Almost all violins have tiger like markings on their backboards, which change their refraction with different angles of sight, making them so dazzling that they are irresistible. How did this tiger pattern come about and what is its function? The backboards of violins are mostly made of maple wood. During the growth process of maple trees, in order to adjust to external environmental changes, the curved parts of the trunk will form a texture like wrinkled spots. This texture not only occurs in maple trees belonging to broad-leaved tree species, but also in pine or fir trees belonging to coniferous tree species. The nature of trees is to grow straight upwards. When the ground is uneven or they grow on slopes, the trunk becomes curved. The cells in the trunk grow unevenly in the uphill and downhill directions to support the branches and leaves above. One side is compressed and squeezed, and the other side is stretched. This natural force is the cause of the tiger stripe pattern. Maple trees with tiger spots are different from ordinary wood in the wood making process. Their cell tissue is not uniform, so they clamp the saw when sawing and deform when drying. The originally square wood becomes crooked after drying. If maple wood is not fully dried and used to make a qin, problems can occur. Just now we talked about how tiger spots are formed by irregular cell growth, just like human wrinkles. They come in different depths and sizes, and deep and large tiger spots are very beautiful and charming after being made into a qin. Some people even specifically choose this type of qin. From the perspective of buyers, it is understandable, but from the perspective of qin makers, there are different opinions. The places where maple trees wrinkle (tiger spots) are mostly close to the tree surface (bark). The closer they are to the center of the tree, the lighter the tiger spot pattern. The color of the wood will become darker and the texture will become denser. Only materials with a denser texture can make the backboard thinner. A thinner backboard has an absolute advantage in vibration and can make a louder sound. Maple wood cannot balance both aesthetics and functionality (producing a loud sound). In addition to maple wood, cherry wood and mahagani wood (translated by the author for reference only) can also be used to make violin backboards without any problems in sound production. The author has seen some guqin instruments that are still in service, some of which still play the role of lead vocalist. The volume of the instrument is like a cannon, rumbling loudly during performance. Its appearance is unremarkable, simple and shabby, and the original dye has faded to a pale yellow color (the original color of the lacquer). The backboard also does not have obvious tiger spots, but it occupies the most important position in performance listening. It seems that the author still struggles with the choice between aesthetics and functionality in the selection of backplate materials. After being harvested for hundreds of years, a maple tree undergoes storage (in water), cutting, drying (a special drying process), selection, and finally cutting into the size we need for making pianos. Only 5% of the entire maple tree may have beautiful tiger spots, while the rest is made of maple without any texture.
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