THE TALE OF THE TAILPIECE

From medieval times right up to the present day, the humble tailpiece has undergone myriad changes, from the materials used to the size, design and method of attachment. Eric Fouilhé, Anne Houssay and Raphaël Thirion track the successive transformations of the accessory, explaining how changes in technology and usage influenced its development

FIGURE 2 Left Two examples of string players from the 1340 Codex Manesse, housed at Heidelberg University Library Right A string player depicted in a fresco at the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy

In all the instruments of the violin family, the tailpiece has undergone a lengthy process of transformationThis happened in tandem with changes in all the other instrument parts: strings, pegs, saddles and bridge, as well as the concurrent developments in bow design, methods of playing and changing musical aesthetics. Essentially, the tailpiece is a piece of wood that suspends the end of each string behind the bridge, and allows them to be fixed at the end of the instrument. Its main characteristics are its length in proportion to the size of the vibrating string, its distance from the bridge and the bottom of the instrument, its method of attachment to the instrument and material (gut, metal attachment or wooden anchor), its weight, rigidity, and the way the strings are attached to its upper part.

It is important to keep in mind that the accessories were never treated with the same importance as the instrument itself, and that each part was likely to be changed many times when it wore out – and in each instance replaced according to the fashions of that time.

THE FIRST PLAYERS OF BOWED STRINGS

Archaeological excavations have turned up some examples of tailpieces from the medieval era. In fact, these are the only remnants of original bowed stringed instruments from before the 15th century. However, religious iconography and statues in cathedral porches frequently show players of bowed instruments (figure 1a), which all seem to be of different sizes – often larger and sometimes smaller than the current violin. The tailpieces we have are made from bone (figure 1b); they are between 6 and9cm, while another model is larger, at 14.8cm. Dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries, they are all pierced with a single hole at the lower end. According to the statuary cathedral porches, such as those in Moissac in France, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain, this hole was added to accommodate a cord or strap,tied to a small protuberance at the end of the instrument (figure 1c). These tailpieces and their methods of attachment have many designs: some have two such holes, while others have only one; and the instruments could carry three or five strings, going by the number of string holes in the upper part.

FIGURE 1c Methods of tailpiece attachment, from the Saint-Pierre Abbey in Moissac

FIGURE 1 Far left Illustration from a c.1350 edition of De arithmetica, De musica by Boethius

FIGURE 1b A medieval bone tailpiece found in Lombers, France

TOP LEFT IMAGES COURTESY UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG

The medieval fiddle was carved and hollowed from a single block of wood, with the top added, and it had no soundpost.

All the instruments show great consistency in form and design, right up until the Renaissance. In the iconography shown here, we are interested in the lengths of the vibrating strings, and the positions of the bridges and tailpieces (figure 2).

The tailpiece was often located very close to the bridge, which was placed at different stop lengths on the top plate, thus modifying the length of the vibrating string. The musicians could adjust both the bridge and tailpiece in order to change key and correspond with other instruments, according to the piece being played. It seems that the tailgut was also adjustable: sometimes it was very short, at other times very long. It could also be a single strand tying the tailpiece to the bottom, or two strands together (figure 3).

Sometimes these two strands are crossed over, which allows for greater movement and suggests the designer had a method of sound adjustment in mind. We have seen experiments of this type in the iconography of paintings dated 1504 and 1587.Some modern luthiers have tried the same system, and have reported results including more attack on the string with the bow, a freer bass sound, and easier playing generally. One can also try to improve the sound by laterally moving the bottom of the tailpiece, or modifying the width of the space between the tailpiece cord.

THE RENAISSANCE MELTING POT:

THE VIOLIN FAMILY APPEARS The Renaissance saw the invention of a large number of instruments of all shapes and sizes. This was largely due to the technology used to bend the thin wood for the sides, inspired by the manufacture of lutes. All kinds of instrument families came into being, large and small, played ‘da braccio’ (of the arm) or ‘da gamba’ (of the leg). Many of them fell into oblivion, leaving just the violin and the viol families.

The lira da braccio bridged the gap between the medieval fiddle and the violin family. The instrument (represented in figure 4 by a 1505 example from Venice) was played with a convex bow that could touch all the strings, thanks to the flat bridge, to play chords that accompanied singing voices. The flat tailpiece, in the shape of a trapezium, is depicted here as black in colour, matching the fingerboard. It was undoubtedly made of solid ebony, which Venice imported in large quantities at that time. Another noticeable change is the large distance between the tailpiece and the bridge; the tailpiece has now been moved down to the bottom of the instrument.

