The neck and the fingerboard affect the ease with which a viola is played and also its sound. The fingerboard of the viola is curved very slightly in a concave shape, this is because otherwise the strings would collide with the wood when vibrating. Usually the fingerboard is made of Ebony wood, because of its perfect density and acoustic properties. The fingerboard is the piece of the instrument that wears out the violinist the most when playing, since the strings continually brush against each other while playing the instrument and breakages can occur.
This is why is very important the maintenance of the pieces, using oils or specialized products for the care of the instrument.
Ebony is one of the densest woods in existence, its homogeneous black color is a very important visual quality; the quality of the fingerboard will depend on the intensity of the black color and on the fibers being close together and straight. These characteristics will ostensibly increase the quality of the instrument.
In Maderas Barber we have one of the largest stocks of ebony fingerboards in the world, both in finished and semi-finished fingerboards, providing to our customers a wide variety of qualities and sizes for all types of instruments.Â
