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Materials

Woods

BOXWOOD

All of our boxwood (Buxus Sempervirens) is sourced from the French Pyrenees or French Alps.  We 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 our woods, African blackwood is strong, beautiful and heavy.

Choose from a variety of quality fitting materials

Like everything else, the material specification has developed over the years, dictated by experience. The alloy that the barrels are made of has been upgraded to increase its strength and hardness and avoid distortion of the adjusting holes. The stud alloy has been upgraded to provide greater strength and ductility. The fittings are polished, stamped with our AA logo, assembled and then plated.

All plated fittings are made from a brass nickel silver base.  These fittings can then be plated with a variety of metals.

NICKEL SILVER

The standard plating is nickel, covered by a thin coat of silver.

DIRECT DEPOSIT SILVER

We 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.

DIRECT DEPOSIT GOLD

We 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.