Alexander Accessories Chinrests & Tailpieces
The world’s finest accessories for violins, violas & cellos, handmade in England
The Company
Alexander Accessories violin chinrests and tailpieces and viola chinrests and tailpieces are the choice of many of the world’s leading players. They have been making high quality accessories by hand for over 30 years in rural Leicestershire, England. Using only the highest quality seasoned, fine grained hardwoods that are available; all of their boxwood accessories are stained and finished using traditional methods.
Above: Three different designs of violin chinrest in boxwood, the Ruschil (upper right) John Dunne (lower left) & Guarnerius (lower right)
With every instrument comes the choice of accessories to make it sound and look as good as possible. Alexander Accessories have been perfecting this for 30 years, honing their craft to a fine art, using the highest quality materials available and traditional techniques to create bespoke pieces.
Every one as unique as the player, they offer a vast array of models for their chinrests, also taking commissions for a truly bespoke design that fits you, the player, perfectly.
Materials
Woods:
Boxwood: Sourced from the French Pyrenees or French Alps. They also stock a small amount of British boxwood. Fine grained, strong and durable boxwood is an evergreen shrub best felled when the sap is at its lowest – usually just before Christmas. Half logs are stored and dried for at lest 3 years resulting in wood ideally suited for chinrests and tailpieces stained in the traditional manner.
Ebony: Despite the current worldwide shortage of fine-grained black ebony Alexander Accessories has a supply of well-seasoned Madagascan ebony in stock.
Rosewood: Alexander Accessories hold a good stock of fine-grained rosewood. Although not as strong as boxwood or ebony, rosewood is lighter in weight and creates a beautiful bespoke piece.
African Blackwood: The densest of all of their woods, African blackwood is strong, beautiful and heavy.
Above: Violin chinrests in different woods, Guarnerius in ebony (top left), Alexander in rosewood (top right) & Ruschil in boxwood (lower left)
Metals:
Nickel Silver: The standard plating is nickel, covered by a thin coat of silver.
Direct Deposit Silver/Gold: They can also offer direct deposit silver or gold plated fittings. The silver or gold deposited in this way is more than 99% pure and is completely non-allergenic. Although these fittings look beautiful, the plating is not as durable as the standard cheaper “nickel silver” because pure gold and silver are very soft. So as a consequence, the coating eventually wears off.
Medical Grade Quality Titanium: Titanium fittings are strong and lighter in weight. Titanium has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant metal. Fittings produced in titanium are non-allergenic which can be a huge bonus to players who have certain skin allergies. An additional benefit is that the overall chinrest weight is reduced by 12 grams.
The Ruschil & Bailly model chinrest
Working with musicians and Alexander Accessories, we have created our own model of chinrest for violin & viola. Listening to the requirements of players, we have created a flat, super lightweight, comfortable chinrest from the finest materials.
Its aim was to be as comfortable as possible, whilst maximising the tonal output of the instrument. Weighing in at just 39g for violin, compared to a standard violin chinrests weight of 55g - 77g, it frees up the instrument to the fullest, whilst maintaining its strength.
Handcarved from stained boxwood and finished with medical grade titanium feet, it has been beautifully made by Alexander Accessories.
All violins & violas from the Ruschil workshop will include this unique model of chinrest as standard. They can also be ordered directly from Alexander Accessories:
