A scroll is the decoratively carved beginning of the neck of certain stringed instruments, mainly members of the violin family. The scroll is typically carved in the shape of a

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...

(a rolled-up spiral) according to a canonical pattern, although some violins are adorned with carved heads, human and animal. The quality of a scroll is one of the things used to judge the

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

's skill. Instrument scrolls usually approximate a

logarithmic spiral A logarithmic spiral, equiangular spiral, or growth spiral is a self-similarity, self-similar spiral curve that often appears in nature. The first to describe a logarithmic spiral was Albrecht Dürer (1525) who called it an "eternal line" ("ewi ...

. Although many references assert that the instrument scroll closely follows the

golden spiral In geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is , the golden ratio. That is, a golden spiral gets wider (or further from its origin) by a factor of for every quarter Turn (angle), turn it makes. Approximations of th ...

(a specific form of the logarithmic spiral) this assertion is demonstrably false.

Scrollwork The scroll in art is an element of ornament (art), ornament and graphic design featuring spirals and rolling incomplete circle motifs, some of which resemble the edge-on view of a book or document in scroll form, though many types are plant- ...

is a common feature of

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

ornament, the period when string instrument design became essentially fixed. Below the scroll is a hollowed-out compartment (the pegbox) through which the tuning pegs pass. The instrument's strings are wound around these pegs. The scroll and pegbox are almost always carved out of one piece of wood. In addition, the scroll aids in tuning solely with the pegs by providing leverage to push the peg in as it is being wound, preventing it from slipping out.

References

{{Violin family String instrument construction