All About Fingerboards

April 22, 2013 at 8:03 PM

As a luthier at Kennedy Violins, I spend hours a day staring at fingerboards--sanding them, smoothing them down, looking for the scoop (see below). As you can imagine, a stringed instrument would be impossible to play if there were no place to put your fingers. So, naturally, one of the most important parts of a violin is the fingerboard: the long black piece of wood that (hence the name) is a board on which you put your fingers.

A fingerboard painted black to look like ebony. Fingerboards made with less-dense white woods usually decrease the value of the instrument. (Photo by Steve Snodgrass)

IS IT EBONY? AND DOES IT MATTER?
The main reason ebony is used for fittings (chinrests, fingerboards, nuts, pegs, end buttons, tailpieces) on stringed instruments is not because it's pretty or exotic, but because it's STRONG. Each time your press a metal-wound string down in contact with the wood, the wood has to be dense and strong enough to be a firm platform and hold up to potential wear over time. For example, imagine if your teeth were made out of balsa wood instead of enamel. Each bite would wear your teeth away in no time.

SHAPE & CONSTRUCTION
If you look at the fingerboard, it may not look very special at a glance. But while this standard part may look like a simple addition to the body of a violin, it must be made with detail and meticulous precision in order to function as it should.

1. Curve
When you look at the fingerboard of a violin, you'll notice that its not flat like a fretted fingerboard on a guitar or mandolin. The reason why the fingerboard is convexly arched on violins, violas, cellos, and basses is because these instruments are bowed rather than exclusively strummed or plucked.

Violin fingerboards are not flat like the fretted fingerboard of a guitar or mandolin. (Photo by Blind Robert)

Think about it. When you're playing a bowed stringed instrument, you're normally playing one note at a time. Playing one note at a time means your bow is only touching one string at a time. If the fingerboard were flat and the strings level, drawing a bow across the instrument would cause all the strings to vibrate at the same time.

Therefore, the arch of the fingerboard (as well as the bridge) must be precisely shaped and measured so that individual strings may be played with ease.

2. Scoop
By just looking at a fingerboard, you probably won't even notice the imperceptible dip in the length of the violin. While there is a convex arch across the width of the violin, there is a concave scoop along the length.

The scoop in the fingerboard leaves room for the vibration of the strings. Imagine pressing a string down on a completely flat fingerboard with a flat bridge. The string would lie flat along the length of the fingerboard making contact at every point, giving the string either no room to vibrate at all or just enough to buzz.

When luthiers (violin makers) plane and carve the scoop into a fingerboard, they start by placing a straight-edge along the length. They slowly carve a dip into the fingerboard until it meets precise measurements. This will keep the strings from buzzing when played.

Raw Ebony (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

3. Smoothness
Fingerboards (as well as every part of the violin) are smoothed with wet and/or dry sandpapers, micromesh, steel wool, and scrapers to be extremely smooth to the touch. Who wants to press their fingers down on rough, splintery wood? Ouch!

Smoothing and scraping out any bumps also prevents buzzing. If you sight down the fingerboard, it should look smooth, not wavy or ripply.

CRACKS & IMPERFECTIONS
Most cosmetic imperfections on the surface of a fingerboard can be corrected. First, check and see if your fingerboard is made of ebony or a white wood painted black. If the wood is anything other than ebony, it will be approached differently because it is coated with a finish. A fingerboard not made of ebony lessens the value of an instrument.

1. Cracks
For cracks, the key is depth. Is the crack large enough that it opens when you put pressure on either side, the fingerboard will need to be either 1) clamped and glued, or 2) replaced. Fingerboards are typically glued on with hide glue, a water-soluble glue used by luthiers so instrument parts can be removed, repaired, or replaced.

2. Chips, Scratches & Surface Cracks
Because not all pieces of ebony are perfectly smooth, and some may be splintered in the planing process (especially if the wood grain isn't forgiving), one trick luthiers use is filling imperfections with a clear glue (or even fingernail polish) mixed with ebony dust. Black dyes can also cover any discoloration in the wood.

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So next time you pull out your violin, take a look at your fingerboard. Look to see if its ebony or wood, then look for the scoop, observe the shape, and check its smoothness. Who knew there was so much to it?

From Bo Pontoppidan
Posted on April 23, 2013 at 8:06 AM

"a stringed instrument would be impossible to play if there were no place to put your fingers"
Not completely true: Look at how an Erhu is played.

From John Cadd
Posted on April 23, 2013 at 12:41 PM

In an article by a violin historian/restorer/maker he showed how the original (called authentic) violins had softwood fingerboards with a veneer of hardwood .There is a view of Leonid Kogan`s ebony fingerboard as he plays and you see a series of dips reflected on the fingerboard. The worst,most uneven fingerboard I have is on a cheap £3 French factory violin (Medio Fino)picked up on the market.It has mother of pearl insets to indicate finger positions and is very worn. It`s more like a hobnail boot surface. But strangely it hardly affects the intonation. Not too uncomfortable for sliding the fingers though , but could be better . The people who paint or stain the fingerboard realise that many players will be more interested in the appearance rather than the actual function,which is to be durable in use. An interesting piece of violin psychology there .In the motorcycle world there is a saying "form follows function".It has to work no matter what it looks like.What rule applies to violinists? "Form follows appearance " no matter what it works like . Oh dear,we`re back to shoulder rests!
One word about the African workers where the ebony is produced .It all looked untidy and dusty which is a shame as the dust will cause cancer .Also remember for ecological reasons that brown stripes in the ebony will not spoil it`s function one little bit. But it`s not black and we all know that appearance rules.Thefore we will all need to face the day when there is no more ebony wood to go around.I believe the brown ebony used to be burnt or just thrown away .Such a waste .

From Royce Faina
Posted on April 28, 2013 at 2:23 PM

Very well written and really nice to have such info!

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