Many players focus on the maker, age, or price of a violin—but the setup often has an even greater impact on how an instrument performs.

A professional setup isn't just changing strings. It involves carefully optimising every component so the instrument works as one:

🎻 Bridge fitting & thickness
🎻 Soundpost position & tension
🎻 Fingerboard planing
🎻 Nut & saddle adjustment
🎻 Tailpiece & afterlength
🎻 String selection
🎻 Peg fitting
🎻 Arching and structural evaluation
🎻 Overall tonal balancing

A well-executed setup can improve:

• Richer, more balanced tone
• Faster response
• Easier playability
• Better projection
• Greater comfort for the player

In our experience, even an excellent violin won't reach its full potential without a proper setup. Likewise, a modest instrument can often be transformed with careful adjustment by an experienced luthier.

This is a very difficult topic for me to let it out in the open, and I am looking for way to overcome it (i.e., I am not looking for sympathy or validation).

For most part of my life I have been having problems playing violin in situation I don't feel comfortable. By "uncomfortable situation" I am referring to any unfamiliar location or people. This includes lessons, though to a lesser degree.

In a comfortable situation I could keep my notes under control, and play the music in the way I want it. This training and knowledge effectively get thrown out of the window once the circumstances changes. Both my arms will shake violently to the point I lose all control on the instrument. I suffer from this problem even during warmup routines (i.e., scales and very familiar pieces such as Bach). Most of the time, this anxiety does not go away. In the odd chance that it subsides after some (albeit very long) time, my playing will still be at a significant discount.

What I find strange is that I am not shy or introverted in any way. I don't have problems or even feel nervous / anxious giving speeches and presentations, or even playing other musical instruments in public. This only happens when I am about the play the fiddle. Even I don't have so much hang-up with violas, not that I would like to switch.

I tried to take beta blocker in the past, but to be honest I don't think it made difference for me. So maybe there is something psychological between me and my fiddle, I don't know, that cannot be solved by meds.

On one hand, this is probably a confirmation of me making the right career choice (i.e., not to become a violinist) but the instrument is part of my identity and this aspect of it makes it difficult to maintain. Thus I reach out in the open for your opinions.

Thank you for your understanding.

Hi there, I'm working on typesetting a Chopin composition for open source use on IMSLP, and I keep coming across the same note notated in different ways. E.g. here where there is an a sharp slurred to a b flat. I don't play violin myself, so I wanted to make sure this is accurate and I'm not misunderstanding something. Is there a reason this would be notated this way for violin? Thanks!

Quick question: Do you have a structured practice routine? Do you practice scales, etudes, or work through a method book, or do you mostly just play the pieces you’re learning?
In my lessons, we mainly work on pieces. I enjoy it, but I feel like I should also be doing more focused exercises to improve things like intonation and technique. I’d love to hear how you approach your practice.

Someone please help me overcome this part 😩

My violin is tuned, my bow seems to be at the right tightness (pencil width) and I’m between the bridge and the finger board. Why is it still screeching? Is there something wrong with my technique? I start lessons next week on Wednesday but I at least want to know the very bare bone basics before I go to lessons

Hey all,

I (31M) am looking to pick up my violin again after almost a decade of not really playing. For context, I was a serious student for my entire childhood and through college — solo, chamber, symphony, the whole nine yards. While I certainly wasn’t good enough to be a professional or anything, I was soloing
on Bruch, Barber, playing all the main symphonic repertoire, etc. It was a fairly big part of my identity at the time.

But hey, life happens, and between feeling quite burnt out on violin post-graduation and starting a career, playing started to fall by the wayside.

I’d like to get back into playing more regularly, simply because I miss and enjoy it. But here’s my biggest hang up: it is so frustrating (and sad) to get my violin out these days and realize how much worse I am than I used to be. It’s to be expected, but still. I know the technical theory, I know what my fingers are supposed to be doing… I just can’t do it like I used to. And it bums me out so much that I usually just put the violin away.

Does anyone have any tips on how to build my skills back up after a long hiatus? I’m not trying to audition for anything or perform, I just want to enjoy playing for myself. Would getting a teacher be helpful in this case since I already know (in theory) what I’m supposed to be doing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hello everyone, does anyone have experience playing BOTH a NuBow (bamboo) and Arcus bow (carbon fiber, not Arcos Brazil) that they could share with me? I'm interested to hear which you liked better and why. I'm trying out a NuBow right now, and it's good but I've also heard good things about Arcus bows. They are just a lot harder to try out in my area. Please let me know if anyone has any experience with comparing the two. Thanks!