The instrument in the top right of figure 5 is probably roughly the size of a violin, and hence is the first known representation of a violin with an arched top, a volute, pegs that are oriented laterally, and f-shaped soundholes. Its tailpiece, on the other hand, has not been modified from that of the 1505 lira da braccio in figure 4: a rectangular plate, fixed very tightly on the button, with a long afterlength. The wood, however, is of a light colour, probably boxwood or wood of the sorb tree (sorbus domestica).

FIGURE 3 Left A 1504 depiction of a vielle in statuary at the Church of St John the Evangelist in Kraków, Poland Right How a tailgut might be twisted on a modern cello

FIGURE 4 Bellini’s 1505 San Zaccaria Altarpiece depicts an angel playing a lira da braccio

FIGURE 5 Instruments depicted by Gaudenzio Ferrari in the 1535 Glory of Angels, dome of the Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno, Italy

By contrast, the gamba instrument in the bottom left of figure 5 has an elaborate sawn-out shaped tailpiece, the first of its kind that we have seen. It appears very mobile, being able to vibrate in rotation around its axis due to its attachment to a single wire supported at a single point. A longer afterlength (the small end of the strings behind the bridge) further increases its mobility, which is favourable to the production of low-frequency sounds.

THE FREIBERG INSTRUMENTS OF 1595

A research team led by Eszter Fontana has examined a set of instruments from c.1595, still in original condition, during the ongoing renovations of Freiberg Cathedral in south-east Germany. This family of five instruments, ranging from a piccolo to bass violin, are among the oldest instruments that have come down to us. We note the presence of a rather square soundpost in one of them, placed on the longitudinal axis of the instrument, approximately in the middle.

More than 400 years ago, this group of instruments was covered in gold paint and placed at the top of the cathedral dome as part of the decoration, to be played by musical angels.

They have been roughly finished, but it is clear that they are real instruments made by a luthier. All the tailpieces are fretted, and all are fixed by a cord, not in suspension but supported by an external cleat at the bottom, flush with the instrument table (figure 6). The tailpieces are therefore well anchored, thus resembling how viola da gamba tailpieces are attached.

The long tailgut of the Middle Ages was abandoned at this time. We have not found this method of fixing elsewhere in the iconography, and even less on surviving instruments where all these characteristics have been subsequently modified. These instruments are contemporaneous with the work of Andrea Amati.

FIGURE 6 Tailpiece of one of the bass instruments from Freiberg Cathedral

FIGURE 7 Left From Le roi David, painted in 1618 by Dutch artist Pieter Lastman

From Nature morte (c.1661) by Peter Claesz

FIGURE 6 JANOS STEKOVICS/UNIVERSITÄT LEIPZIG

FIGURE 8 Tailpieces from the collection of the Musée de la Musique in Paris: (left) Four-string tailpiece given by Vuillaume, who ascribed it to Stradivari (right) four-string tailpiece ascribed to Brothers Amati (1695), also given by Vuillaume

ALL IMAGES COLLECTIONS MUSÉE DE LA MUSIQUE/CLAUDE GERMAIN

THE 17TH CENTURY

The dawn of the Baroque period is generally considered to be around 1600 with the music of Claudio Monteverdi. The iconography shows many examples of elaborate tailpieces on the treble, medium and bass instruments of both the violin and viol families. However, the same trapezoidal shapes also remain.

Luthiers refined and lengthened the tailpiece, adding a small rim at the top to act as a nut for the strings. As with the instruments themselves (particularly viols) they used diverse woods: boxwood, sorb and fruitwoods, but also exotic woods brought back from the new colonies in Brazil, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Ornaments were introduced, such as decorated purfling, motifs in gold paint on a black background, or bas-relief sculptures, sometimes very elaborate (figure 7).

From 1680 the introduction of metal-wound strings resulted in greater wear to the fingerboard and the top of the tailpiece.To compensate for this, both were given veneers of ebony, while decorative elements were removed (figure 8).

THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN TAILPIECE

FROM 1680 TAILPIECES WERE GIVEN VENEERS OF EBON Y, WHILE DECOR ATIVE ELEMENTS WERE REMOVED

By around 1700, gut strings wound with metal (usually silver) were in common use. Luthiers understood all their benefits: they allowed for shorter, thinner bass strings thanks to a greater mass for smaller diameters, and it was easier to play the thinner strings up the neck with the left hand. By this time, medium-sized instruments had disappeared or been cut down, while modern cellos and double basses had appeared.

