A violin tailpiece is a structure that acts as an anchor for the violin strings that are not connected to the tuning pegs. The tailgut connects the endblock, or bottom of the violin, to the tailpiece, which is centered on the bottom of the front of the violin below the bridge. Violinists pay close attention to their violins’ tailpieces because they affect not only the instrument’s aesthetics but also its overall sound and responsiveness.
Violin tailpieces are made from a variety of woods violin makers. Ebony, rosewood, and boxwood are the most common woods used violin makers for this purpose. The tailpiece is traditionally made of the same wood as the fingerboard and pegs. Because each wood type has a different density, this helps the violin appear balanced and has an impact on the physical balance of the instrument. A typical wood tailpiece weighs about.5 ounces (15 grams), though synthetic tailpieces can be as little as half that.
A violin tailpiece can be found in three different styles. The English or Hill type, which has a roof-like shape, is the first. The French, on the other hand, is rounded. The tulip style is more like a wine glass in shape.
A violin maker can add embellishments to a violin tailpiece if desired. He might, for example, carve intricate details into the tailpiece wood. These are solely for the purpose of beautifying the instrument. The embellishments should never interfere with the tailpiece’s overall structural integrity or function, nor should they have a significant impact on the structure’s overall weight or balance.
There is tension between the violin tailpiece and the tuning pegs on a playable violin. Regardless of whether the tailpiece is embellished, a well-built violin tailpiece must withstand this tension. This is why this part of the violin is made of harder, denser woods like ebony.
Every violin has its own distinct weight and tone color due to variations in the wood used and minor design changes. A violin tailpiece should ideally match the characteristics of the violin it will be attached to. The violin will have more warmth and responsiveness if the violin maker does this correctly. There should also be few, if any, wolf notes, which are produced when the played note matches the instrument’s resonating frequency.
When a tailpiece is made, the length of the tailpiece, the position of the string and tailgut holes, and the arc of the tailpiece are all taken into consideration. The density of the tailpiece wood, for example, has an impact on how the tailpiece functions and how the violin sounds and responds. The strings should not taper inward, and the tailpiece should roughly match the arc of the bridge. Violins with a shorter distance between the bridge and the end of the violin require a smaller tailpiece, while violins with a longer distance between the bridge and the end of the violin require a larger tailpiece.
The afterlength, or the amount of string between the tailpiece and the bridge, has an ideal distance in theory. This is 1/6 of the string’s playing length. The afterlength should be tuned two octaves and a fifth above the playing length’s open note. The afterlength of the G string, for example, should be D.
On the tailpieces of some violins, fine tuners are included. Due to the added mass, fine tuners are usually only used on the E string. Fine tuners enable players to make string pitch adjustments that would be difficult to achieve with a larger tuning peg.