A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Purfling

by Edward John Payne

PURFLING (Fr. pourfiler). The ornamental border with which the backs and bellies of stringed instruments are usually finished. It is the only remnant of the elaborate decoration with which stringed instruments were anciently covered. It usually consists of a slip of maple or sycamore glued between two slips of ebony. Some makers used whalebone, as more pliable. A groove is carefully cut all round the edges for its insertion, and the purfling is then let in. Next to cutting the scroll this is the most difficult operation in die-making, as the purfling invariably breaks to pieces in the hands of the unskilled workman. The secret consists in getting it well bent to the required shape before letting it into the groove. In the works of the best makers the purfling is bold, even, solid, perfectly finished, and accurately joined in the angles. The prince of purflers was Stradivarius. Many old instruments have a painted border instead of structural purfling, and modern fiddles of the commonest class have often only a double line in ink or paint round the edges. Only a single strip of purfling is usually employed; but double purfling, which in general injures the tone without improving the looks of an instrument, is often found; and instruments may be seen with a second row of purfling by a different hand. The purfling is not merely ornamental, as the groove protects the body of the violin by checking fractures proceeding from the edge. In ornamental instruments the purfling is sometimes inlaid with mother of pearl.

[ E. J. P. ]