It was around 1709 that Stradivari developed a new, shorter cello model that came close to the modern standard. The collection of the Musée de la Musique in Paris contains three original tailpieces from Stradivari cellos, part of a bequest from Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (figure 9). In our attempts to understand the evolution of the master luthier’s ideas about the tailpiece at this pivotal time in instrument history, we made copies of all three.

FIGURE 9 Three tailpieces from Stradivari cellos, also from the Musée de la Musique: (left–right) before 1700; c.1700 with inscription ‘Stradivarius’ given in 1874 by Charles Eugène Gand; after 1710

THE STIFFENING OF THE TAILPIECE AND THE SHORTENING OF THE TAILGUT CONTRIBUTED TO A GAIN IN SOUND POWER

Stradivari made his tailpieces thicker and heavier, making it possible for him to abandon the old method of attachment. His version predicts the modern method: longitudinal, short and direct. The version most commonly seen on iconography of Baroque instruments is the ‘crossover’ (en cavalier) method, often using a triple strand of gut (figure 10). The transmission of vibrations is more flexible because the tailgut is longer than the modern version. This is well suited to Baroque music, since it facilitates precision and allows for musical ornamentation, but at the expense of a really powerful sound.

ALL IMAGES COLLECTIONS MUSÉE DE LA MUSIQUE/ CLAUDE GERMAIN

FIGURE 10 The left tailpiece shows the ‘crossover’ method of attachment to the instrument

With the new longitudinal attachment, the tailpiece has been moved significantly closer to the instrument saddle (around 8mm for the cello) compared to the previous ‘crossover’ (en cavalier) mounting. The distribution and direction of the static tensions of the assembly chain (nut–bridge–tailpiece–saddle– button) is thus altered, slightly modifying the constraints on the body of the instrument as well.

The stiffening of the tailpiece itself, made from denser, heavier and thicker wood, and the shortening of the tailgut at the bottom, contributed to a gain in sound power, which we have been able to measure. In addition, the shortening of the tailgut results in a lengthening of the afterlength – the distance between the tailpiece and the bridge. This reduces a muting effect.

In our research, we have observed that the vibrations coming from the bridge and transmitted to the button via the tailpiece may be complex, but do not affect the sound. Indeed, the surface of the tailpiece is too small to make the air audibly vibrate. This transmission of inaudible vibrations depends on each element of the ‘tailpiece chain’, which consists of three parts: afterlength, tailpiece and tailgut. Changing only one of these three parts – in length, weight or stiffness – will necessarily modify the other parts. While these vibrations are inaudible, their modification contributes to changes in the overall sound of the instrument.

At the end of the 17th century Stradivari and his contemporaries modified the properties of the new tailpiece for intonation, playing comfort, and the changes it made to the vibrations of the violin soundbox. It reinforced or reduced certain frequencies emitted by the instrument, playing the role of a frequency filter. Lengthening the tailgut increases playing flexibility and intonation, whereas shortening it increases the reliability of the attack, giving a more powerful sound. The first of these benefits the playing of Baroque ornaments and articulations, while the second facilitates the creation of a new ‘bel canto’ sound.

The matter of stiffness in the attachment also arises in the viola d’amore. The tailpiece of the 1707 Matthias Albani viola d’amore shown in figure 11 has a silver plate on which is soldered a silver wire that rests on the saddle. The tailpiece is carved from an exotic hardwood. Its ‘S’ cutaway on the bridge side lengthens the afterlength of the low strings to facilitate the attack of the string under the bow.

FIGURE 11 A 1707 viola d’amore by Matthias Albani

FIGURE 12 Vuillaume’s ‘tailpiece with automatic mute’

FIGURE 13 One of the tailpieces from Vuillaume’s ‘Evangelists’ quartet of 1863, depicting St Matthew

FIGURES 11 AND 13 COURTESY ERIC FOUILHÉ. FIGURE 12 COURTESY MUSÉE DE BRUXELLES

ROMANTICISM AND THE 19TH-CENTURY TAILPIECE

If the Baroque period was a search for articulation and musical ornamentation, the Romanticism of the 19th century favoured the search for tone quality and fullness of sound. The beginning of the century saw major changes leading to the standardisation of the ‘modern’ violin: thinner necks, new types of bow and developments in string making. Tailpieces were also rapidly being standardised, evolving the shapes, weights and dimensions as we know them today. Virtuosos such as Nicolò Paganini and Louis Spohr were compelled to broaden the harmonic spectrum of their instrument, both from modifications and via their playing.

