Each peg has a hole through which a string is inserted runs through the nut, over the fingerboard, across the bridge and is attached to the tailpiece. We tighten or loosen the strings by turning the pegs. Buy pegs here.  sometimes pegs become loose in such a way that you cannot tune the strings or the strings will become out of tune while playing . You can make use of peg drops .  If your pegs are too tight you may have to make it loose by appyling peg compound. Glaesel Hill Peg Compound is a recommended peg compound

Peg Box

The peg box is the hollowed-out compartment  through which the tuning pegs pass.  It comes below the scroll.  Peg box should withstand the tension of the strings on the pegs and the pegs should  be layed out to make sure that each string touches only its own peg.


Violin String
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
Gut strings which were made from sheep’s intestine were prevalent  till
the latter half of 19th century.  Initially Plain gut strings were used. Now they are wound with aluminum or silver and called as gut core.  They have a very good tone with high overtones, but have a very slow response.  They are too sensitive to humidity and temperature and so get out of tune fast. Kaplan Golden Spiral, Pirastro Eudoxa, The Pirastro Gold, Pirastro’s Oliv are some of the leading brands.  Click here for more information and buying 

A synthetic core violin string use perlon ( trade name for a type of nylon) wrapped with silver or aluminum.  These type of strings are not affected by changes in temperature and humidity as much as gut strings.  They stay in tune much better and also have a quicker response.  Thomastik-Dominant, Thomastik-Vision,  Pirastro Tonica, Corelli Alliance, Corelli Crystal, Pirastro Obligato, Evah Pirazzi, Super-Sensitive Sensicore, Thomastik-Infeld Blue,    Thomastik-Infeld Red   are leading brands.  Click on each  for more information and buying.
 
Steel strings were first introduced in the late 19th century. E strings are generally made of steel .  The A, D, and G strings use a core off steel covered with a variety of metals, including chrome steel, silver, tungsten, and titanium. Steel strings have the quickest response . They produce less overtones and are higher in tension and thinner than other types of strings. SuperSensitive Red Label  is  noted for its extreme durability and lower price.  Jargar, Pirastro Piranito - also inexpensive -, D’Addario Helicore are leading brands. Click on each for more information and buying.

Another factor  when buying a violin string is the gauge. Gauge is the diameter of violin string and the tone is critically dependent on the gauge. The larger the diameter, the heavier the string is. Heavier strings require more tension for the same pitch. A heavier violin string will also produce a louder and thicker tone. Heavy, Thick, Stark, Forte are terms used by manufacturers for heavy strings whereas Soft, Light, Dolce, Weich, Thin are terms used for soft strings and Medium, Mittel are terms used for medium gauge strings. These are the most commonly used gauge.

Fine Tuner    

A violin fine tuner is used to fine tune the strings after they come close to tune using the pegs.  Fine tuners makes it easier to tune the violins and so are preferred by many beginner violinists. Some violins have a fine tuner on the tailpiece for the E String, some with fine tuners installed for all the strings. Most fine tuners contains a metal screw that moves against a lever that tighten the strings. If you have a lever style fine tuner, make sure that it does not  damage the top of  violin by rubbing against the top.  Click here  for violin fine tuner.

Finger Board

The fingerboard is the piece of wood that is laminated on top of the neck of violin and above which the strings run . A violin's fingerboard is traditionallly made of ebony. The player presses strings down to it in order to change their vibrating lengths, causing changes in pitch.
 
Bridge                                                                                                                                          

The bridge supports the strings above the fingerboard from the nut, over the bridge to the tailpiece. Bridges are usually made of maple as they have the ability to withstand the pressure caused due to tightening of the strings. Some bridges like this Glaesel 4/4 Violin Bridge  have an insert of ebony where the E-string will go to prevent its digging into the bridge. Glaesel  bridges are of excellent quality and are recommended.   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
How to fit the bridge to the violin     

                                                                               Finished bridge          
 
A bridge has to be fitted to the violin by carving its feet to match the curvature of the violin belly. One side of the Violin bridge is flat, the other is slightly tapered. When you fit a bridge on a violin, the tapered side will face the tailpiece and the flat side will face the scroll. The flat side should form a right angle with the violin's belly. To place your bridge, look for the side of the bridge with the shorter height and place it towards the E string. The taller side of the bridge  should face towards the G string.  Also the triangular
notches located  at the center of each f-hole should be in line with both sides of the bridge. 
                                                                                                                   
Bass bar

Bass bar is a thin, about 265 mm long wooden strip attached ( glued) to the interior of the top plate (belly) underneath bass side of the bridge It is almost parallel to the strings.. The bass bar helps it to transfer the sound vibrations to a larger area of the top plate

Sound post

The sound post is a cylindrical piece of wood which is fitted to the interior of the
instrument underneath the treble side of bridge between the backplate and front of violin.It is made of spruce. Tight violin strings which pushes the bridge down provides a pressure from the top to the bottom plate and the sound post is held on this pressure. The main function of sound plate is to transfer the sound energy from the top plate to the back plate of the instrument.. The accurate positioning of the sound post is very important as it critically affects the quality and timbre of sound and the playability of violin.

Tailpiece                                                                                                                                                                
 
Tailpiece The tailpiece anchors the strings to the lower bout of the violin by means of the tailgut, which loops around the endpin, which fits into a tapered hole in the bottom block . Tailpieces are made of ebony, rosewood, boxwood, or plastic compounds. Wittner,  and Thomastic-Infeld  which comes with 4 fine tuners along with it and Glaesel  are recommended.
 

Chin Rest

Chin rests are made of wide variety of materials including bakelite, plastic, ebony, rosewood and boxwood.  Chin rests made of ebony are the most sought after followed by boxwood and   rosewood.
Two famous styles of chin rest are Guarneri which comes over the tailpiece and Kaufmann  for left of the tailpiece. Click here for more information.

Violin Shoulder Rest

There has been arguments about shoulder rests dampening the vibrations that is produced by violin.
But every human is made different and differ much in posture.  Many people find it difficult to hold violin
for long time without hurting their necks or shoulders.  If at all a violin shoulder rest dampen the vibrations by a very small percentage (may be 5%),  the extra vibartions that you get without a shoulder rest is of no use if you are in constant pain or discomfort when you practice violin.
If you have a good violin shoulder rest, you should be able to move your chin and shoulders freely, and you feel that your left hand is more free for finger positions. Other options to using a violin shoulder rest is the use of soft sponge pads . They are cheaper, but most of them has to be tied to violin using a rubber band. Glaesel shoulder pads  and Giardinelli Slim Softie Shoulder Pad  are two brands available .


Mute

Mutes are devices used to produce a muted sound. Mutes are placed on one of the strings, between the bridge and tailpiece, and are placed in contact with or attached to the bridge. Mutes dampen the vibrations and reduces the volume of sound . So mutes can be used if your neighbor gets irritated or complains when you practice the violin. Wire mute and Ultra practice mute can mute the sound to a very low level.




Bows

A violin bow of the highest quality and price is made of Pernambuco wood from Brazil. Another wood used is
Brazilwood.  The inside thick wood of the tree is called Pernambuco while the outer layers are called Brazilwood . Other materials used for bow sticks are fiber glass and carbon fiber epoxy. François Tourte who lived in 19th century France is considered as the Father of modern day violin bow .Modern bows have not changed much in design and making from 19th century. 

Violin Rosin                                                                                  
 
Violin rosin is also known as colophony. It is a resin collected from pine trees . Of the different classifications of violin rosin one is the student grade and another, professional grade.  Student grade rosin is cheaper and has a grittier sound. Professional grades produces more smoother tone and are higher priced and produces less powder than a student grade rosin. Violin rosin is also classified as Light and dark. Light rosin ( amber rosin) are suited if you are living in a hot and humid    atmosphere . Dark rosin suit cold and dry climates. There are also medium grade rosin available in the market which has the qualities between that of light and dark rosin.violin rosin is sometimes mixed with metals like silver,  gold and copper for extra friction. These metals will give a more smoother , rich tone but are much more expensive than ordinary rosin.  Commercially rosins are marked by letter A ,B and so on  where A is the darkest and B is the lighter than A.