Does your violin sound sick? Try my 6-point checkup
When I was fifteen I took a lesson from Victor Yampolsky. I was working on Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2, and I was a bit nervous before the lesson. Then I got really nervous as soon as I walked in.
Maybe I suddenly remembered that Yampolsky’s teacher had been David Oistrakh. Maybe I realized that I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. But for some reason, the sound I pulled out of my violin that morning was, for lack of a better word, unhealthy. The bow didn’t feel right. The strings weren’t vibrating.
So I made an excuse: I had just gotten my bow rehaired.
I immediately wished that I had kept my mouth shut.
“Oh?” he cried, raising his formidable eyebrows. “And what will you say, Mr. Nathan, when you are on stage at the big competition?” Was he exaggerating his Russian accent, or was it just me?
Then he made his voice squeaky, as though he were a pimply teenager. “I’m sorry, but my bow has just been rehairrrrrred!”
Note to self: no more excuses when in the presence of old-school Russian violin teachers.
Only a poor workman blames his tools
Have you heard that expression? It’s always bothered me, because I figure that bad things can happen to anybody’s equipment! That doesn’t make them poor workmen… or players. So was I right to blame my bow?
Absolutely not. I should have been playing a bow that hadn’t just been rehaired. Or I should have rosined more. You learn these things through experience and humiliation. And that’s why the best players, those whose living depends on how they sound, have a checklist of things they look after daily.
So don’t wait to check on the following six items. Do it today, and make sure you’re sounding the best you can with the tools you’ve got. Then, you won’t feel the need to put your foot in your mouth like “Mr. Nathan” above.
Note: most of us need a luthier or violin shop to check on at least one of these items. If your violin hasn’t been to the shop in a year, then it’s definitely in need of a check-up!
1. How new are your strings?
If your strings have been on your violin for more than six months, any discussion about their qualities is irrelevant. Some stricter folks would say three months. Aaron Rosand would say six weeks. Aaron Rosand has deep pockets!
But regardless of the exact duration, let’s agree that the age of the string matters. After a while, strings get more and more elastic, and even if they appear to be in good shape, they just sound… dead. And eventually, they go flat (not pitch-wise, literally flat!) from being pressed against the fingerboard. So they start to vibrate with a strange wobble. And, of course, eventually they unravel.
If your yearly budget for strings is between $200-300, you’re probably better off buying five sets of Dominants than one or two pricey sets. And for the strings I use, check out my Frequently Asked Questions page.
2. Have you rosined properly?
Even the newest, most expensive strings won’t vibrate unless the little notches in the bow hair catch them and release them. And that’s not happening without an assist from rosin.
Everyone has a different idea about what kind and how much rosin to use, but here’s my take: most people who complain about poor grip don’t have enough rosin on their bow hair, for one reason or another.
I rosin once a day, and I have a few tips for how to do it:
Make sure that you use enough pressure when rosining so that the friction will melt the rosin a bit and help it adhere to the hair. Then, rosin the length of the hair evenly. In other words, not just at the frog and the tip, where we spend the least time playing! Use a slow bow as well. The more “drag” you hear and feel, the better. Then you’ll just need one good pass up and one down.
Finally, it’s possible for bow hairs, just like strings, to wear out before breaking. When that happens, they won’t hold rosin and your bow will need to be rehaired. Just don’t use it as an excuse later on!
3. Is your bridge straight and upright?
Now that you’re good with strings and rosin, we can get to the instrument itself. The vibrations from the strings are transferred to the body of the instrument by way of the bridge. But the bridge won’t transmit those wonderful vibrations if it’s curved, warped or seated improperly.
The easiest problem to fix is the leaning bridge. An ill-tended violin bridge almost always leans forward (toward the scroll) because the turning of the pegs, combined with the grooves in the winding of the strings, pulls it that way. The exception is on the E string side, where the fine tuner tends to pull that side of the bridge back!
It’s easy to set that bridge right again, once someone has shown you how. If you do it improperly, the bridge could fall. Then your sound would really suffer!
Take a look at a straight violin bridge: this one, like most, appears to be leaning backward if you’re looking at the scroll-facing side of the bridge. But the rear side hits the top of the violin at a 90-degree angle.
