The VSA & Oberlin Acoustics Workshop presents First Fridays - March 6, 2026
Breaking the Rules: A Mathematical Model for the Arching of the Violin
Sebastian Gonzalez, Politecnico di Milano
Friday, March 6, 2026, 1-3 pm Eastern US Time
About the Presenter
Sebastian Gonzalez is a physicist and instrument maker currently based in Santiago de Chile. Lived and worked the last 6 years in Cremona working at the Politecnico di Milano. He holds a doctorate in physics and works at the intersection of musical acoustics, geometry, and craft practice. He has collaborated with leading contemporary makers including Sam Zygmuntowicz, Robert Brewer Young, and the Amorim family in Cremona. His research focuses on parametric modeling of the violin, linking arching design and structural geometry to vibrational behavior through computational and experimental methods.
About the Session
"In this talk I present a parametric model of violin arching and its use in predicting vibrational response. The model reduces the arch to a small set of geometrical rules that generate both the longitudinal and transverse curves in a coherent way. By comparing the generated surfaces with laser scans of selected classical instruments, I show that the model reproduces the characteristic shapes of historical examples with small residual error, including channel formation, recurve, and typical cross-arch behavior. I then embed this arching description within a complete parametric model of the violin corpus developed over the past six years. This allows geometry, thickness, and boundary conditions to be varied in a controlled framework and linked directly to modal response. I conclude by outlining how such a framework could form the basis of a predictive tool for makers—one that does not prescribe design, but clarifies the structural and acoustical consequences of geometric decisions."
About the Series
The VSA & Oberlin Acoustics Workshop partnership is devoted to the science of violin-family instruments. It features Zoom presentations by an international group of researchers and instrument makers affiliated with the VSA Oberlin Acoustics Workshop. Presentations range from technical to informal and practical. All address acoustical topics of interest to makers, players, and anyone curious about the inner workings of the violin.