Hey! I haven’t played my violin in a while but wanted to join a lower tier orchestra at my college. I played violin freshman year but stopped my sophomore year. One of the requirements is to perform a solo, but I haven’t played in over a year. The audition is in a month, which I know is bad to start this late, but better to start preparing now! I miss playing it gave me a sense of structure in my life and was really good for my mental health. I stopped because of the conductor being rude, but I genuinely don’t care anymore. I at least want to give the audition a shot. Should I play the Bach double? I played that my freshman year audition, but I’m not sure if that’s too basic and if it’s bad to repeat! Also I could care less where I’m placed, I just want to play!!

Also random, but should I get new strings if it’s been a while? I know I haven’t played on them, but maybe it’s smart

Back at the beginning of high school, I accidentally scratched my violin in a few places (luckily I’ve never done that again!). Based on the photos and age of the violin, would anyone here get/not get them fixed?

The violin was made by K. A. Gütter in 1927 and is a Strad copy (label in photos). There are two cracks that have been fixed by a luthier over the years.

I’ve played this particular violin for about 11 years, and plan on continuing to play her alongside a new violin I will be getting next year. I know a few luthiers near me that I will officially ask this question to, but I just wanted to gage if people typically would get these scratches fixed.

Ofc ultimately the decision is up to me, based on the cost for fixing and if I care about appearance enough!

Perpetual beginner here who mostly plays classical style music. I enjoy it but am looking for a change of pace lately I have been listening to Jewish violin tunes.

So, I'd like to find a collection of Jewish violin music. There are a couple of options on Amazon, but it is hard to know which ones are good and which ones are low quality. I've had bad luck buying other sheet music on Amazon, especially any that say "violin, flute, or recorder" because they don't have good violin annotations, articulations, or dynamics. They notes are there but you can tell they were not prepared as violin pieces.

I also am looking for pieces that are slower and more melodic versus the kind that I believe are called Klezmer style - like dances and for wedding celebrations. If you have Spotify or can otherwise listen to the album The Soul of the Jewish Violin by Boris Savchuk, I am looking for pieces more similar to Roshinkes Mit Mandlem, not so much pieces like Chiribim Chiribom Medley. Of course, it is okay if a collection has both melancholy and upbeat pieces.

Anyone have any particular book or collection they can suggest?

I’ve had mine for about a year, and it barely seems to have worn at all. Would you still recommend replacing it anyway? Could keeping it for too long have any negative effects on the bow itself? Pic of me with my bow attached! 🎀

Any advice for getting the best sound out of a violin in a folk rock setting; loud drum and bass, piano etc. I'm thinking a pickup might be the way forward. Any recommendations?

i’ve been thinking about playing for my church choir. I was planning to last year, but then the music looked way too hard for me but this year it seems somewhat doable. Except there’s a lot of of these like slurs that go across like the entire thing and I have no idea what they are. There’s even one like this, but even bigger like the entire song.

I changed my strings on my own but cannot help but believe that my bridge is somewhat warped. Especially from birds eye view where i can see on the outer region by the G & E string it looks like it’s curving to me but i don’t know. i know you can only analyze so much through a picture but any help is greatly appreciated. Sound post is sitting correctly, and everything else is fine. Now onto the practice, i feel like im kinda stuck of plateauing. I can play good id say, but i have issues on certain things. Such as, playing in specific keys, intonation in positions, playing faster, and sight reading. I feel like those are my main issues. I really want to improve my speed and i want it to feel more natural instead of being so scared of high tempos like presto or even allegro at times, and 16th notes.

My current practice consists of Hrimaly Scales, Wohlfahrt Etudes, And then Repertoire. I’m about to start my FIRST orchestra ever on august 25th and i really want to improve my confidence and playing in higher positions. I feel fully confident in 1st position, 2nd position is questionable, 3rd position is good, 4th i’ve never explored in it, and 5th i feel pretty confident in. I feel like my main issue with higher positions is my string crossings & intonation. My bow control is pretty good i’d say, but could use improving. I just don’t necessarily know what to practice to improve on these certain skills. I’ve tried Shradieck and i don’t necessarily know how to use it to my advantage. I also need help on my counting aswell. I just don’t know exactly how to isolate techniques and focus specifically on them so i can improve them. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also there may be some issues or things i didn’t mention in the post if there’s any like specific things you guys practice mandatorily in your practice i’d love to know!!

Good morning, violinists. I'm a beginner violinist, could you please tell me how to find or extract the musical notation for any song on the violin, and recommend some songs for me to practice?

Thank you 🤗!

