ZK-281
Mounted on the left side, with a wing that reaches over and around the tailpiece. Large, flat rounded plate with a low edge. Black stained ebony with the white Götz mark, the heaviest of the three woods.
| Model | Vermeer |
| Material | Ebony |
| Fittings | Screws and barrels in metal |
| Instrument | Violin |
| Item number | ZK-281 |
The chin rest sits on the lower bout of the violin and is clamped to the rib with a metal bracket. Its clamp grips over or beside the bottom block, the wooden block inside the body that holds the end pin and reinforces the rib at this point.
The resting chin creates a hold between shoulder and head, and the violin is carried almost entirely by this hold; the left hand supports it only slightly.
Acoustically, the chin rest adds a mass with its own damping to the edge of the body through a few contact points. It therefore mainly slows those natural vibrations of the body that move strongly at these contact points, and leaves free those that have a node (a point at rest) there.
The violin chin rests we have weighed come to between around 41 g and 80 g including screws, depending on model, wood and fittings. With closed screws the barrel sets the height above the rib; violin barrels come in 25, 27 and 29 mm, and most of our violin models take barrels up to 27 mm. With the Hill fitting, by contrast, the feet are firmly joined to the chin rest.
Ebony is the densest of the three woods we use for chin rests, followed by rosewood and boxwood. African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) has a density of 1,000 to 1,050 kg/m³ at 12 % moisture content. Only the deep black heartwood is suitable for instrument making; the broad sapwood is discarded.
How density shows in the finished piece can be seen on the violin Berber, which has the same shape in all three woods: in ebony with standard metal fittings around 56 g, in rosewood around 49 g, in boxwood around 45 g.
It is stained mainly with walnut stain and then polished; this gives the even black surface. After making, our chin rests are stored for several months so that they dry through completely.
We make the Vermeer in Saxony; the violin version ZK-281 in ebony weighs 60 g net. Its present curvature is flatter than that of the original shape, which we adapted a little over two decades ago. The Vermeer is built with closed screws; a conversion to Hill screws is not planned.
For a central head position we name it alongside the New Flesch, the Flesch Traditionell and the Berber.
Before we recommend a model, our first question is whether the chin prefers to rest beside the tailpiece or centrally over it. Our experience when tightening: a chin rest only needs to sit firmly enough to hold securely, because the rib beside the bottom block is more delicate than the spot directly over the block. If the chin rest touches the tailpiece, we solve it through the angle of the screws or with a slightly longer barrel.
Anyone who would like less weight at the chin will find many of our models in boxwood too, the lightest of the three woods; on the violin Berber that is around 11 g less than in ebony.
Anyone seeking the central position with clear support in the middle will find it in the Flesch Traditionell.
Natural cork without coating, so that the chin rest does not slip and no metal touches the varnish; pressed cork is unsuitable because it crumbles over time.
Yes, our ebony chin rests are stained and polished so that they are evenly black. Anyone who wants to see the natural figure of the wood chooses the unstained version with the suffix -NAT.
On average, African ebony at around 1,030 kg/m³ is just under a fifth denser than East Indian rosewood at around 870 kg/m³.
No, the Vermeer is built for closed screws; it is, however, made in a titanium -T version.
These texts hold decades of experience and a great deal of heart. They are protected by copyright, C.A. Götz jr. GmbH. Please ask us before any use. Thank you for your appreciation.