The tailpiece, almost always made of ebony, was lengthened, with a nut added at the start of the strings. It was also given a more pronounced curvature, particularly at the bottom, and it became more rigid. In addition, we can note Vuillaume’s patented inventions, such as his ‘tailpiece with automatic mute’ which had no future and is now a collector’s item (figure 12).

DECORATION

Beautifully carved tailpieces have existed since the Renaissance, as evidenced by those for bass viols in the Musée de la Musique, alongside the carved violin pegs with fleurs-de-lys that were once put on the 1733 ‘Soil’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and correspond to a drawing by Stradivari, published in the 1902 book by W.E. Hill & Sons.

It was Vuillaume who launched a fashion for ornamented pegs and tailpieces: the so-called ‘Napoleonic fittings’.

Vuillaume’s collaboration with well-known sculptors of his time, and later with the Hill house in London, allowed this prestigious decoration activity to continue (figure 13).Of the 74 violins with sculpted accessories that we have studied, only 10 are definitely by the hand of Vuillaume himself.All of them are in ebony, and much more laden with decorations.The others are in boxwood or ebony, and probably come from the Hill workshop at the beginning of the 20th century.

THE LENGTH OF THE AFTERLENGTH

There are several practical guides to violin making that underline the importance of the tailpiece in the sound. But it is much less common to find ones that provide details or explanations relating to this part of instrument set-up. In the workshops, young luthiers are told without explanation that the afterlength should be one-sixth of the vibrating string length – or even the ‘55mm rule’ to stipulate the length of the afterlength. These rules were not part of the teaching of European violin making schools until the 2000s. So how did they originate?

The composer Louis Spohr was the first to describe, at some point before 1848, a tailpiece created by Johann Heinrich Scheibler that allowed the afterlength of each string to be independently adjustable (figure 14). It is also mentioned inEdward Heron-Allen’s 1884 book Violinmaking, as it was and is, in which he suggests setting the afterlength to one-seventh of the string length.

FIGURE 14 Johann Heinrich Scheibler’s patent application for a unique kind of tailpiece, as cited in Edward Heron-Allen’s Violin-making, as it was and is (1884)

When it comes to tuning the afterlength, in 1875 the Paris-based violinist Achille Dien designed a tailpiece with movable saddles to tune the harmonics and ‘eliminate the bad notes’ (figure 15). In 1895 August Riechers recommended a distance of 55mm between the bridge and tailpiece, corresponding to one-sixth of the vibrating string length, and to tune the small end of the afterlength string using a harmonic of the string. Perhaps this recommendation made its way to Wurlitzer’s and Bein & Fushi, according to the testimonies of two luthiers who are now deceased (one being René Morel). This recommendation made it possible to tune the note of the afterlength to a double octave plus a fifth above the note of the open string.If the theory is correct, it is difficult to achieve because a wound string does not behave like a theoretical string. There can be up to a quarter tone difference in accuracy, depending on the string, for the same length of afterlength. It is also unreliable because of the mobility of the bridge and the stretching of the tailgut.

THE 20TH CENTURY: NEW MATERIALS AND FINE TUNERS

The two world wars, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and developments in recording and radio all had profound consequences for the musical world, and that of instrument makers. Otherwise, the relationship between craftsmen and the commercial sector tended to crystallise advances made in the 19th century, up until the 1950s.

In 1900, industrial violin centres were already publishing catalogues of instruments and accessories. At that time, more than a thousand luthiers were working in the factories of Mirecourt. It was no longer a matter of luthiers making their

FIGURE15 Design for another kind of own accessories, but rather buying them in from manufacturers. This meant they effectively lost control of those parts of the violin.

Just before 1900 the violin’s gut E string was replaced with steel, with consequent ramifications for sound reproduction. The invention of phonographs and recording devices that picked up sound through their bell forced violinists to play very close to the membrane that picked up the vibrations, in order to obtain an audible recording. The sounds of horsehair rubbing against gut strings could obscure the sound of the note itself. The steel E string was then followed by other metal strings, which provided one way to reduce these parasitic sounds due to friction. The first microphones used for radio recordings posed the same problem, requiring the use of completely metallic strings.

These new steel strings were much tighter than bare gut or metal-wound strings, and their exact tuning was more delicate, because the length needed to wind round the peg was eight times smaller than that of a gut string.

Tailpieces with inbuilt fine tuners were therefore essential (figure 16).All-metal cello strings were adopted in the 1970s and 80s, with the use of tungsten, which has a sufficient linear mass for bass notes. Cellists quickly adopted new plastic or aluminium tailpieces with integrated fine tuners. Concurrently, as music schools developed, the manufacture of violins for children intensified. They were often fitted with cheaper metal strings, and individual fine tuners would be fitted on them.