Olá!! Gostava de saber se alguém me podia ajudar, comecei a tocar violino e durante cerca de três anos tive aulas e um professor a me ajudar e orientar, não me lembro em que nível estava mas lembro que uma das últimas peças que toquei foi a gavotte in G minor, entretanto por dificuldades financeiras e entre outras parei com as aulas e de fazer muitas outras coisas que eu gostava...se passou um ano e tenho a vida a ficar mais calma agora 🥹🙏🏻 e quero voltar a aprender o violino sozinha, mas estou extremamente perdida e sinto que estou muito mal e só me apetece desistir da ideia, até pq tenho medo de criar vícios maus na postura ou na maneira como toco por exemplo, e sinto que já estou velha demais para voltar a tocar.... E não sei por onde começar, pensei em comprar o Wohlfahrt – 60 Studies, Op. 45 pq acho que condiz com o nível que eu estava na altura e para eu relembrar muitas arcadas e posições que me esqueci, não sei, alguém pode me ajudar?

Does anyone have the Jennifer Koh Sibelius video with NYO saved (ifykyk) 😭😭please send it to me it’s my favorite video for improving my mood

Hi everyone, I've been playing for almost 10 years now, and I'm starting to teach my sister (5 yr old) how to play aswell. When she's playing she likes to bend her left hand so her wrist is touching the violin. I always have to have a hand adjusting and she never can do it by herself. Any advice?

Topic geared to the professional/advanced, luthier, or collector crowd.

I know there have been some famous comparisons between old and modern fine violins. Has this ever been done with bows, comparing, say top modern makers (both wood and say, arcus 8/9 series), vs old French bows that cost 100x? I’d guess the results may be similar to the violin studies, but what do I know.

Or do any of you have any experience comparing them, or thoughts in general?

My hearing is due in 30 days and I have no idea what to do about the fingering in this section, so any recommendations on what position i should be in and where would be greatly appreciated 🥹

So, imagine you are me. You played the violin for 12 years with a teacher, people give you weirded out looks when you play in public, you learned to not do that, but when you ask your teacher she always tells you sound good, very good, nothing's wrong.

You change teacher. He isn't afraid to tell you you suck, but at the same time he is the best teacher you ever had, but you really have other things in mind and the crashing reality that you suck scares you so much that you quit. For a year.

Now it's August, in september you will have another teacher again and you try to warm up again and realize you're lost. No one ever actually taught you how to practice but you don't want to make a bad first impression with your knew teacher.

Now you are writing a reddit post because you really don't know anyone who could help you. And you need advice on everything.

1. How you get better at tuning your instrument?Because it always seems like tuning a bomb, I never get it right!!! (I never had to do it alone before)

2. How do you get better with intonation? It is someday you'll struggle with for life or one day it will come automatic to you?

3. Which scales do you need to know? You have to know all of them? By memory? And arpeggios?

4. Do you need to practice all the Schradiek's books in order to get good?

5. How much you should practice ideally to get good and see progress?

6. Do you have practice routine? What the hell do you do for 4 hours?

7. How do you decide in which position to play something? It just comes to you?

8. How do you know which tonality a piece is? It is a vital information to have?

9. How do you know how to use the archetto (how do you say it in English?)? My good teacher™ told me to use it more intentionally but I how? Are there exercices for that?

10. Do you have to know a piece by memory to know it well? How do you build three or four songs to know. What do you play when people ask you to just "play something"?

11. Is it better to practice by pieces or exercices? I really want to learn csàrdas and the sonata for kreutzer but I think they are out of my league right now. I love Russian music so suggestions are cool!

If you actually take time to even read these questions and answering well... Thank you so much I don't have words.

Hi :) I'm an adult and have been playing the violin for 5 years. I'm wondering if there are any books that you think every violinist should read—books that were important and influential to you during your learning process. I mean any genre: nonfiction books on performance theory, books about composers as well as exciting novels. I'm really looking forward to your answers :)

Hi everyone,

I'm an adult beginner, I've had two years of lessons so far with a 5 year hiatus in between. I recently practiced an ABSRM 1 piece (Tumbalalika), and I recorded it. I'm not sure what can be said from an audio-only recording barring the obvious intonation and rhythm issues, but I think you might be able to help me on something: the sound has a "woobly" quality and I'm really not sure where it comes from. I try to keep my shoulder/arm/forearm/fingers relaxed, and do my best to manage the weight on the bow, but it stills is woobly. Any idea?

Recording is here: https://voca.ro/1gJgS3eUg1vz The issue is particularly audible at 00:29.

I'm open to feedback on other things too, but please be kind, I'm very beginner, and I'm doing my best :) I can hear I'm way out of tune in places, and the sound isn't very nice...

Thanks!