This inlay is one of the last remnants of the often extensive ornamentation gracing the earlier members of the string family. It usually consists of three strips of wood, the outer two stained black, set into a trough cut around the border of the top and back. Visually enhancing the outline of the instrument, the purfling also binds and reinforces the wood at the edges. This helps considerably in preventing cracks, especially in the top. Both the neck and the lower saddle interrupt the purfling of the top, and in a great many instruments cracks have developed in these areas.
Connoisseurs pay careful attention to the purfling.
The materials, workmanship, and character of this inlay vary considerably from maker to maker. A clue to the origin of the instrument may be found in the type of wood used. The Cremonese tended toward poplar for the white center strips, while the Neapolitans used beech, and the Germans, maple. One finds Flemish instruments in which whale bone has been used instead of wood. Black fiber material in place of dyed wood is seen in some makers of the Gagliano family, and on many modern instruments.