Violin Forum/Message Board

[Fithla]

I started playing the fiddle six months ago and used one I bought for the kids. But there are a few notes that sometimes drive me nuts. I've tried changing the bridge, strings and moving the sound post without success, so I'm thinking I need another fiddle ... or it's my technique.

First idea was to find another second hand one "needing attention" and try to fix it up. That way I could at least try it first to see what it sounded like ... but by the time I'd signed up to this the fiddle I was looking at had been sold.

I had also been wondering if it might be more sensible just to go the whole hog and make one. I found a company in the UK doing kits, but there were no reviews and at £600 ... with "all the tools needed" ... but only three clamps ... which didn't fill me with confidence, I began wondering if it was just a cheap Chinese kit with a few extra thrown in to make it sound better.

Maybe I should buy a really cheap kit ... and use it for practice?

The only way to really know what I'm getting is probably buy the wood and then carve it myself, but that requires me to make all the templates and when I add it up, I'd have to invest a lot of time and money with no guarantee of success. And whilst I'd love to do it, it's going to take time away from learning the fiddle.

So what are the chances that a competent carpenter will be able to produce something better than a student violin from a reputable company (Stentor).

[John Cadd]

The very hardest way to learn to play a violin is to make one yourself .Same applies if you want to drive a car. Make your own car ?? No .Find a violin teacher to give you some advice .Don`t insist on making one yourself to the teacher . Be gentle with the teacher and the teacher will be gentle with you .
There is a book on how to make a simple trangle shaped violin. I heard one once and it was a nice sound for a beginner .No carving or curves needed .Advertise for a cheap violin. Somebody might give you one free .
What country do you live in ? Don`t say China .Plenty there already .

[John Cadd]

The title question sends us the wrong way .You want to play number one.Making another one is number two .Playing is the teacher`s area. Getting another violin can be a rented one.Try that first with teacher tips to save you years of bad habits . Read about careful adjustments you can make yourself .There is plenty of advice about measurements to keep you straight .

[John Cadd]

Hiring a violin runs into a problem many factories have .There is a survey of cheaper violins that shows "Setting up "is too expensive for the factories .They use a lot of wood but mainly it`s to stay in a job rather than make good violins. But teachers are not often setting up experts either .
Karl Flesch recommended players should learn as young as possible . The quality of small violins becomes another problem .

[Fithla]

John thanks for the replies.

I finally got so fed up with my old violin - having tried everything including moving the sound post several times (an off tone on the A-String) that I went and bought one ... or more accurately its a present for next Christmas.

And life seemed wonderful. Until I stopped admiring it and started practising again, and then much to my horror the off note reappeared on the A-string. There was only one possible thing to blame ... me!

Bizarrely the problem was a bad loudspeaker and the solution was to buy a mute.

Because what I think was happening, is that I was practising by playing along to music, but the loudspeaker was so quiet I could barely hear the music. So I think I had got into the habit of trying to play very quietly and my bowing wasn't good enough for that. And once I got an off note, my bowing just got worse and the off note got worse.

With the mute, I could play more vigorously and still hear the music.

The other thing that seems to have helped, is that I now do a lot of practice without the music and with a tuning meter ... concentrating on bowing and note quality, rather than just trying to play along.

[Fithla]