The seating, or fit, of the bridge is just as important as its straightness. You need every millimeter of the two feet of the bridge to fit solidly on the top of the violin, with no gaps. Try this test: attempt to slide a piece of paper under each of the eight corners of the feet of the bridge. If you’re able to fit any paper under any part of the feet, the bridge is not properly seated and you’re losing sound. This could be because it’s simply leaning, as described above. Or you could have a warped bridge.
A warped or curved bridge requires a visit to the shop. So before your bridge gets to that point, get in the habit of lubricating the eight grooves that the strings run over: four on the bridge, and four on the nut. Do it each time you change your strings. I use a graphite pencil since graphite is a lubricant for metal. That way, when I tune, the strings don’t dig into the bridge as much and my bridge stays straighter. You should still check your bridge each day, but lubrication is an insurance policy in case you forget.
4. Is your soundpost where it should be?
So now those vibrations have gotten as far as the top of the violin, but they won’t be transmitted properly to the back without a well-fitted soundpost. With few exceptions (you maniacs know who you are!) violinists don’t adjust their own posts, so to really check this you’ll need to visit a shop.
Which shop? I have colleagues who travel great distances to see a certain soundpost guy, and I won’t say they’re crazy until I’ve tried him myself… in fact, I look forward to meeting him someday! But keep in mind that there are only so many places a post can go, and it doesn’t take a luthier long to try several viable positions. With each placement, you play a few notes and see what’s happened to the sound. A bit like getting new glasses made: “Better… or worse? Better… or worse?”
In addition to the placement, there is the “tightness” of the post to consider. A longer post, set in the same place, will obviously fit more tightly and exert greater pressure on the top and back. If you’ve ever seen the right f-hole of a fancy violin pushed up higher than the left, it’s because at some point that violin had a tight post placement.
A tight post generally enhances brilliance, and some luthiers resort to it as a default because brilliance and projection make violinists happy! But every post placement has tradeoffs. On some instruments, a tight post can stifle resonance. For those instruments a looser setup will allow the violin to ring more freely (as I discovered during my transition away from my shoulder rest), leading to better projection and more pleasing overtones.
5. Do you have any open seams?
If you’ve followed the checklist so far, your entire violin is vibrating. But is it vibrating optimally? Not if any of its seams are open!
I suspect an open seam when I hear a buzz. Not every open seam will buzz, but many will. Some seams are so obviously open that you can see them with the naked eye! Others are more subtle, but will still rob you of your best sound. Often you can detect an opening by tapping all around the outside edges of the front and back of the instrument. It’s a bit like detecting a wall stud behind drywall. If one spot sounds different enough, you’ve got an opening.
I don’t trust my own “tap test”. If I hear a buzz, I visit the shop since I’ll need their help to close the seam in any case. Any minor openings get taken care of during my regular maintenance checkups and adjustments.
6. Are you playing with a good contact point?
Once you’ve taken care of steps 1-5, you may be surprised at just how much sound you’re getting, and how rich and brilliant it is! You may also be surprised to notice your violin responding in ways that it couldn’t when it was unhealthy.
Specifically, you may find that you’re finally able to play closer to the bridge. Of course, proper contact point isn’t exactly an instrument health issue. But it’s a “sound health” issue, and that’s really what we’re talking about in this post!
Most violinists spend too much of their time too close to the fingerboard. There are a few reasons for this: some violinists don’t like hearing any “scratch” or “edge” in the sound under their ear (soloists hear plenty); some don’t realize that when you play closer to the bridge, you need to increase bow pressure, so they hear a “glassy” sound and get discouraged; some have a crooked bow stroke so their bow “slides” toward the fingerboard on every down-bow.
But now that your violin “fit as a fiddle” (sorry!), go one step further and start exploring the area near the bridge. It’s one of the fastest ways to sound more like a soloist, and it will lead you to even greater discoveries in the bow arm. Which discoveries? Stay tuned for a post or video on contact point!
Did you give your violin a checkup? What happened? Let me know in the comments below.
And if you found this post helpful, please pass it along by clicking the Facebook share button on this page!
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55 thoughts on “Does your violin sound sick? Try my 6-point checkup”
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Scales: The Road
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Even if you’ve never played a scale before, violinist Nathan Cole of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will guide you through scale routines that meet you where you are, and build progressively alongside your playing.
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Hi, Nathan, nice article! You must be the first person to ever say rosin once a day! Every person I have talked to recommend rosining once every few days. I have started practicing a lot more, which made it necessary that I should rosin more, but ‘rosin once every few days” keeps buzzing around my head. It’s good to know there’s someone out there rosin once a day. Thanks!
