Just any tree will not do when combing a forest in Switzerland for the

perfect musical wood - its age, the weather and even the position of the
moon help to craft the warmest, fullest notes.
He was not going to waste his time on that tree. Too many branches.
Branches mean knots in the wood. And knots in the wood spoil its resonance.

And there should not be too much water. The tree's heart should stay dry.
That gives the best wood. Solid. Enormous resonance," he adds.
Once you have found the perfect tree, he says, you have to wait for the perfect day to
cut it down.
That day comes at the end of autumn when the sap has sunk back into the ground.
When the moon is lowest on the horizon, and furthest from the Earth.
Because, apparently, the gravitational pull of the moon does not only tug the waters
of the sea and make the tides, it tugs up the sap.
On that day, the tree is as dry as it can be. A ceremony is organised with the other
foresters. It is usually the youngest who has the honour of felling it.

1 Piece vs 2 Piece

The majority of violins are made with two-piece backs

because they can be cut from a tree only slightly wider
than the instrument that will be made from it. Since
there are more small trees than big trees, there is a
greater selection of small cuts from which to choose the
right piece of wood.

o make a two-piece back, the wood is first cut out of

the log in a wedge (Ex. 1), like a piece of firewood. This
wedge is then cut again down the middle (Ex. 2),
opened up like a book, and the thick edges glued
together to make a wide plank. The resulting back is
quartered, meaning the wood grains are
perpendicular to the plane of the ribs, which is its
strongest and most stable orientation.
It is also book-matched, meaning the grain, flames,
and consistency of the wood are fairly symmetrical
from side to side.

A one-piece, quartered back is cut from a single wedge

wide enough for the entire back (Ex. 3). This back has
the same vertical grain as a two-piece back, but needs
to come from a tree that is more than twice as wide as
the instrument that will be made from it.
However, when the grain orientation is changed from
vertical to horizontal, or slab cut, there is usually a
marked change in tone.
Violins are approximately eight inches wide at the lower
bouts, so a log only has to be about five-plus inches to
the center of the tree, or about a foot in diameter, to be
usable. Smaller trees, which frequently grow in the
shade of larger ones and have finer grain as a result,
can be well suited to violins.

Many 2-piece backs have a bookmatch. This means the maker slices it
down the middle and opens it like a book, thus coming out with two thinner
plates to use side by side; the flames will be opposites and is very striking.
It is cheaper, for some makers who are using very expensive wood, to use
one smaller and thicker piece and bookmatch it rather than using one large
piece.
A 1-piece back is special as it came from one, large solid plate of wood and
is more decadent. Thus players think a 1-piece is better, but it simply
means a bigger piece of wood was used. Bookmatching is not possible on
a 1-piece back.

The violins back plate also contributes to its acoustic power. Violins carved from
wood are relatively elastic: as the instrument produces sound, its body responds to
the air vibrations. A thicker back plate leads to more sound power at the air
resonance frequency.