When the violinmaker starts preparing to make an instrument, he must first of all consider his choice of materials and create a design strategy. The rough flitches of wood used for the belly and back plates are glued together with joints that must last perhaps for hundreds of years. To shape the outline of the thin strips of maple called the ribs, a mould is made which is later removed from the structure. The front and back plates must be worked fairly thin to be able to resonate easily, but because they must also support a lot of tension, they are shaped into very exact arches.
The edges of the thin plates are then reinforced by the inlaying of the purfling which also adds visual style. Once the outside arching of the plates has been shaped, the hollowing of the inside can begin. The graduation of the plates to the proper thickness along with the cutting of the sound holes and fitting and gluing the bass bar are really the most difficult aspects of violin making.
No two pieces of wood have the same properties and must therefore be treated differently every time. After the finished instrument has been coated in a glorious veil of tinted varnish, it can be adjusted tonally by means of the sound post and other aspects of the final fitting up.
“There are above 100 people in China who make violins, and are also players,” Na said.