There are certainly different opinions on “how often, how much”! But on average, most folks’ bows that I try aren’t gripping the way they should. Give this a try and let me know how it works!
I like to tell my students to rosin their bows every 6 hours of playing. For my beginners that’s about once a week! I’d love it if my most advanced students were practicing/playing 6 hours a day and then rosining each day!
Thank you so much for all your informative videos/articles.
Nice idea, I think that sounds about right!
Well the problem I’m having, is the instrument sounds flat, and has for a long time.
The G String sounds wolfey. The rest of the strings sound better but on the flat side.
Post insp.
Strings: 15 years old!
Bridge: Seems be seated properly though I made it myself! (Luthier for dummies chapter 1)
Sound post: In an effort to eliminate the problem, I made a new one! ( Luthier for dummies chapter 2) I’ll give you a moment to recover! I made the new post and set it in place and it didn’t seem to change much! Lol
Seam issues: none
It’s an old instrument and is unmarked. I have always had issues with the construction, like the neck is not centered properly.
How this effects performance, I don’t know! Please help!
Thankyou Nathan!
Yikes, that’s a lot of issues! It’s rarely successful to make your own bridge, so I’d definitely suggest getting this instrument checked out professionally!
Hi!!! Please, change the strings!!! And bring your violin to a luthier. You will be very happy with the results.
WONDERFUL TIPS !
Great tips, Nathan! Very useful. Reminded me that I need to perform this check-up on my violin. The strings I know I need to change for sure (they’re like 8 months old already).
Sharing this post on the Violin Adult Starters group on FB.
Great, and thanks for sharing.
i’m going to try the paper under the feet of the bridge. I’m good on all other points above, but the bridge is a fearful part of the equipment to me because i rarely seat it correctly. I usually go to my local violin shop to have them deal with bridge issues.
Working every practice to have a contact point closer to the bridge, too. Thanks for your good tips!
Next time you go into the shop for a bridge check, make sure you have them show you how to fix the leaning or “re-seating”. Then you’d be able to do it yourself.
Dear Nathan: Thank you for such detailed, professional advice. It is really helpful, clarifying and expanding the bits and pieces which we all tend to pick up as we study, struggle and play along. Please keep it coming.
Thanks for the detailed explanation! I like knowing why I have to do something. I had my bow rehaired not too long ago and was told that I should rehair my bow every change of season due to the change in humidity and temperature. What do you think?
In many climates, you’ll find that to be true. Usually it will be obvious, because you’ll find that you just can’t loosen the bow all the way or tighten it as much as you need! Even living in Chicago though, I found that two rehairs a year was plenty, unless the hairs started breaking and I needed to get it done sooner.
Great article, Nathan! Minutiae matters! I love when a luthier understands this and doesn’t look at you like you just got off of a space ship when you ask for tiny adjustments. I find that the smallest details can make the biggest difference!
It’s every bit as important, for a good sound, to clean your strings daily of the rosin build-up, especially if you rosin the bow daily. If you let rosin build up on the strings, their precision will be lost and they will not ring true. Rosin build-up is terribly hard on varnish as well. Bass players, who use softer varnish, need to take even greater care! Use a dry cloth, or carefully a couple of drops of alcohol. The bow stick needs careful attention also. As both a professional performer and luthier, I would caution against too much rosin. That’s my opinion anyway.
Definitely, wipe the top and the strings with a clean cloth each time you put the instrument away! I assume you mean for the alcohol to be used (if at all) on the strings, and not on the top of the instrument.
Should read: bass players use softer ROSIN.
Hi Nathan,
Thank you for a very useful and salutary reminder of what needs to be done every day – a bit like the pilot of an airplane doing his “walk around” outside before take-off to make sure the wings etc are all still there in working order.
One (7th) item I always carry out, as I’m sure you and most others do also, is to thoroughly clean rosin dust off the strings, the violin and bow stick after playing. This is even more important if the bow is rosined properly before every playing. Unfortunately there is a minority who don’t do this, with possible long-term damage to the varnish and the bow stick , and probably also shortening the string life and modifying the sound.
That’s right, I forgot about the pilots’ checklist!
Shows me that you are too old to learn about care and care of your axe!
You mean never too old?
Nathan, I just wanted to drop a note to thank you for your advice. I really enjoyed your article, and more importantly, found it very useful. Thanks again.
