What kind of wood is this?

[hannaz]

I have encountered photos of a violin supposedly made in Poland in 1917, it has a rather unusual back. What wood is it? Excuse the quality of the picture, the website where it was originally posted compresses photos.

[Wood Butcher]

Very hard to tell from such low resolution photos, which show little grain detail.

From the crap picture, my guess is plain maple, and it looks like the back has large wings added on both sides.

[Shelbow]

looks like the back is made in 6 pieces

[hannaz]

1 hour ago, Wood Butcher said:

Very hard to tell from such low resolution photos, which show little grain detail.

From the crap picture, my guess is plain maple, and it looks like the back has large wings added on both sides.

Does plain maple vs flamed maple influence the sound or is it purely the matter of esthetics?

[FiddleDoug]

Pretty sure that it's Maple. I have something similar for sale, except that it Japanese (Nippon), in Manchurian Maple. Striking flames, running the opposite way from what we're used to.

[Dwight Brown]

24 minutes ago, hannaz said:

Does plain maple vs flamed maple influence the sound or is it purely the matter of esthetics?

No, not at all.  There are some famous instruments made with pretty plain maple.  The Primrose Guarneri viola for instance,

DLB

[catnip]

Nie wiem co to jest.    Can you take a close up of several regions of the back?

[Wood Butcher]

31 minutes ago, catnip said:

Nie wiem co to jest.    Can you take a close up of several regions of the back?

The OP said the violin is on a website. I don't think it is in their possession.

 

[hannaz]

59 minutes ago, catnip said:

Nie wiem co to jest.    Can you take a close up of several regions of the back?

 

The photo is from a craigslist-type listing, unfortunately I don't have access to better quality photos. I added a side view in case it helps.

[Wood Butcher]

42 minutes ago, hannaz said:

 

I don't have access to better quality photos. I added a side view in case it helps.

Not really, it's just too blurry to see any proper detail of the wood structure. It could be plain maple, but equally might be something else, especially given the nature of the back construction.

[Jeff White]

Hard to tell from those pics, but I agree with Doug that it looks a lot like the maple on the Japanese Violins  )era, Nippon)

[Andres Sender]

Too blurry to tell if the flecking is right but I'm getting a plane tree vibe.

 

[PhilipKT]

If the instrument is on craigslist, you could easily write the seller and ask for detailed photographs. I do that all the time with interesting instruments on craigslist

[Marty Kasprzyk]

I don't think maple shows that much darkness-lightness variation.

[hannaz]

5 hours ago, PhilipKT said:

If the instrument is on craigslist, you could easily write the seller and ask for detailed photographs. I do that all the time with interesting instruments on craigslist

Good idea. I'll update the first post if I get some better pictures.

[Wood Butcher]

7 hours ago, Marty Kasprzyk said:

I don't think maple shows that much darkness-lightness variation.

Whatever it is, I don't think it is top quality. Looks to me that the wood is stained, which would account for some of the colour variations.

[hannaz]

So I asked the seller for better quality photos and closeups and what I received is ever more blurry so no luck here. Luckily they also attached a report from a luthier where he states that the top is made of pine, and the back is made of beech or fruit tree, possibly pear tree.