The precious woods that are used for the construction of the chinrest are boxwood (box shrubs are evergreen Mediterranean plants), very hard and yellowish in color, ebony (from Malaysia, India, Indochina and Africa), black, hard and heavy to the point of not being able to float. There’s also varieties of ebony with dark brown grain, especially in the Madagascar area. Rosewood is another suitable choice, hard and warmer in color, with visible light grain. Pear tree (native to central-eastern Europe and Asia Minor) has a compact, fine-grained wood of a warm, reddish colour, overall easy to work with.
In the past, great luthiers used to prepare pear purflings, due to the ease with which pear wood absorbs any colourant. Usually the wood used for the chinrest is left-over wood from the construction of other components such as pegs, tailpiece and buttons. There are various models: Dresden, Hill, Flesch, Cavalcante and many others. The piece in the video is made after Guarneri’s type and customised by me.