Hi,
I make musical instruments. Mostly guitars and mandolins. I did make
several attempts to make bowed instruments. A small cello, a violin, and then
a violin with a narrow waist, but with the ” points” eliminated. Violins are
way above my “making ” level but at 88 years old, I still always accept a challenge.
My son inlaw , Jin, plays violin with the Los Angeles Symphony under Gustavo Dudamel. Sometimes when he visits, we play together. I enjoy reading your very
helpful articles. I have several bows that just slide over the strings. I will try a
Cello Rosin. My wife and I live close to Tanglewood, go there often. She plays
mandolin, and we play every evening, mandolin and guitar, all kinds of music.
Bill Garofalo
Great to hear from you, and I will say hi to Jin!
This was a very helpful article! I’ve had my violin for a while now, but just started playing due to life getting in the way. I didn’t think about the strings or the fact that the bridge could be out of place (Honestly I didn’t know a lot of this!), and when I went to play the sound came out horrible. I was so confused and lucky I found this article! I’ll definitely take it to a shop ASAP and get it checked out so I can start learning to play.
Yes, if things are enough out of whack, even a great instrument can be impossible to play. Sadly, beginners (who really need things set up properly) are the ones who most often have to deal with seriously “sick” equipment.
Thank you for the checklist. I wondered how to tell when the E string (or any others) cut to deeply into the but or the bridge?
Thanks
Sonia
Certainly if the top of the string is even with (or actually below) the level of the top of the bridge, it’s time to get it looked at. It happens most often with the E, but it can be prevented somewhat if you make sure to coat the top of the bridge with graphite from a pencil every time you change strings.
Hi, I liked your tips byee I still have a question. Yesterday when my teacher was putting in a new A string, she played on the bridge and said that it sounded terrible. Then she tuned it and played on the bridge again! Do you know why?
I don’t know about playing on the bridge! I’d be curious to see what she said about it…
Help, has anyone had a little brother put something inside the violin?? My son put a plastic coin in my daughters! Is it possible for someone to get it out or will I need to buy her a new violin? Can she just continue to play w it in there?
Oh no! You may have to get creative, but usually there’s a low-tech fix for these things. If you put a loop of scotch tape on the end of a stick such as a tongue depressor or chopstick and put that through the f-hole of the violin, you can usually (eventually) get the object to stick to the tape. Then you can turn the instrument upside-down and draw the object right up to the f-hole. At that point, since the object will often be turned the wrong way to fit through the hole, you can take a pair of tweezers to get it to turn the right way. It may take some doing, but you should be able to get it!
Hi Nathan,
Thank you for the helpful article. Although I was aware of most of the health issues it is good to read it again. Also the tip about the contact point is something that I can truly learn from.
I came across this article while searching for reasons that my violin might be more difficult to play after getting my bow rehaired and two small open seam glued (I did not even notice them being open). I find that the sound is similar but I encounter more squeals or wolf-like response on my A and E strings (particularly playing near F or G on the A string. Maybe I am not using enough pressure, but after 30 years on this fiddle I kind of know what I was able to get away with. Do you have any idea what might have changed? By the way, the A and E strings were also replaced by the Luthier at my behest.
The E whistling thing is a combination of bow technique and the string itself, so if you were fine before then it’s the new string that’s causing the problem! Warchal makes a string that is impossible to “whistle”, but it’s not necessarily everyone’s favorite for sound. As far as wolf-like things… strings not speaking easily can be the position of the bridge and soundpost, the “weight” of the strings (heavy, medium, light) or a few other factors. That’s hard to speculate about! But if you’re in the room with your luthier you should be able to narrow it down.
Hi Nathan, thank you for the good read! I got here because my violin sounds sick. Sounds like it has a cold, especially on the A and E strings. When I got it a year ago, it had a nice pleasant sound, then I had the sound post damaged as it had fallen during travel with no string on and tried to put it back myself. Eventually, had a new sound post made and had a professional setup with new strings. It just doesn’t sound the same, and don’t know why. I wish I could go see your “soundest guy”, but I live in Canada. Will my poor violin’s throat ever clear up?
I meant “SOUNDPOST guy” sorry, typo!
Seasonal changes can really wreck havoc too, depending on the instrument and the weather… Canada seems a likely place for winter blues!
Soundpost shaping and setting should definitely be left to an experienced luthier, as it is the “soul of the violin”¹. There are so many factors to consider.
1) The sound post should be the same type of wood as the top.
