| The soundboard is made of "abete
rosso" (red spruce) which comes from the famous Val di Fiemme forest
in Italy. This is the same forest from which the violin makers of the
Cremona School, which included Stradivari, found the spruce for their violins.
The main characteristics of this type of wood are:
- High strength
- Light weight
- Superior regularity of the grain
The Red Spruce shafts are cut on the quarter with a variable width (8-12cm)
and thickness of approximately 10mm. These prepared lengths are then glued together
to form the outline of what will become the soundboard.
Each soundboard is left to season in a temperature-controlled room for a minimum
of two years.
The soundboard is then shaved around the edges until the center is the only area
where the thickness measures between 9 and 6 mm.
The supporting ribs, which are attached to the underneath of the soundboard, are
made of the same wood as the board and are tested before being installed to ensure
they have the required strength.
Soundboard double curvature
We use a special gluing process of the ribs and bridges, we obtain the "double
curvature" in the soundboard. If we observe the soundboard before the gluing process,
a slight curvature toward the same direction of the ribs and bridges will be noticed;
this is to simulate the surface to form a spherical crown. |