Luthiers find that adding four steel fine tuners on a child’s violin will almost triple the weight of the tailpiece and seriously decrease the afterlength. The resulting sound is so disappointing, it’s enough to make an apprentice violinist lose all motivation.Adult violins with nylon strings, however, keep a fine tuner for the steel E string.

FIGURE 16 Examples of fine tuners, taken from the 1930 catalogue of German manufacturer GoldKlang

ALL IMAGES COURTESY ERIC FOUILHÉ

FIGURE 17 German and Italian violin tailpieces from the 18th century, all taken from the collection of the Istituto della Pietà di Venezia, Italy. The average length is 110mm, with weight 8–9g. The flat trapezoidal planchette model has curves on its sides. The head, while originally very flat, becomes wider and more domed. The more rounded ones in this example are also hollowed under the head, and refined at the bottom, with quite a long tailgut.

Ebony violin tailpieces from the 1912 Thibouville catalogue. Lengths range from 112 to 114mm, with weights 10–15g. The upper rounding is close to that of the bridge. All attachments are now all longitudinal, in the modern style. String holes are slotted for easier string placement. The turn of the century saw decorative trends such as inlaying floral motifs in mother-of-pearl or abalone, and engravings or initials inlaid in gold.

EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR II

Nylon was introduced by the DuPont de Nemours chemicals firm, which had developed it for parachutes and women’s stockings among other things. It was brought into instrument making via collaborations between luthiers and engineers. All kinds of nylon strings were developed for all possible instruments worldwide, and eventually nylon harmonic strings replaced gut strings (except for the E string, which remained most often steel).

The old gut tailgut, which would retain its length once adjusted, was replaced in the 1980s by nylon. Its ends were lined with small nuts to allow easy adjustment to the correct length. In addition to its slightly more elastic mechanical properties than gut, nylon is subject to creep: that is, when under tension, it stretches over time. As this stretching progresses, it can be wound back to its original setting. The use of nylon is not universal and has given rise to the contemporary use of wire or steel cable, or even modern composites such as Kevlar, which are not stretchable.

PERSISTENCE OF 19TH-CENTURY RULES, AND HISTORICAL RESEARCH ON EARLY MUSIC:

Certain aspects of violin making have remained consistent with what was established with the large industries of Markneukirchen and Mirecourt at the end of the 19th century.The dimensions of violin-family instruments, their shapes and materials, and those of their accessories, have also survived on these models. The standardisations of stop lengths, vibrating string lengths, and instrument lengths have become even more fixed, and the rule of the afterlength distance at 55mm (i.e. 330mm of vibrating string divided by 6) has been communicated in the workshops.

From the 1970s onwards, research on ancient instruments and traditional European or non-European instruments has introduced new ideas on strings and mountings, and challenged the standards that once seemed set in stone.

CONCLUSION: MODIFICATIONS TO TAILPIECE GEOMETRY, FROM THE 18TH TO THE 20TH CENTURY

Since the 19th century, the material used for tailpieces has mainly been ebony. The hardness of this wood made it perfect for fingerboards, given its resistance to wear, and this made it possible to harmonise the visual impact of the instruments. The Hills made extensive use of boxwood, one of the hardest and finest European woods. As the cost of ebony remains high, instruments are now fitted with tailpieces made from black-tinted fruitwood.

René Quenoil and Etienne Vatelot, two great French luthiers, had an anecdote dating from their years of apprenticeship in Mirecourt during World War II. At that time the supply of ebony was difficult, but they had large stocks of pernambuco. So they made small tailpieces from pernambuco without finding any acoustic interest in them. This changed a lot in the 2000s when it began to be appreciated, like other hard and very heavy exotic wood species such as snakewood or African blackwood.

Unfortunately, our civilisation devastates and dries up these resources, trees that take 150 years to mature. This excessive exploitation causes not only shortages of materials but also ecological disasters. To replace them, a lot of promising research is currently being carried out on substitute woods, or even ordinary, ‘improved’, stabilised or compressed wood. Tests on carbon-fibre instruments have sometimes been disappointing, despite the excellence of their mechanical performance because we do not find the irregularity, nor the irreplaceable quality, of a piece of wood.

TRANSLATION BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD

ALL IMAGES COURTESY ERIC FOUILHÉ

It would be impossible to name the many luthiers, musicians and scientists who have shared with us, and for so long, their knowledge, their sensations around the tailpiece. May they be warmly thanked.