2)The length of the post must such that it it just fits between the top and the bottom of the instrument. If it is too tight, you risk a sound post crack on top which is expensive to fix. Too loose and you get a weak sound from the violin.
3) The sound post must be in the right position, just half the width of the E string bridge foot on the tailpiece side of the bridge. This can be adjusted slightly to suit the player’s taste.
4) The lines on the top of sound post must be parallel to the lines on the top of the violin.
5) The shape of the top and bottom of sound post must be carved to fit the curves of the top and bottom of the violin to make it a connection between the top and bottom.
6)Finally when inserting the sound post, extreme care should be taken so that the metal sound post setter does not scratch the varnish on the sides of the F hole.
If you want to try changing your sound post, my advice would be to practice on a “beater” violin before you try it on your expensive violin.
I’ve got a weird problem with my violin. I just had it checked out with a luthier but he said it was loud. He couldn’t hear what I do. I have a hard time explaining the sound but I’ll give it a try. It sounds like wind through a bamboo tube – does that make sense to you?
I know, it’s always like taking your car to the mechanic and then it doesn’t do “the thing” it was doing for you earlier. Sound is subjective, so when possible it’s great if you or your luthier has another instrument there to do some A/B listening. Then you can say, “I want it more like this, or less like that.”
When I was tuning my violin, as I tuned it the flatter it got. Is that normal or not? If it isn’t normal, please may you tell me how to get it fixed.
Often temperature and humidity will change your tuning, especially if you use any “gut” strings as I do. But if you mean that you’re unable to raise the pitch of the strings past a certain point, I’m afraid I don’t know what would cause that except a string that’s unraveling!
I have a similar problem to what some have said, that my violin rings very well on D, A, and E, but G’s ring diminishes very quickly. Also the shorter I pinch the strings the less ring they have until about low 3rd position where they don’t ring at all. Is this a string issue, or a sound post issue, you think? The G string is low on the tension, and I’ve heard a higher tension G would help. My sound post looks to be in a good position but may be too tight. I think the sound board may be a little thicker than it should be, but not by much, 1/4-1/2mm or so. The bridge is well fitted with no gaps under the feet. So, I’m thinking it’s a string and sound post issue, does that sound about right? Thanks!
Hi Jeff, it is so hard even for me (who you’d think would get these things by now) to look at my own instrument and know exactly what’s going on with the post, bridge, neck, and all those other variables. It absolutely could be as simple as moving the post. Or it might be a combination of a few things. And to be honest, some instruments don’t have a powerful G string and that’s that. If you live in an area where you can get to someone good, it would be well worth it for you to spend some time with a luthier who could try these things out with you!
my violin bow wants to slide toward the fingerboard. am i not holding the bow straight? not enough rosin? too much rosin? when i play the e string, sometimes it is just silent, what gives?
Hi Phyllis, that’s almost always a result of the bow not being straight. You can try the trick of placing the bow at the tip parallel to the bridge, then asking a friend to hold the bow in that position while you slide your bow hand up and down the length of the bow stick. This teaches your arm the proper “path” for a straight bow!
Hi Nathan. We’ve talked before. I was wondering if you could give us some advice on different kinds of rosin. Specifically, what brands would you recommend for different purposes?
Hi Sidney, right now I’m happy using Leatherwood for everything. Not too sticky, not too dusty, and I don’t need to apply more than once every couple of days. I use their “supple” mix instead of “crisp”. Not sure if they have the same options now as when I bought.
I really appreciated your explanation on friction when adding rosin. My first teacher taught me to scratch the rosin to create powder, and while my second teacher told me to stop scratching my rosin, she never explained how the rosin ends up on the strings. I usually do the lick-and-a-promise method, where I run my bow across it once or twice so I look like I know what I’m doing… I found these tips super helpful!
Why is does Eb sound harsh on my violin, whether played on the A string or the D string. Neigboring notes, D or E, are not harsh.
just got a new violin. but not loud at all. could quality of strings be considered?
I can not get a clear sound playing a low D on my G string or middle A on my D string in 3rd position. They sound scratchy. I do not have this problem on A and E strings with any notes in 3rd position. Am I not putting enough pressure on these larger strings due to 2nd finger weakness? I changed strings and it’s always an issue. Older or new strings.
I would first experiment with your contact point, and see how the sound changes. Look at my “3 Variables” post for more ideas on how to work with contact point!