Renaissance Design - viola, viol, violin, the origin of the F-hole

A short theory on Renaissance design.
Have you noticed the shape of the holes on the modern Violin? They're called F-Holes because they appear to resemble a cursive 'f' shape. The same shaped sound holes are also found on the Cello and upright Bass too. Stringed instruments require a hole for the sound to escape its sound box or it's body. Common sound hole shapes include; a simple round circle, a C-hole (pre 15th century) or an F-Hole (Post 15th Century). On guitars or mandolins, a single round or oval hole is usually directly under the strings, C-holes are found on early stringed instruments such as the Rebec, the Viol and the Lyra. They are pairs of holes placed symmetrically on both sides of the strings. Most photos or painting of these instruments have C-holes however some 'viola da braccio' from the late 15th century have F-Holes. The F-Hole is predominant on violins from the 16th century made by the "great" violin makers of the Amati family: Andrea Amati, his brother Nicolo, and Adrea's sons and grandsons. Since it preceded the standard violin of Amati, the F-hole may be a design of Renaissance thinking. Renaissance idealism was obsessed with Golden measures in nature. The circle or sphere is considered a construct of sacred geometry. If you take the shape of an f-hole it is 2 opposing Fibonacci spirals. Sound is the vibration of matter. Anything on motion makes a wave which is a sound. How is this connected to the F-hole shape? A viola maker during the late 1400's was likely peeling a Clementine imported from Morocco, and noticed that if you peel it with one single peel flattened, you get an f-hole. A sphere flattened out is the shape of an f-hole.

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• Violin
• Design
• f-hole
• Renaissance
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• Lyra
• Viol
• Chello
• Upright-Bass
• Curve
• Clementine
• peel
• Musical
• Insturment
• Viola
• Classical